Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Top Story
For Our Readers… For My Brother Interview With Crooked Tree’s Katy Levinson
Last year, developer Lat Ware and his team successfully launched a Kickstarter campaign for the brain-bending title Throw Trucks With Your Mind. Now that team is back under the guise of Crooked Tree Studios with a fresh puzzle platformer, For My Brother, which was featured in the latest edition of our monthly look at interesting crowdfunding campaigns, Kickstart This!. We chatted with Katy Levinson, the co-founder of ArcBotics and now Business Development Manager for Crooked Tree, about social media campaigns, art design, and Michael Bay’s The Rock. (more…)
Posted in Features, Interviews, PC, Top Story
Tagged For My Brother
Ignorance Is Strength: Gaming’s Permanent War With Nazis, Terrorists, and PMCs
In the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell introduced us to a profusion of concepts that are especially relavant in today’s culture. Terms like Big Brother, thoughtcrime, doublethink, and Room 101 have all spread through modern society, but there is one line that resonates strongly in the world of video games: “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.”
In the novel, it’s a prime example of doublethink, where people can simultaneously agree with two contradicting points of view. While doublethink is all over video game punditry in a thousand different forms, it’s this last part that I feel needs to be focused on. “Ignorance is strength” is the idea that the masses can live in blissful and perpetual incomprehension of the truth, and somehow gain a sense of power from this. (more…)
Anomaly Defenders Review: Back to Basics
The original Anomaly: Warzone Earth took a fresh, new approach in the ubiquitous tower defense genre by flipping the traditional roles around, having you play as the creeps fighting against the towers. The fun, challenging gameplay led to a sequel (aptly named Anomaly 2), which introduced the very cool creeps vs. towers multiplayer. Well, those darn alien towers are back in a third installment, Anomaly Defenders, except this time, you are the darn aliens. (more…)
The Walking Dead Season 2: In Harm’s Way Review: Villainous
Playing through the first season of Telltale’s The Walking Dead game, it became quickly apparent that danger was everywhere. I always had to be on my guard, watching my back, and stepping on eggshells. Normally menial tasks such as searching through an abandoned pharmacy or walking across a parking lot had become frightening life-or-death battles for survival. Knock a bottle off a counter or make a wrong turn, and you’ll almost certainly meet a ghastly end. If you wanted to survive, you had to avoid walkers at all costs, as these were truly terrifying enemies.
But while still a constant threat, the zombies in The Walking Dead weren’t much more than obstacles – dangerous obstacles, mind you – but a hindrance nonetheless. You knew what you had to do to survive the mindless ghouls. All that changed in The Walking Dead Season 2, where we were introduced to Carver, one of the most fascinating characters in the series. You hated him, but at the same time you understood his plight. He was trying to bring his group together no matter what. While at first we don’t think he’s all that bad, he dispels those thoughts, and quickly becomes one of the greatest villains in the Walking Dead universe. It’s because of this character that In Harm’s Way is not only the best episode of this second season, but perhaps the best episode of the entire series. (more…)
The Games of July 2014
There’s not a lot going on gaming-wise in July, which gives us all a chance to do what we do best: catch up on our backlogs. For those of us who are into what’s coming out, it’s almost all re-releases: Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee – New N Tasty, and The Last of Us Remastered are on our list. Not that we’re complaining – they’re some great games to replay! Read on to get the full details on what the Warp Zoned crew is going to get down to in the hot month of July. (more…)
Warpback: What We Played in June 2014
Here at Warp Zoned, we really enjoyed E3, so much so that we recorded a whole podcast about it. It really invigorated us to get gaming, and we played a ton this month. Some of us played some new games, like Mario Kart 8 and Shovel Knight, but mostly we just kept digging away at our backlogs (Get it? Digging? Shovel?). We laughed, we cried, we played some online multiplayer, and most of all, we documented it all so you could hear about it. Read on to find out what the Warp Zoned crew played in June. (more…)
Kickstart This! It’s Just Not Cricket Edition
That’s right, it’s time for football (or soccer, for the average American reader and editor). World Cup fever has landed and is now in full swing like the Rio Carnival. It has been a tournament of surprises, with the current World Cup champions knocked out by the second game, along with perennial contenders England (but I’m Scottish, so the less said about Luis Suarez’s two beautiful goals, the better).
There are a number of great Kickstarter campaigns in full force as well, and instead of placing bets on goals scored or corners won, perhaps think about donating some of that cash to these fine projects. We have the amazingly named Catlateral Damage, top-down 2D action-adventure Midora, and 2D puzzle-platformer For My Brother. On top of that, there is also a side-scrolling space shooter known as Temporus, the stealth ninja mastery of Twin Souls, and the 8-bit existential journey of Glitch.
Let’s go for the goal! (more…)
Moon Chronicles Episode 1: One Small Step Review: Good Moon Rising
A lot of first-person shooter games were released during this past generation. Hell, it’s more than just a lot. It was an outright epidemic. It seems like someone released a new FPS every week. But what’s odd about this phenomenon is that a good majority of these genre titles only came out for consoles. The handheld systems were all but forgotten. Sure, there were a few exceptions to the rule, but for the most part, first-person shooters avoided the handheld systems like a red barrel (because as you know, it’s never good to stand next to a red barrel). Aside from the Call of Duty games, there weren’t a whole lot of options for those of us who liked their FPSs on the go.
Enter Moon, a title for the original Nintendo DS. Throwing caution to the wind, the developers at Renegade Kid felt that the popular system would be a perfect fit for their mature, story-driven first-person shooter. And it paid off. Moon released to positive reviews, with many praising the game’s graphics, framerate, and moody atmosphere. And although many clamored for a sequel, the rights for the title were held by Mastiff Games, and the Moon IP was stuck, stranded in suspended animation. Until now. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Reviews, Top Story
Tagged Moon Chronicles