transformers packaging gri background-

October 5 – October 11

Section: 

The biggest hitters this week combine to make me exceedingly excited about going off on a tangent. You might not be aware of this, but there is a band named The Cybertronic Spree which perfoms in full Transformers: The Movie cosplay. Let me say this: You haven't seen "The Touch" performed until you've seen it sung by Hot Rod and Arcee. I imagine their dream is to play a show on beautiful Lookout Mountain.

Anyway, I'm excited about this week, though that might be the coffee talking at this point.

Beyond what's mentioned below, fill your quirky quotient for puzzles with March of Industry, Ookibloks and Kaiju Panic, or freak yourself out with Caffeine (paranoia and caffeine dependence? I refuse to believe the premise!) or Skyhill.

Chris "C" Cesarano

This holiday season is organized in the most odd way in regards to releases. For me, at least. To liken it to a meal, October is typically the appetizer, November the oversized entree, and by time the Dessert of December comes rolling in on a cart I'm feeling too full and gassy to even entertain such a notion. Yet this year November's "entree" may as well be an unappealing salad with the dreadful iceberg lettuce, following a filling appetizer and leaving plenty of room for dessert in December.

To kick off my plentiful pre-Halloween purchases, I choose Transformers: Devastation. I'm very fond of High Moon's work on the series, but nothing can compare to Platinum Studios' pure artistry in designing an action title. I'll confess to being a little worried that we're going to get a repeat of that Legend of Korra game, but let it never be said that I was willing to sacrifice my hard-earned cash in order to take a risk on an unknown quantity.

In other words, I'm part of the problem. You're welcome.

Felix “Sneaky Warp Gate” Threepaper

Something I don’t get, figuratively or literally, is peripherals. Five years is a long time to store plastic instruments in a cupboard. Rock Band 4 will either be a welcome comeback, or that One Album Too Many where a band moves from zeitgeisty to Golden Oldie. Franchise fans, consult this compatibility chart before buying.

The expansion for Sid Meier’s Civilisation: Beyond Earth addresses common criticisms of Beyond Earth in trying to make diplomacy more transparent and dynamic and the oceans more interesting, while giving more personality to the factions.

Skyhill has my 3rd-favourite RPG combat mechanic – body-part targeting – embedded within my 19th-favourite subgenre: the roguelike.

Masochisia is the latest in a string of indie games essentially about exploring the protagonist’s mental health, but to make the purchasing leap, you need faith that the game will deliver on the ideas set up by its promotional materials.

My vote goes to Inventioneers, a physics-based, kid-oriented Rube Goldberg machine-builder. Never underestimate the power of slapstick to teach core physics.

Greg "Doubtingthomas396" Decker

It's rare that I actually buy my game of the week during the week it comes out. I'm more of a late-adopter by nature. This week, however, features two – count 'em, two – games that I've purchased aforethought.

First, there's a new Chibi Robo game coming to the 3DS. It's been too long since the last one, and I dearly wish they'd do a new one for the WiiU. Until then, I'll have to be content with a copy of Zip Lash that comes with a life-sized Chibi Robo Amiibo. That, however, is not my pick this week..

This week I have to go with Rock Band 4. I know it's de rigueur to try games that actually teach you a real instrument, but I already know how to play the banjo. Sometimes I just want a really elaborate air guitar. A new box of fresh plastic instruments is trundling its way to my home for a release-day delivery with a preorder bonus of 35 new songs. Thanks, Amazon!

Yes. Rock Band 4 is my pick of the week and yes, I really do play the banjo. If you have a pipe, you may stick both of those in it together and smoke it.

This week:

PC

  • Caffeine
  • Sky Arena
  • Inventioneers
  • Novus Inceptio
  • Nubs' Adventure
  • Read Only Memories
  • Skyhill
  • Sayonara UmiharaKawase
  • Devils & Demons
  • Vortex: The Gateway
  • Transformers: Devastation
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition - Game of the Year Edition
  • March of Industry
  • The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut
  • Pool Nation FX
  • Sublevel Zero
  • Ookibloks
  • Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising ...
  • Masochisia
  • Kaiju Panic

PS4

  • Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance
  • RIDE
  • Rock Band 4
  • Saint Seiya: Soldiers' Soul
  • Super Meat Boy
  • Transformers: Devastation
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition - Game of the Year Edition
  • Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection

