E3 has been canceled forever
Ever since the COVID-19 Pandemic one of the biggest trade shows for video games, E3 has been in jeopardy even though they tried to do alternatives during 2020. E3 2023 had been planned, but it was canceled on March 30, 2023, due to multiple companies backing out of the event. Today, the Entertainment Software Association announced that after two decades, E3 will never happen again. “The time has come to say goodbye,” they said in a statement on social media today: pic.twitter.com/y6dtVkBvNI — E3 (@E3) December 12, 2023 Many of us had hope when ReedPOP took over the event who have experience with many large conventions like New York Comic Con, PAX East, PAX West, EGX, and more. Sadly, it didn’t go the way they liked and we are officially entering a new era for the video game industry. On the bright side, Summer Game Fest hosted by Geoff Keighley takes place during that early part of June and who knows what could happen next.
Review: Pocky & Rocky: Reshrined
Developer – NatsumeAtari Inc. (Tengo Project) Publisher – ININ GAMES Platforms – Nintendo Switch , PS4 , PC , Xbox Series S|X (Reviewed) Review copy given by Publisher Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is a delightful return to the classic shrine maiden shooting series that captured the hearts of gamers on the SNES. NatsumeAtari’s special team, the “TENGO PROJECT,” comprised of the original developers, has skillfully resurrected the beloved 16-bit adventure, seamlessly blending retro aesthetics with modern enhancements. One of the standout features of Reshrined is its commitment to retaining the 16-bit style that made the original Pocky & Rocky a timeless gem. The graphics, sound, and overall presentation have all been meticulously crafted to evoke a sense of nostalgia, while simultaneously elevating the experience with a contemporary polish. The heart of the game lies in its Story Mode, where players embark on a captivating journey with Pocky and Rocky. The addition of an Extra Easy Mode ensures accessibility for players of all skill levels, allowing even those less experienced with shooting games to enjoy the full narrative. The innovative coin system further incentivizes exploration and skill improvement, making it a rewarding experience for both newcomers and seasoned players. The introduction of Free Mode adds another layer of replayability. Once the story is conquered or 10,000 coins are amassed, players can delve into Free Mode, providing the freedom to choose their preferred character. Multiplayer enthusiasts will be thrilled to discover the inclusion of cooperative play, allowing for shared adventures and camaraderie. The controls are responsive and intuitive, ensuring a smooth gameplay experience. The level design is a testament to the creativity of the developers, featuring challenging obstacles and diverse enemies that keep the gameplay engaging from start to finish. Pocky & Rocky Reshrined successfully marries the charm of the original with contemporary gaming expectations. The dedication of the TENGO PROJECT shines through in every aspect, resulting in a game that feels both familiar and fresh. Whether you’re a longtime fan of the series or a newcomer to the world of shrine maiden shooters, Reshrined is a delightful experience that stands as a testament to the enduring appeal of classic gaming.
Review: The Day Before
Developer – FNTASTIC Publisher – Mytona Fntastic Platforms – PC (Reviewed) Review copy given by Developer NOTE: The Following Game is currently no longer available for purchase after the devs have closed down the studio in which many are calling a major scam. For more information on the closure be sure to stay tuned to our homepage and any updates to the current closing news article here: https://rectifygaming.com/the-studio-behind-the-day-before-unexpectedly-shuts-down/ In the tantalizing days and months preceding the release of The Day Before, anticipation reached a fever pitch, with promises of a gaming experience that seemed poised to accomplish what others in the genre had struggled to achieve. The trailers teased a post-apocalyptic world brimming with atmospheric tension, striking visuals, and an immersive survival experience. Hopes were high, fueled by whispers that “The Day Before” could potentially succeed where even acclaimed titles like The Division faltered. Yet, as the dust settled on launch day, the lofty expectations crumbled like the desolate structures within the game itself. Instead of the triumph gamers had envisioned, The Day Before stumbled out of the gate, leaving players grappling with a disconcerting reality that fell far short of the pre-release hype. The Day Before arrived on the scene with a promise to redefine the post-apocalyptic survival genre, flaunting impressive trailers that showcased a world teetering on the brink of chaos. While the game does manage to carve out a niche for itself as an extraction shooter, the chasm between expectation and reality yawns wide, leaving players stranded in disappointment , and after the news of the studio closing , many believing it was all a big scam. The game’s primary letdown was its failure to deliver on the grandiose vision of an MMO survival experience. The expansive, immersive world that was tantalizingly hinted at in promotional material is a mere mirage. Instead of a living, breathing post-pandemic environment with persistent player interaction, The Day Before falls into the