Review: Slender: The Arrival

Slender: The Arrival
slenderman
Cost
$9.99
Format
Digital
Size
1.37 GB
Available On
Xbox ONE [Reviewed], PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Release Date
March 26, 2013(PC)March 25, 2015(XboxOne)
Developer
Blue Isle Studios
Publisher
Blue Isle Studios
Modes
Single Player

In 2012 a little indie horror game called Slender took the internet by storm. The first person survival scare-fest was based on a folklore known as “The Slender Man”. Slender Man is a tall skinny faceless man who haunts the woods and has serious stalker issues. In the original, the goal was to find all eight pages without Slender Man finding you. As the player collects each page, the intensity revs up and the game gets harder. The design was simple, but it caught on and became a huge cult hit. Slender: The Arrival is the sequel to the 2012 hit. With a much bigger premise, story elements, more attention to detail, and a deeper experience, can The Arrival take the original’s small scale ideas and multiply them into a full-scale scare?

First off you must know that to play a game like Slender you have to go into it with the right mindset. In fact even right as the game starts the developer put in a little message that talks about this. Basically, if you go into The Arrival trying to be unimpressed and not scared, then you most likely won’t be scared at all. But if you go into the game really kind of putting yourself in the mind of the in game character and in that world, and if you pump yourself up in a way that you really do want to get creeped out and frightened, then Slender: The Arrival has all the tools to so. Is it a horrifying game? No. But if you turn the lights off and blast the speakers, then The Arrival can be downright eerie and creepy. It’s more about the tone and setting of a world that always puts you on edge, then being game that has gross jump scares and terrifying monsters.

Slender: The Arrival is split up into different levels that really diversify the game. And honestly this is a major strength. In the first level you just roam and investigate a large area, you get a few glimpses of Slender Man in the distance. This first level has notes and story elements hidden about, and without going over the top it just creates an uncanny and supernatural feel. The level culminates with a creepy burned down house and it starts to open up a number of mysteries that need to be resolved. The second level is classic Slender. You must find the eight pages hidden in a small wooded area and at every turn it seems like Slender Man is staring you down. It’s very fun and reminded me of how great the simple gameplay was from the original. The game continues on with some levels of traversal nature and other levels more like the original Eight Pages. There’s a level in a mine, where you must turn on generators to power an elevator to your escape, this level was the hardest for me, with Slender Man being more annoying than scary and these strange marathon running zombie like creatures in hoodies tackling me to the floor. Another level takes place on an old farm with the sun setting in the distance, again creating a very “on-edge” tone. Overall the levels each feel very distinct, and while they aren’t all home-runs, it keeps the game feeling fresh throughout the 3-5 hour campaign.

The game being in short length is one of the issues. In the world of video games, it’s known that horror games are better taken in smaller chunks. If the game is horrifying, it’s not fun to be scared for hours and hours straight, the player will want to quit. Meanwhile if the game is more eerie than scary, then the player will be desensitized and it just won’t be fun. So, a 20 hour campaign for a scary game is probably too long. But 8-10 hours might have been a bit better.

Some of the scares in Slender: The Arrival certainly fall flat. The crying child in the burning house definitely made my spine tingle. And the strange man in the cellar of the farm was heart-stopping at first glance. But the mine level wasn’t really frightening at all. And the man in the cellar that seriously scared me at first quickly became amusing instead, as I noticed he would just stand there awkwardly until I got a certain distance away from him before he would run off. There were a few game design decisions, or more like short-comings, which made the game feel less scary and more silly. In the end, Slender Man himself is beyond creepy and he far surpasses any other scares in the game.

Slender: The Arrival is a pretty game. Is it the best looking horror game out there? Certainly not. But for a small scale indie-scare, it certainly does the job. The lighting and colors are vibrant by day, and the shadows are eerie by night. The biggest problem is when the game was just too dark. Instead of being dark and hard to see, it felt more like there was just a cloud of dark in front of me, and the flash light I carried really didn’t do much. I know the game is supposed to be scariest when its pitch black, but I’ve seen much better attempts at this. Meanwhile when you look at characters and some textures up close the game is sometimes downright ugly. For an Xbox One or PS4 game, The Arrival definitely isn’t as good looking as it could be. Vistas, fields, trees in the wind, and sunlight are all appealing. But close ups and dark rooms are not.
Overall Slender: The Arrival is a fine game. It is by no means the scariest, prettiest, or deepest horror experience. But it’s a solid few hours of fun and the eerie tone is great. Some scares fall short and some game mechanics just feel off. But the classic Slender Man gameplay is still great and the paranormal mysteries and ominous atmosphere make for a solid game.