Xbox One

  • RIDE
  • Rock Band 4
  • Transformers: Devastation
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition - Game of the Year Edition
  • Elite: Dangerous

Wii U

  • Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams - Director's Cut

PS3

  • Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax
  • Saint Seiya: Soldiers' Soul
  • Transformers: Devastation

Xbox 360

  • Transformers: Devastation

PS Vita

  • Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax
  • Super Meat Boy
  • Farming Simulator 16

Nintendo 3DS

  • 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2
  • Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash

Comments

Disgaea 5 for this guy. I really want the Transformers game to be good but I am going to wait and see with that game. It smells like a $25 Black Friday deal to me.

Transformers: Devastation is from Platinum? With a look from the original series?

Cripes, I may be totes into that.

Skyhill has my 3rd-favourite RPG combat mechanic – body-part targeting – embedded within my 19th-favourite subgenre: the roguelike.

It's looks like an adventure game roguelike to me. Very interesting. There's a demo so I'm downloading that as we speak. I'm sure I'll get to it sometime in the next decade.

Rock Band 4 will be a purchase when I'm not in this paper-thin walled apartment

I'm hesitant to pick up Transformers without seeing a lot of user feedback.

The art style is outstanding but it looks like a Transformers "beat 'em up" which could be really fun or it could be really horrid. Looking at Platinum Games pedigree, they tend to make really gorgeous games that I have no interest in actually playing. So far the art style suggests this is more of the same. I hope not, I'd love for this to be good.

Although the idea that it is more of a fighting game than a shooter is also weird. Some of the past Transformers games were actually pretty decent at shooters and if they had a decent development team I'd be completely onboard.

Botswana wrote:

I'm hesitant to pick up Transformers without seeing a lot of user feedback.

The art style is outstanding but it looks like a Transformers "beat 'em up" which could be really fun or it could be really horrid. Looking at Platinum Games pedigree, they tend to make really gorgeous games that I have no interest in actually playing. So far the art style suggests this is more of the same. I hope not, I'd love for this to be good.

If there's any developer I trust to make a good 3D brawler, it's Platinum Games. Or a good third-person shooter, for that matter. The Bayonetta games and Vanquish are among the best games I've played.

I'm sort of in the opposite boat as you so far as Transformers goes, though. I'm onboard for a new Platinum game, but I have little interest in the Transformers property. I was a total Transformers fanatic when I was a kid, but in retrospect they were cooler toys than anything else, and it's a property that's just been flogged to death. But if it's amazing, I might get this.

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising ...

So the game's name is "Rising ..."? IMAGE(http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00110-tongueout.png)

Getting Disgaea 5 right away. Uncharted collection and Dragon Age GOTY eventually.

Onigiri's the only new console release missed this week, and a couple of PS1 digital re-releases. When do you finalize the posts for the week? PSN Blog posted their list yesterday. PSNStores.com put theirs out on the 3rd.

I grabbed the Disgaea 5 demo, but I haven't really played anything in the series since 1.

MeatMan wrote:
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising ...

So the game's name is "Rising ..."? IMAGE(http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00110-tongueout.png)

At a certain length of title, even our fingers get bored!

wordsmythe wrote:
MeatMan wrote:
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising ...

So the game's name is "Rising ..."? IMAGE(http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00110-tongueout.png)

At a certain length of title, even our fingers get bored!

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He'll Win the Whole Thing 'fore He Enters the Ring There's No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might so When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You'll Know That You're Right.

Man Rock Band 4 really snuck up on me. And no PS4 to play it with yet.

wordsmythe wrote:
MeatMan wrote:
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising ...

So the game's name is "Rising ..."? IMAGE(http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00110-tongueout.png)

At a certain length of title, even our fingers get bored!

The funny thing is that the single word that was replaced by "..." is only one character longer than the three periods. IMAGE(http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-laughing002.gif)

You might not be aware of this, but there is a band named The Cybertronic Spree which perfoms in full Transformers: The Movie cosplay.

Next time my Dad says "You boys are so sad" to me and my brother, I can say "But, your sons COULD have been this!"

Or I could just use my usual "Whatever Dad, you like Duck Dynasty" retort.

wordsmythe wrote:

A worthy attempt at the best song on that film's soundtrack, but it just does not measure up.

