The holidays are over but developers Wonderstruck have been working hard to provide a new year’s treat. The first major update for subscription-free MMO Boundless has now gone live! It introduces a new Guild system to the game, so meet up with your friends online (remember this can be played across both PC and PS4) and head in-game for a winter wonderland surprise.
Wonderstuck have been working hard to bring bi-weekly updates out since launch in September this year and are now pleased to announce the first major update, Empires.
Wonderstruck are showing no sign of slowing down either - the publicly-announced roadmap for Boundless includes game-expanding features such as farming, alongside content drops such as the Hunter creature, a vicious new addition to the food chain. The team have just released the much-anticipated 'LED' blocks, which will enable players to incorporate simple animations to their builds. With even more huge features yet to be announced, launch really was just the beginning for Boundless. The Empires update will introduce Guilds, enabling players in-game to organise settlements and resources much more effectively, grant various buffs to members, and improve the process of collaborative building.
January 15, 2018 - Vacations are a time to kick back and relax, even in the post-apocalyptic wasteland of Heavy Metal Machines. The free-to-play car combat MOBA with a rock n' roll attitude is starting today it's HMM 2019 Kick-off event, that rewards an exclusive "2019" celebratory theme portrait to players that complete matches in it's Casual Mode. So start your engines and… relax for a bit.
To get the avatar portrait, players need only to complete 20 games on Casual Match mode, rather than the popular Custom Game mode. Casual Mode is open to players of all skill sets, bringing a greater level of interaction between veterans and newcomers.
It is not necessary to win, they just need to finish the matches either alone or with friends. But don't chill out too much! As players can't be AFK (away from keyboard), otherwise the match won't be counted. Players will be given 13 "vacation time" to complete the event and get their avatars.
Narrated by Larry Huffman, of Rock 'n Roll Racing fame, the game pits two teams controlling heavily armed characters in deadly arenas, as they race to pick up a bomb and use it to score and destroy the opponent's base.
More information about Heavy Metal Machines can be found on the official website.
Review by Jon Donnis
I published a preview for Octahedron a few weeks back and I just had to play it, the games is very reminiscent to the kind of games I loved back in the 1980s. But with Octahedron you have a full on neon psychedelic experience that is truly something special to behold.
The basic mechanics of the game involve you controlling your character as he/she tries to get from one place to the another on each level. You can place platforms out of thin air and then you use them to reach different places. Sounds easy right? WRONG. This game has a steep learning curve. And although frustrating at times, it never makes you want to just give up, it just makes you want to keep trying it until you get it right, for you can see what you need to do, you just need to get it right, and when you finally do it is very satisfying.
The game has a great soundtrack which includes "chiptune trance over synthwave to progressive house" and really is a plus to the game.
In my opinion this is an "old school" game but with the modern graphical and musical twist. It will appeal most to the older gamer who perhaps remembers these types of games, and due to the nature of the game I sense that it may perhaps take too much patience for the younger gamer who wants everything given to them on a plate.
I loved the game, and it is one I will probably still be playing in a few months if not longer.
Watch the trailer below to get a good idea of the game and enjoy the awesome soundtrack.
I give the game a strong 8/10
Octahedron launched on Steam, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in March this year. And is out on Nintendo Switch on January 17th.
Monday 7th January 2019, Cambridge, UK – Marking its 18th birthday, RuneScape today introduced a major update to its Mining and Smithing skills, two of the original skills that launched with the game in 2001.
The reworked skills provide players, both newcomers and veterans, with new rewards and gameplay mechanics. Four new tiers of armour and weapons have been introduced, Smithing now becomes the most valuable non-combat skill in the game, as well as the ability to craft the masterwork and trimmed masterwork armour – the best melee armours in RuneScape.
An overhaul of both skills was one of the most wanted updates highlighted by the game’s community in recent player surveys. The development team have worked closely with the community, holding two beta tests during 2018 and using player feedback to further refine the experience.
David Osborne, Lead Designer, RuneScape, said:
“Reaching our 18th anniversary is an incredible milestone and it’s apt two of the original skills that launched way back in 2001 have been given a new lease of life. The Mining & Smithing update has been a thoroughly collaborative effort with the community, with polls and beta tests providing invaluable input as we fine-tuned and polished the new mechanics and armour.”
RuneScape features 27 different skills, trainable abilities that are levelled up during play and shape each player’s in-game character. Mining enables players to extract ore from rocks, and Smithing sees players smelt ore into metal bars and crafting armour and weapons. In addition to ‘away from keyboard’ mining and advances to armour smithing, the skills update also includes four new tiers of ore and metal, and a new ore bank for storage. Full details on the comprehensive rework are available to read on the official RuneScape website.
With over 260 million accounts registered in its 18-year lifetime, RuneScape continues to look to the future with new content in the works for release in 2019, in addition to the living game’s platform expansion to mobile devices.
Review by Jon Donnis
Of all things you can simulate on a games console, a clock seems to be the last thing you would want to simulate. After all aren't all clocks "Time Simulators"?
In Clock Simulator you have a collection of mini games, each game revolves around the idea of you pressing a button once every second. The closer you get to pressing the button every second the better you do and the higher score you get.
The game has a really cool ambient soundtrack. But other than that I just found the games repetitive and rather boring. Which is kinda the point of the game I guess.
I decided to get some other opinions, so first I gave the game to a 9 year old girl to play. She played it for around 20 minutes and said it was boring.
I then gave the game to a 68 year old woman. She was even less impressed. And then I played it for myself. I found myself going through the mini games one by one, some I had one go on and then went straight onto the next game, a few I had a couple of goes at as I was a bit confused as to what I was supposed to do and I want to make sure I beat any score that the 9 year old had got. After all I am still competitive and I must be the best at everything. And a few games I had no idea the point and stopped after a few seconds. And sadly I think that may end up being the experience of most people.
I even found myself looking at a real clock in the room and following the second hand as it moved to help me get the timing right, I am sure that would be classed as cheating, either way a game where I am not even looking at the screen and I can do better seems strange.
I am sure this game will appeal to some people, perhaps those with OCD, or even children/adults who enjoy counting, and there are many people who fit that bill.
But for me a 40 year old male, and for a 9 year old girl and a 68 year old woman, the game just didn't do it for us.
The positives are it has a great little soundtrack which is relaxing. The graphics are fine for what it is.
The negatives are that the game seems a little lackluster.
The idea for the game is fine, but the execution is a little poor. I think the makers should have tried to make the game have more peril. For example have a mini game where you need to click every 10 seconds, but as that is happening you have sound effects to confuse you or put your off. A crazy man on screen shouting random numbers at you. I think distraction based mini games would be much more entertaining, and make the game much harder, and inevitably raise the challenge aspect.
As it is though, after getting the opinion of 3 different generations and sexes, and combining those opinions, I can only give the game a 4/10
It has potential and perhaps the creator will release updates and new mini games.
Have a watch of the trailer below, and if you disagree with my review leave a comment.