PROS:
1) Slender Man is still creepy
2) Constant “on-edge” tone
3) Diverse level design
CONS:
1) Short campaign
2) Some scares fall flat
3) The mine level
6.1
Average

 

Review: Wolfenstein: Old Blood

Wolfenstein: Old Blood
box_wolfensteintheoldblood_w160
Cost
$19.99
Format
Digital
Size
37.14 GB
Available On
Xbox ONE [Reviewed], PS4
Release Date
5/5/15
Developer
MachineGames
Publisher
Bethesda
Modes
Single Player

Let’s start this off with a simple question and answer session. Did you play New Order? If YES, then, Did you love it? If YES, open store.microsoft.com and buy Old Blood. If you were any type of fan of New Order than Old Blood is going to be right up your alley. Like all the way up your alley. Old Blood has all the glorious guts of New Order with some extra amazing things jammed in there. I know what you are saying person who loved New Order, where oh where did they find room to cram more goodness? MachineGames seems to be masters of cramming goodness because they found space.

New Double Shotties

New Double Shotties

So if you did play New Order than story wise Old Blood is a prequel and will fill in the time right because the reboot started. If you didn’t play New Order than this is going to take you right into the main story with a much easier to swallow $20 price tag. The campaign is 8 full missions broken down into 2 sections with a quick prologue to get you going. It’s a good 4 to 7 hours and you can definitely stretch that out even further if you really explore every nock and cranny. If you’re going to play it on the “Can I play Daddy?” (Easy) then yes you can blast through it even faster but you are really doing yourself a disservice doing so.

One of the questions I thought right when I saw Old Blood is should this of been DLC for New Order and I would say no. If you look at the length of what people are putting out DLC wise for the price, this being on $20 is an amazing deal in my opinion on MachineGames part. To me Old Blood does not have $5 tacked on to be a full release. This is well worth $20 and making it standalone creates a much cheaper entry into this rebooted Wolfenstein franchise.

Speaking of the Wolfenstein franchise we now have the entire Episode 1 of the original classic. One floor per level. There are big improvements to the Nightmare system (which is what they call entering these Wolf 3D levels mid-game) because now you can leave at any time and you are allowed to re-enter whenever you want. The let down for me is that these are perfectly recreated with all the secrets and loot but there is no scoring system. So I can pick up all the Old Silver I want but it has no meaning inside the game. It would of been nice to see the old final scoreboard along with a leaderboard. They took the idea 95 yards but just didn’t quite put it in the end zone.

Wolf 3D Nightmare Level

Wolf 3D Nightmare Level

CHECK OUT OUR FULL GUDE TO THE NIGHTMARE LEVELS ON YOUTUBE HERE

One of the best gameplay features of the new Wolfenstein franchise is the fact that they have stealth and combat options but you are never penalized for the choices you make. There are no auto-lose forced stealth sections that seem to be all the rage nowawday. The game does start on a weird stealth section with huge hulking Nazis attached to powerlines. And although you can power these guys down by sneaking around and shutting off the control terminals one at a time there is nothing stopping you from just taking down one and then using its heavy machine gun and just going to town on the rest.

Stealthing it up with double silenced pistols

Stealthing it up with double silenced pistols

The graphics are definitely next gen. The enemies look great and there was next to no clipping problems. The story is your typical shooter story. It’s mostly present at the end and start of levels but there are a few critical scene that play out in game engine during your playthrough. The voice acting is amazing. The shooting is limb removing, head blowing up crazy action. The stealth takedown system only includes a few different animations but you can exectute it with mulitple weapons.

Along with the main campaign there is a series of challenges which are re-creations of battles from the campaign that unlock as you as you finish them in the main story. These are scored and have their own leaderboards. You can select any of the main difficulties but you are restricted as to how high you can score if you play on the easier settings. It’s a nice addition to give it a little more replayability.