I really dug Deceptifunk, though.

Botswana wrote:

I'm hesitant to pick up Transformers without seeing a lot of user feedback.

The art style is outstanding but it looks like a Transformers "beat 'em up" which could be really fun or it could be really horrid. Looking at Platinum Games pedigree, they tend to make really gorgeous games that I have no interest in actually playing. So far the art style suggests this is more of the same. I hope not, I'd love for this to be good.

Although the idea that it is more of a fighting game than a shooter is also weird. Some of the past Transformers games were actually pretty decent at shooters and if they had a decent development team I'd be completely onboard.

There needs to be a very, very important distinction you make in "good" and "something that entices my preferences".

Platinum is one of the top studios out there, consistently delivering polished experiences that look gorgeous and tend to run at pretty high frame rates with interwoven mechanics that just feel absolutely majestic. If action games do not appeal to you, that's cool. But to say it "doesn't look good" is hardly an accurate term.

However, I will say that Platinum developing it makes me interested, but at the same time last licensed property they had was Korra and that turned out poorly. So I'm iffy.

I can't buy it this paycheck anyway. Rent was due so that tugs a lot of cash from the wallet.

tend to run at pretty high frame rates

I can't believe we're at a point in gaming where frame rates get singled out like this. But hey, at least it's not "jaggies" anymore!

MeatMan wrote:
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising ...

So the game's name is "Rising ..."? IMAGE(http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00110-tongueout.png)

presumably it should be "Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising: Origins"

ClockworkHouse wrote:
tend to run at pretty high frame rates

I can't believe we're at a point in gaming where frame rates get singled out like this. But hey, at least it's not "jaggies" anymore! :D

Honestly? Weird thing? I used to not give a sh*t. I could care less before. But now? Now it matters, and Platinum and Nintendo are two of the only developers that can consistently release games that run at 60 FPS. And on weaker hardware.

f*ck your high-resolution textures and polycounts, I want style and framerate.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
tend to run at pretty high frame rates

I can't believe we're at a point in gaming where frame rates get singled out like this. But hey, at least it's not "jaggies" anymore! :D

Oh, it's definitely a thing.

But jaggies suck. Big time. I actually find them more of a problem now than 5 years ago because everything looks so good anymore. Aliasing has always stuck out to me, but small imperfections tend to catch my eye, which is why I make a good editor and proofer.

I am largely in agreement with Chris, but:

ccesarano wrote:

I could care less before.

ccesarano wrote:

Honestly? Weird thing? I used to not give a sh*t. I could care less before. But now? Now it matters.

That's basically the story of gaming and framerates in the last few years. I only rarely heard mention of framerates from critics and forum-goers alike, and when I did it was talk about "slowdown" or "stuttering" when the framerate noticeably dipped into the teens, but unless it was pervasive those dips weren't a dealbreaker.

But this sudden thing where everyone can tell if a game is locked at 60 frames per second, and it's a bad thing if it isn't? That's new. Even in PC gaming circles where this kind of thing comes up, framerates absolutely came up among all the other spec talk, but there didn't seem to be this widespread idea that anything below 60fps was literally unplayable.

As near as I can tell, this is an offshoot of the new console generation and the nearly identical hardware of the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 (and their architectural similarity to PCs). Resolution and framerate were suddenly the best measures for how powerful (or not) everyone's hardware was. It was only natural that that was extended to which developers—and later, which games—were better or worse.

garion333 wrote:

Oh, it's definitely a thing.

Yeah. Gag me.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

I am largely in agreement with Chris, but:

ccesarano wrote:

I could care less before.

:cry:

Oh blah, even I'm allowed to be a bad writer once in a while.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

Honestly? Weird thing? I used to not give a sh*t. I could care less before. But now? Now it matters.

That's basically the story of gaming and framerates in the last few years. I only rarely heard mention of framerates from critics and forum-goers alike, and when I did it was talk about "slowdown" or "stuttering" when the framerate noticeably dipped into the teens, but unless it was pervasive those dips weren't a dealbreaker.

But this sudden thing where everyone can tell if a game is locked at 60 frames per second, and it's a bad thing if it isn't? That's new. Even in PC gaming circles where this kind of thing comes up, framerates absolutely came up among all the other spec talk, but there didn't seem to be this widespread idea that anything below 60fps was literally unplayable.

