summer mini mag (the gamer gazette)
DESCRIPTION
Mini Magazine to go with our main magazine The Gamer Gazette, which also holds a seasonal giveaway code!TRANSCRIPT
In This Quad-Core Issue!
So this is
going be a
tricky review
to make
since I'm
making one
on a game
that doesn’t
really have
much more
then
potential to it
at the
moment.
The game in
question in
A New Reckoning by a company called
Panzer Gaming Studios.
The game itself is about….well I don’t
know cause it does not have a story as of
yet, nor any named characters for that
matter making it hard for me to find
something to talk about in the way of story
and characters (obviously).
So what I'm going to do is talk about the
POTENTIAL the game has, and some
thing's I can see improvements in. For that
I took a closer look at the developers
behind the game, Panzer Gaming Studios.
And there was not much to tell at all, what
I did find out was that the game was a kick
starter project and not much else.
The game itself is as I sad so far without a
story to it so I can't tell you what it is about,
alien invasion some kind of virus, or
maybe just some dude at a Justin Bieber
concert, that would explain all the hell
demons on earth and why you wake up in
prison. Who knows at this stage, what I
can tell you though, is that it is moving
forward as far
as developing
is concerned.
When I first
got into the
game you
started in the
great
outdoors.
There
appeared to
be zombies
roaming
around (or
skateboarding
as their legs
weren't always moving) some plant
monsters and the occasional bug monster.
And you had a flashlight…..yes that was it.
You where supposed to hold a gun I was
sure because of the way one held one’s
hands. But no gun was visible and no
ammo either. Best I could do was to run
around yelling "bang bang" in the hopes all
my enemies would be very dodgy on the
heart. The game was totally broken, my
enemies and I would continually fall
through the world as the ground broke,
waterfalls that ended in nowhere and lakes
that were just as hard as the rock around
them.
Since then however it has developed to at
least four levels (maybe more but that’s as
far as I could go), less skating zombies, a
new enemy type and 3 different weapons
and ammo. It's come a long way, and I
hope it will continue down this road. But I
also see a lot if disinformation around this
game. But more about this later, let's start
with the game.
When you start the game you break out
from your cell by bashing a zombies head
in during a very simple cut scene. Still I
liked that it was there. I don’t know if this is
the real beginning of the game, but for
now, this is what it is. You then get to
make your through an almost maze like
surroundings
as you try to
find your way
out. You will
encounter
zombies, and
in many
cases a lot of
them in 3
different
forms, as well
as a new
demon enemy that I really like so far. Even
though the animation for it is not yet
complete I still think that it is a nice one
and it brings the game from the common
"zombie genre" to something else, maybe
a demon
invasion, or
hell rift at
some place. I
don’t know
the story of
the game yet.
But the
demon is a
nice addition
to the game
at this point.
Among these enemies are a few bug ones
as well, imagine an overgrown face-
hugger from Aliens that mated with an ant
or a mosquito without wings. I like them
(except in level two, but I will leave the
"why" up to you to find out) they need a bit
of work though, especially the big one that
serves as a boss in level one as it gets
stuck in one place for most of the time,
which obviously makes it really easy to kill.
In the outdoor levels you also encounter a
plant monster that too looked kind of cool.
It does not move right but it should be nice
when the game is ready for its release.
Other than
that, there
are, as of
now 3
weapons in
the game as
well; a
normal
assault rifle
not a bad one
but aiming
down sights can sometimes cause the
bullets to fly off in random directions; a
shotgun that is all but good - The first shot
from it will look like you shot a big flare
and nothing else, It’s a big boom that only
serves to blind the shooter himself and the
second shot
simply goes
off with a
poof to
compensate
for the solar
flare it just
threw in your
face. My
favourite of
the 3 is the
crossbow.
Now the only way to make one of those
better is explosive arrows, and what do
you know...it has! Not only that, it also has
some glowing mystical stuff that explodes.
Not sure what it is, but it definitely
explodes when it hits enemies and that’s
half the battle right, making stuff explode.
The levels themselves are so far very
simple as far as walls, floors and ceilings
go, but they do get better when you get
outside. I just wish there were more levels
outside as I found them more enjoyable to
play (and I did not get lost either). They
don’t have much in the way of decorations
either, with just a few pipes and wot-nots,
as well as a few corpses here and there,
but it's not more than that. Still, it’s an
alpha and I do see a lot of improvements
from its earlier stages.