Old Blood takes New Order and just adds to overall package. MachineGames is doing some amazing things with a classic franchise and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

PROS:
1) Great length and story for the price point
2) Great new weapons
3) Replayability with Nightmare levels and Challenges

CONS:
1) Wolf 3D levels should of been scored and leaderboarded

9.3
PHENOMENAL

 

Achievement Guide: Rogue Legacy

Atelophobia – 5gs – Choose a hero with no traits.

Every time you die you get to pick from a random 3 heroes as your next character. Simply look for one with no traits. Might take a few deaths to find one.

Biophobia – 15gs – Die 20 times or more.

Dying is pretty much what this game is about lol.

Thanatophobia – 100gs – WITHOUT using the Architect, complete the game dying 15 times or less.

From the pause menu you can delete your save file. This will permanently WIPE all upgrades and everything you have done so I would save this for last. This starts you off with a fresh game. You need to defeat all 4 minibosses and the main boss in less than 15 deaths without using the Architect. What that means is you can NOT lock to Castle. Every time you die you will be starting fresh. Killed minibosses will still count towards opening the final door. This is not an easy task by any means.

Alektorophobia – 5gs – Kill a chicken.

You need to get a hero with the Alektorophobic trait (“Chickens freak you out”). When your hero has this trait, some chicken legs you find will start walking away and they can damage you if you touch them. Hit the chicken leg, and it’ll turn back into a normal chicken leg and give health again.

Aurophilia – 15gs – Open your very first gold chest.
Zoophobia – 30gs – Defeat all the minibosses.
Bibliophilia – 15gs – Read the last journal entry.
Cainotophilia – 15gs – Have one rune equipped in every item slot.
Coulrophilia – 30gs – Beat one of the clown’s games at least once.
Deciophobia – 30gs – Put at least one point in every skill in the manor.
Disposophobia – 90gs – Find all blueprints (purchase not necessary).
Gnosiophilia -50gs – Find all the runes (purchase not necessary).
Gymnophobia – 15gs – Have one piece of equipment in every item slot.
Plutophobia – 15gs – Reach level 50 or higher
Rhabdophilia – 5gs – Earn your very first Enchantress rune.
Somniphobia – 30gs – Play the game for at least 20 hours.
Secret Achievement
Secret Achievement
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Secret Achievement
Secret Achievement
Secret Achievement
Secret Achievement
Secret Achievement
Secret Achievement
Secret Achievement
Secret Achievement

Review: State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition

State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition
box_stateofdecay_w160
Cost
$29.99
Format
Digital
Size
3.91 GB
Available On
Xbox ONE [Reviewed]
Release Date
4/28/15
Developer
Undead Labs
Publisher
Microsoft
Modes
Single Player

State of Decay is a 3rd Person Zombie Survival game developed by Undead Labs and published by Microsoft. It was first released on the 360 in 2013 and this re-release on the ONE adds both DLCs and some next gen improvements which include the typical visual upgrades (draw distance has been greatly improved), a new character, and weapon add-ons.

This game is more than just basic individual survival. You are in charge of a whole group of survivors. You pick where the group will live. You decide between updating the medical facilities versus creating more beds for survivors. You send them out on mini missions to gather supplies and you are constantly working to make sure the base is secure from zombie attacks.

These decisions are huge in the opening part of the game where you are just trying to maintain order and keep people alive. As things progress, and you provide better weapons and facilities, the base tends to run itself pretty well. By the end game I just completely ignored all requests. Oh no, Billy is sad? Well its the zombie apocalypse so let’s just man up Billy. Oh you think you might want to leave my heavily guarded base with its top notch medical equipment and comfy beds to go sleep in an abandoned gas station? Don’t let our nice protective fence hit you in the butt on your way out.

Setting up a new base

Setting up a new base

This complete lack of empathy on my part for Billy’s cry baby attitude isn’t the game’s fault. It’s actually the opposite. If I hadn’t worked my hard creating this zombie free oasis then I’d be a slave to every little request or risk losing it all. But I built something nice in a sea of despair so I have a lot of leeway in my choices now and Billy can man up or get out.