trappings of a run-of-the-mill shooter with a few survival elements sprinkled in. The promised MMO scale is nothing more than a series of disconnected instances, robbing the game of the dynamic, emergent player-driven narratives that make survival games truly compelling. Graphically, the game retains a semblance of its initial allure. The desolate landscapes are hauntingly beautiful, capturing the eerie atmosphere of a world ravaged by an unknown catastrophe. However, the sheen of these visuals can’t mask the jarring inconsistencies and lack of attention to detail that plague other aspects of the game. Character animations are stiff and awkward, and the promised realism in the depiction of survival is hampered by clunky mechanics that often feel more frustrating than immersive. Moreover, the much-touted crafting and survival elements of The Day Before are disappointingly shallow. While the game allows for scavenging and basic crafting, the depth and complexity necessary to sustain a true survival experience are sorely lacking. The world feels static, devoid of the living ecosystem promised in pre-release teasers, and the survival mechanics seem more like an afterthought than a central pillar of gameplay. In an attempt to salvage some positive aspects, it’s worth acknowledging that The Day Before does manage to offer a competent extraction shooter experience. Gunplay is serviceable, and the tension of navigating hostile environments to secure valuable resources can provide brief moments of adrenaline-fueled excitement. However, these fleeting thrills are insufficient to compensate for the overall disappointment that pervades the gaming experience. It’s truly disheartening to witness how The Day Before has unfolded, turning into a cautionary tale about the dangers of overhyping and underdelivering. The game, which was marketed as a groundbreaking MMO survival experience, has proven to be nothing more than a lackluster and forgettable entry into the gaming world. The grand vision painted by the developers created an expectation of an immersive and expansive world, but what we got was a mere shadow of those promises. Furthermore, The Day Before falls victim to the classic signs of a scam, as it exhibits a blatant disregard for the quality of content delivered compared to the price tag attached. Many players have expressed frustration at the myriad of technical issues, from game-breaking bugs to performance problems. Adding insult to injury, microtransactions within the game further highlight its predatory nature. The blatant cash grabs and pay-to-win elements showcase a disturbing trend of prioritizing profit over player satisfaction. This leaves a sour taste in the mouths of those who expected a fair and enjoyable gaming experience. Ultimately, The Day Before stands as a cautionary tale of the perils of overhyping and underdelivering. While it manages to eke out a niche as a passable extraction shooter, it collapses under the weight of its unfulfilled promises, leaving players longing for the immersive MMO survival experience they were led to believe was just over the horizon. The Day Before falters as a forgettable entry that fails to live up to the grand vision painted by its own marketing campaign.
Review: Bear and Breakfast
Developer – Gummy Cat Publisher – Armor Games Studios Platforms – PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Nintendo Switch, PC Review copy given by publisher I’m always on the lookout for indie gems, especially in the oversaturated gaming market, so when I first laid my eyes on Gummy Cat’s laid back management sim Bear and Breakfast, I was more than excited to try it out. The game’s release last year on Steam and Switch was generally well received, and now the game is finally getting a PlayStation 5 release. Unfortunately the charming visuals and cute characters aren’t enough to carry what otherwise is a mechanically poorly designed game on console. The premise is simple. You are a bear named Hank who, after meeting a weird dude dressed in a shark costume who coerces you into a B&B pyramid scheme, tries to renovate abandoned buildings to attract human guests. Accompanying you are other animal friends that follow you on this noble journey. The narrative sets the tone for a comedic and laid back adventure, and never takes itself too seriously, but the constant text bubbles and the boring quest designs of: go here, fetch that make it a slow burn. Bear and Breakfast boasts a delightful art style that perfectly complements its lighthearted theme. The landscapes are vibrant, and the characters, particularly the animals, are adorable and full of personality. The attention to detail in the environments adds to the overall immersive experience. The sound design is also well-crafted, with ambient sounds of the wilderness, cheerful music, and subtle audio cues that enhance the visuals. The lack of voice acting does make reading mountains of text bubbles a bit tiresome though after a while. Much of the game revolves around you walking around, foraging for raw materials, and crafting items such as beds, shelves, and chairs to fill up your B&B with. As you complete assignments, you unlock better blueprints to craft new goodies. After setting up your houses to your liking and decorating them to your heart’s content, you then fill them up with guests. Each unit of yours has a prestige level that must be increased by decorating it with fashionable items that