Now there is not
much else to
the game at this
point, but I did
want to talk
about some of
the
disinformation
about the game.
First off, the
rumour that the
game has been cancelled...nope, it was
merely renamed as the developers went
over to a new engine, now working in the
UE4 engine instead of UDK. So the game
is still up and running.
Secondly there were people that thought
themselves tricked as the game they
bought into was nothing at all like the
trailer that was shown on the games
Steam page in the store. I can understand
this in some ways but on the other hand
people should have figured as the trailer
was from the supposedly finished game,
and not the alpha build we have now. I too
was a bit "What the f**k is This?" and still,
I knew it was an alpha game. As I said
though they are moving forward with the
game in the right direction and I’d also like
to say that many of the things people
complain about is mainly of what they
believe is false advertisement of the game
to come. For example there is a picture of
what looks like a huge scorpion on the
developer’s Facebook page that I so far
have not seen in any of my game plays. I
sympathize with the developers though,
because it takes times to make a game,
however, maybe one should be careful
about what one posts and how one does
it. Why not label
it work in
progress, and
people will not
have to feel
fooled or tricked
that they did not
find it in the
game.
My final words
for now about ‘A New Reckoning’, is that it
has potential, and I would love to play the
final product. And I really hope the
developers keep working on this. Even
though it's not there today I believe it will
be in the future, I just hope it won't be too
far in the future. I will come back to this
title at a later stage when it’s closer to
release, but until then, happy gaming
people.
- By Kim Gustafsson
Afflicted Movie Review
By Nathan Scullard
First of all a quick apology, this review was
meant to go into the main magazine, but
when I decided a zombie theme I really
had no idea what zombie movies were out
at the time. So I did a search...something I
should have
known better than
to do.
As a result, this
movie popped up
under a zombie
category. I
watched the trailer
and it still looked
very much like a
zombie movie.
But after watching it I realized that it was
not a zombie movie at all. It was in fact a
vampire movie, but as it was actually a
really good film I decided to stick with it.
Afflicted is a story about two friends Derek
Lee and Clif Prowse who have been
planning an epic year long journey around
the world. They have been planning the
trip for quite some time, but their plans are
pushed forward when Derek is diagnosed
with a brain deformity known as an AVM,
which could kill him at any moment.
Because of this revelation, they decide
that now is the
right time to take
the journey,
before it’s too
late.
They plan to
document the film
on their web
series “Ends of
the Earth”.
After a relatively uneventful start to their
journey, they reach Paris and Derek picks
up a girl in a bar called Audrey. He takes
her back to the hotel and Clif plans to play
a prank on Derek by bursting into the hotel
room. But when he does, he finds Derek
unconscious, scratched and bleeding on
the bed and Audrey is nowhere to be
seen.
After waking Derek, he insists that he can’t
remember anything and point-blank
refuses to go to the hospital.
They continue their trip to Italy where upon
arrival Derek falls into a hibernation-style
state and sleeps for the entire day.
Not wanting
to waste
time, Clif
wakes him up
and takes
him out for
dinner, but
after Derek
literally
chucks his
food down
his throat, he is immediately sick all over
the floor of the restaurant and then runs off
back to the hotel.
Clif catches up with him and tries to calm
him down, but it only leads to Derek
miraculously punching through a solid
concrete wall.
From this point on Derek begins showing
all the signs of vampirism and reluctantly
Clif desperately tries to help his friend in
any way he can. Even holding up an
ambulance to try and get human blood.
But they are unsuccessful in acquiring
what Derek needs and
eventually Derek
turns on
Clif, unable
to contain
his hunger
any longer and
kills him.
When Derek has fed and comes to his
senses he is distraught at what he has
done, and vows never to take a human life
again, and to find Audrey who he believes
must be the reason for his condition.
The movie is really well made and makes
good use of camera trickery in certain
scenes. It does suffer from the same ‘low-
budget’
feeling that a
lot of
camcorder
movies have,
but isn’t that
kind of the
point?
The story is
well thought
out and
believable. I also really liked the idea of
sharing the footage with an online
community as it gives credibility as to
“why” they have a camera with them and
why they don’t just put it away at the first
sign of danger.
I did think that the story was a little
predictable though and fell a little flat and
anti-climatic towards the end, but on the
whole I really enjoyed the movie and its
modern-day take on the Vampire Genre.
Thank you for taking the time to read this
review, and don’t forget to take advantage
of the code at the bottom of the
page, which will allow
you to enter our
“5-Game
Giveaway!”