On the zombie realism scale State of Decay is firmly on the realistic side. You know, for a game involving zombies. You won’t be taking your double ended chainsaw into a sea of 600 zombies and coming out on top. In State of Decay you’re going to be taking your Wooden Table Leg at 2 zombies and even then you’ll be worried. If it turns into a pack and I made some bad decisions regarding transportation and weapon selection well then I might just be dead. And in State of Decay death is permanent. That character you spent hours getting to top level. DEAD. No reload save, he’s just dead. Time to move on to another character. You are allowed to switch between survivors but I’ve always preferred to have one super amazing zombie destroyer character than 3 or 4 average joes. So keeping that one amazing guy alive is priority number one.

Survivor 1 - Zombie 0

Survivor 1 – Zombie 0

In order to promote you using a larger selection of characters, as you use your main guy for an extended length of time he will start to get tired. He’ll temporarily lose Stamina. And let me tell you, Stamina is everything in State of Decay. It determines how far you can run and how many swings of that Wooden Table Leg you get before you’ll just be standing there gasping for air while zombies eat your face. When your character gets tired you have a few options; drugs will give you a temp boost to keep you going, you can switch to another survivor or as I like to do, it’s time to take a break. The game continues even when you are not playing. People will still go out looking for supplies, things continue without you. Your characters will heal, your vehicles will get repaired (as long as you have Parking Spots and a Workshop that is). I’ve never had anyone killed or leave while I wasn’t playing but it is a possibility.

There is a overall story. It’s not the best but it’s definitely serviceable. There are a few intertwining story lines. Different groups of survivors that you need to help or ignore. The army is in there doing things too, some good, some bad. The story just seems incomplete though. For example there is a story line with a guy who says he can get things and do things and you help him once and then there just isn’t anything more to it. It just peters out. There are a group of survivors that are definitely the bad guys. That story line just kind of ends also. If you decide they are evil your only option is to just ignore them. There’s no way to retaliate or really get any closure. The voice acting is top notch and what there is of story is put together very well it’s just that they could of done so much more.

My biggest issue with State of Decay is that in the 2 years since it’s launch on the 360 they don’t seem to have fixed a whole lot. The worst offenders are the fact that your car will launch about 100 feet into the air if you even touch a small rock, which in turn sends you on a orbit that closely resembles that of a small satellite. This series of tragic events seems to always land me in some small crevice that my buff survivor has no way of getting out of. He can wall climb a cliff that is 3 feet taller than him but a small incline is just pure death. You lack any real calf definition apparently. Poor workout decisions.

Vehicles aka the best weapon

Vehicles aka the best weapon

When I was nearing the end of the game you open up a new area. I wasn’t in the mood to move the whole clan over so I found a nice truck and loaded it with supplies (adding vehicle storage was one of the ONE improvements), took a few hits but I loaded up for a long winter. Saw a helicopter with some supplies and the coast looked clear so I drove near AND BAM caught permanently under a helicopter propeller. Dashboard and try again.

The other main distraction is the fun little game of hide and seek I seem to always be playing with the last zed in an area. They are worse than rats as they worm their way into the geometry of the house and just sit there hissing at me mocking my inability to hit them in the face with my Fire Axe. This didn’t show up very often, but when it did my most successful option was to dashboard and come back and try again.

The DLC consists of a completely separate campaign (Lifeline) which is about half the size of the main game putting it at like 5 hours or so. And then there is Breakdown. Breakdown is Groundhog Day for Zombies. You work through challenges and getting survivors to a RV and then PFFT! you are right back where you started only the difficulty ramps up.

Overall State of Decay is a great game where the pluses far outweigh the minuses. The simming aspect of creating and maintaining the base adds a lot of interesting choices and the perma-death scare keeps you on your toes. I’m not a stacker type of player so if you’ve played the 360 version I don’t think there is enough new and changed to warrant the price tag unless State of Decay is one of your top games of all time and if that’s the case you probably aren’t bothering to read this review, you’re playing State of Decay right now.

PROS:
1) Interesting simming aspect of creating bases
2) Real sense of danger with perma-death
3)

CONS:
1) No multiplayer
2) Weak story
3) Annoying Car glitches

8.2
Excellent