you trade for with a raccoon next to a dumpster. The guests then leave a review, and then you move on to the next. Given this is a Bed and Breakfast sim, it’s unfortunate that the cooking mechanic doesn’t even get unlocked until a while into the game. After you have your hotels up and running, then comes the management side of things. You have to tend to your guests’ needs and wants, which come in three categories: decoration, cleanliness, and comfort. These include things like how close bedrooms are to bathrooms, or how well-lit an entire unit is. The game arguably does get pretty deep when it comes to strategizing how to captivate more guests depending on how you design your resort and the surrounding attractions. Despite looking cute and cozy, Bear and Breakfast suffers from an extremely monotonous and repetitive gameplay loop. The resource gathering, the building management, the house decorating, among everything else gets tedious after a while, especially when newer mechanics are locked behind progression. You’ll start your early hours trying to perfect all your bed and breakfasts, with everything placed aesthetically and tidy, but then you learn it doesn’t even matter at the end of the day given that it makes no difference to gameplay and the number of times you need to do the same actions. It doesn’t help that there is no option to run either, so you have to walk everywhere. Hank isn’t a very fast bear… Furthermore, this is a game that is much better enjoyed on a keyboard and mouse on PC than on a console with a controller because there are tons of screens and menus to click through. Controls are extremely unintuitive, especially when it comes to building, crafting, opening your inventory, or switching to design mode. As a result, the overall experience is not user friendly and not explained well whatsoever. I’ve seen this as a valid form of criticism when the game was released on Nintendo Switch as well and it’s a shame the developers still haven’t addressed this issue with the PlayStation 5 release. Read on to see what I mean. In order to build something, you need to find a crafting bench, press Triangle, navigate to Crafting, select the recipe you want to build, press down the right thumbstick, get no confirmation that you built the item successfully, press Circle to exit, navigate to Inventory, highlight over the item you want to place, then press Square to place the item. If you cannot build the item because it is flashing red, an error message will show up but be blocked off by other tutorials on the screen. I’m sure this will become second nature the more you do it, but it’s frustrating to learn such an unnecessarily complicated mechanic for a supposedly laid back cozy game. The game takes up a mere 1.13 GB on your console, which makes sense given the indie nature of it. Load times are fairly serviceable but not super fast on the PlayStation 5, given it takes around 7 seconds to load in. Framerates are smooth and stable and I’ve run into no game breaking bugs. Sometimes the game will error out, and the autosave functionality forces you to go back and replay segments given there is no manual save. However, the lack of useful accessibility features is glaring. The game offers the basics of changing subtitle languages, toggling brightness and audio, as well as rebinding controls. But given the fact that I can’t see very well, I was extremely disappointed to see no feature to increase text size, and I had to squint my eyes to see the miniscule text on the screen. It is cool, though, that there is a bear unstuck option so if you get stuck in terrain, the game will free you.
Zynga and Warner Bros. Pictures have brought Wonka to Word With Friends 2 and other games
With the highly anticipated holiday film, Wonka coming to Movie Theaters on December 15, 2023, Zynga and Warner Bros. Pictures have partnered to integrate Wonka in-game theme features. The game integrations will give players an inside look at the magical world of Wonka through custom in-game challenges, rewards, and film content. In Words With Friends 2, a Wonka avatar based on Timothée Chalamet’s version of the character in the movie will invite players into his magical world to play chocolate-themed Friendly Faceoff word games. Those who win two games against the bright-eyed candy maker will earn an exclusive Wonka-themed frame as a sweet treat to proudly display on their player profile. Here is what Executive Vice President, Yaron Leyvand had to say about this partnership: “Zynga is excited to continue our ten-year history of successful collaboration with Warner Bros. by bringing the world of Wonka to players in Words With Friends and other titles across our portfolio.” “We’re always looking for new ways to bring engaging experiences to our players, and inviting our community to interact with one of the world’s most beloved characters is a perfect golden ticket holiday surprise.” Here is what Cameron Curtis from Warner Bros. Pictures had to say: “Wonka is one of the most highly anticipated movies this holiday season. By combining it with Zynga and four of their games, including Words With Friends—an evergreen cultural sensation that has connected millions of players for over a decade—we are creating unique opportunities for engagement that unite gaming and film fans across the big screen and mobile devices,” – Cameron Curtis, EVP, Worldwide Digital Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures.