As near as I can tell, this is an offshoot of the new console generation and the nearly identical hardware of the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 (and their architectural similarity to PCs). Resolution and framerate were suddenly the best measures for how powerful (or not) everyone's hardware was. It was only natural that that was extended to which developers—and later, which games—were better or worse.

It's still not going to break a game for me, but after I went back and replayed some PS2, Xbox 1 and GameCube games that all performed at higher framerates than anything on 360 or PS3, I was kind of pissed. Then again, I'm probably forgetting when those games experienced slow-down during crazy moments with lots of action going on, so the difference is framerates get locked and developers build to keep that locked, consistent framerate so you never notice the drop.

Which I say just turn graphics down a bit, but in the case of the above mentioned framerate police, they want games to be as gorgeous as possible at all times and running at 60 FPS.

Expectations. They must be tempered.

Again, it's not like I'm going to not play a game if it's not 60 FPS, and I probably won't note if the game isn't that high, but I want to make sure developers that hit that benchmark are noted.

MeatMan wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:
MeatMan wrote:
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising ...

So the game's name is "Rising ..."? IMAGE(http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00110-tongueout.png)

At a certain length of title, even our fingers get bored!

The funny thing is that the single word that was replaced by "..." is only one character longer than the three periods. IMAGE(http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-laughing002.gif)

Right, so it's this from now on.

ccesarano wrote:

It's still not going to break a game for me, but after I went back and replayed some PS2, Xbox 1 and GameCube games that all performed at higher framerates than anything on 360 or PS3, I was kind of pissed. Then again, I'm probably forgetting when those games experienced slow-down during crazy moments with lots of action going on, so the difference is framerates get locked and developers build to keep that locked, consistent framerate so you never notice the drop.

Anything that runs better than Stunt Race FX is a win in my book.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

As near as I can tell, this is an offshoot of the new console generation and the nearly identical hardware of the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 (and their architectural similarity to PCs). Resolution and framerate were suddenly the best measures for how powerful (or not) everyone's hardware was. It was only natural that that was extended to which developers—and later, which games—were better or worse.

That's been largely my observation as well. I think a lot of it too stems from the increases in hardware power for the new generation of consoles and not really getting as large a jump in graphical fidelity as from say a PS2 to PS3 was. So people are focusing more on framerate as a way to justify their $300-400 investment they were told by marketers would be the best thing ever (until the next one).

It doesn't help that projects like Digital Foundry exacerbate this problem by examining the framerates of big releases and also compares them across consoles to find the "best" performance. So that just encourages all the willy-waving you see.

Also, I think most everything is finally running at 1080p so all the people who were arguing about how many p's their games had last generation needed something else to argue about.

Plus people might be paying more attention to framerate because, someone please correct me if I'm wrong, it actually has implications with the upcoming VR tech.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Oh, it's definitely a thing.

Yeah. Gag me.

Yup, that's one of the dumb things with PC Gaming lately that makes me a little embarrassed for the hobby whenever I see it. I can get wanting 60 FPS, but I shake my head at the people who won't buy anything because it's locked to 30 FPS for any number of reasons (not necessary, stylistic choice, engine limitations, etc.).

ccesarano wrote:

It's still not going to break a game for me, but after I went back and replayed some PS2, Xbox 1 and GameCube games that all performed at higher framerates than anything on 360 or PS3, I was kind of pissed. Then again, I'm probably forgetting when those games experienced slow-down during crazy moments with lots of action going on, so the difference is framerates get locked and developers build to keep that locked, consistent framerate so you never notice the drop.

Some devs are more sensitive to changes in framerate than others. Remember how the NES used to struggle when there were too many sprites on the screen? Do you remember how this very rarely happened in Mario games but most Mega Man titles would have multiple moments where the game would slow way down and the sprites would start flickering like crazy? Same kinda deal. Capcom didn't really care to optimize their games for the hardware while Nintendo cared (and still does).