Sonic Holiday Costume is now available in Sonic Superstars
It’s the Holiday season and SEGA announced that all Sonic Superstars owners can now receive the Sonic Holiday Costume across PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series XlS, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. The Sonic Holiday Costume is free for all Sonic Superstars players and contains new apparel for Sonic to wear and bring cheer and joy to the Northstar Islands. The costume can be equipped during character selection by choosing Sonic and then hitting the left or right button when playing Story Mode. Sonic Superstars is a fantastic addition to the Sonic franchise, offering a fresh and visually stunning take on the classic 2D high-speed action platforming. In our review, we scored the game an 8 out of 10.
Alan Wake II’s ‘Old Gods Of Asgard’ Band Poets Of The Fall Enters iTunes Top 10 For Album Rebirth
It is no secret – Alan Wake II is the sequel that answers to the hype for what could a follow-up to Remedy Entertainment’s 2010 classic. In our review we wrote: “The four long years of development have paid off, and the passion and love from the studio truly speaks for itself. From the incredible worldbuilding and interconnected narratives to the elevated survival horror and detective case solving, Alan Wake 2 is a unique experience that you don’t want to miss.” Beyond that, the game is bleeding into real life with The Game Awards that came soon after its release this month. At the annual show, Remedy Entertainment walked off with three awards: Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Audio Design. Even more, there was a live performance for ‘Herald of Darkness’ that featured Poets of the Fall moniker Old Gods of Asgard with creative director Sam Lake. And now with 2023 coming to a close, there are a slew of Top 10 lists rolling out celebrating the most successful releases this year. Part of that is iTunes Top 10 albums for this year. And in a last-minute effort with how recent Alan Wake II launched, Poets of the Falls ‘Rebirth – Greatest Hits’ made 10th on that list. Of course, there is more elsewhere that celebrates Alan Wake II as well. Prior to its release, Epic Games welcomed Alan Wake to Fortnite as part of a skin bundle that you can pick up. The publisher welcomed the writer to the battle royale effortlessly thanks in part to being the firm that funded the game’s development. Additionally, Alan Wake II also featured its first major update. While there is promised for premium content, free DLC is also included. In that, New Game+ is here with ‘The Final Draft’ now offering an alternate ending to the main game. You can read the full report by heading here. Have you been streaming Old Gods of Asgard on iTunes?
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Epic Games Assures Players That Its New Modes Are A Permanent Addition
Among the amount of success that Fortnite has brought in and more with its battle royale live-service, it is questionable what more can Epic Games do to offer for its users. While the free-to-play continues to roll out more in-game items to purchase – the most recently being Peter Griffin & Solid Snake – what is a new direction for Fortnite? Well, collab game modes, of course. This past week, it Epic Games welcomed new game modes that arrived to Fortnite offering three new experiences outside of just battle royale. The most notable is Lego Fortnite: a Minecraft-like experience with free range for players to explore and build. Additionally, Rocket Racing & Fortnite Festival were also added thanks to its acquisitions of Psyonix & Harmonix previously. And although Epic Games did feature prior game modes in the past for a limited time, these new game modes are here to stay, it confirms via a post on X. Even more, these game modes are to continue facing regular updates as well. This comes as a surprise with other beloved modes only to be pulled after a certain amount of time. What’s more is that the firm did hint at this recently. In a blog post from Psyonix, it is confirmed that development is aiming to offer support for instruments – likely Rock Band props. This could even segue to a resurgence of accessories now for the new mode. For those interested in exploring these new modes, Rectify Gaming offers a tutorial on how to obtain a new ‘Explorer Emilie Style’ in celebration of Lego Fortnite which you can use in the regular battle royale. You can read the full report by heading here. What game mode of the three has your attention in Fortnite? Lego Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival are available now for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