Honestly, 30 vs. 60 FPS doesn't make a huge difference. What's most important is maintaining a consistent framerate so you don't have hitches, hiccups, and stutters that disrupt gameplay and lessen one's enjoyment of the game. I'd rather we pay more attention to that rather than arguing that the bigger arbitrary number is better

Also, there are certainly cases where a lower frame rate would be preferred. I found Ni No Kuni very jarring at the start because it was running at a higher framerate than Studio Ghibli's films which broke my immersion with the game because the animation was a lot more fluid than what I associate with a Ghibli film. Same thing happened when I saw The Hobbit in 48 fps rather than the industry standard of 24 fps.
Which, now that I think about it, makes me really curious about how Cuphead is going to feel when that arrives next year.

garion333 wrote:

Anything that runs better than Stunt Race FX is a win in my book.

I think most Super FX games ran at a lower frame rate due to the processing needed for 3D. Although I remember Stunt Race FX taking a really nasty performance penalty when you played multiplayer.

shoptroll wrote:

Honestly, 30 vs. 60 FPS doesn't make a huge difference. What's most important is maintaining a consistent framerate so you don't have hitches, hiccups, and stutters that disrupt gameplay and lessen one's enjoyment of the game. I'd rather we pay more attention to that rather than arguing that the bigger arbitrary number is better :)

I fully agree with this. Updownupdownupdown meh.

shoptroll wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Anything that runs better than Stunt Race FX is a win in my book.

I think most Super FX games ran at a lower frame rate due to the processing needed for 3D. Although I remember Stunt Race FX taking a really nasty performance penalty when you played multiplayer.

I don't remember ever playing mp but I fired this up about 5 years ago on my SNES and it runs at 10 fps. It's terrible and practically unplayable, though it may be in part because the controls/physics are squishy. It probably always was unplayable, but we were so into the 3d graphics we didn't care.

Pshaw unplayable. I think I fully cleared that game before I beat 150cc Special Cup in Mario Kart.

And I still love the level with the half-pipe and clear underwater tube sections.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

That's basically the story of gaming and framerates in the last few years. I only rarely heard mention of framerates from critics and forum-goers alike, and when I did it was talk about "slowdown" or "stuttering" when the framerate noticeably dipped into the teens, but unless it was pervasive those dips weren't a dealbreaker.

I noticed framerates being mentioned in reviews around 2005, and probably only within the context of racing games—that Burnout 3 benefited from a locked 60, or Forza only did 30. I'm sure a literature search for "(butter* OR silk*) smooth" could narrow down the beginning.

ClockworkHouse also wrote:

But this sudden thing where everyone can tell if a game is locked at 60 frames per second, and it's a bad thing if it isn't? That's new. Even in PC gaming circles where this kind of thing comes up, framerates absolutely came up among all the other spec talk, but there didn't seem to be this widespread idea that anything below 60fps was literally unplayable.

Ah, "literally unplayable": the most histrionic of my verboten games phrases. Once you know you're seeing it, noticing solid 60 fps is a real thing, unlike claiming to know the difference between vinyl and digital (shots fired) (but I recorded those shots in MP3 so the audiophiles will refuse to hear them). Even I can tell, and I used to be a militant graphics-don't-matter ascetic. But if framerate is really important to the player, then it's arguable that a locked framerate (i.e. 30) is better than a high but unlocked framerate—and Digital Foundry has discussed this too. Like shoptroll says, gamers' epeens abhor a vacuum. Under-60 fps is hardly literally unplayable. Zero fps is literally unplayable.

I've found RaceRoom to be unpleasant with an unlocked framerate, so since I can't maintain a solid 60 in it, I've use the Nvidia control panel to lock it at 30. OTOH I find Dirt Rally perfectly fine no matter where it is between 30 and (sometimes, briefly, but wonderfully) 60.* Maybe it's motion blur?

*I'm also playing it at half-res with only 2xMSAA, so there're lots of jaggies, and I'm using a controller rather than a wheel, so my setup is... like four times literally unplayable, according to some. And yet I've still managed to wring 130 hours of enjoyment from that unplayable mess.

I think everyone was obsessing over 30fps back in the 90's and it was such a big deal not to have framerates drop.

Honestly, I never once worried about it. I never activated a framerate monitor in any game that had it. Either the game is running smoothly or it doesn't.

Do most of the people throwing around how important 60fps is to our visual perception even understand what that means in terms of the human eye and its ability to process visual information? I know I don't and I seriously doubt they do either. It's yet another buzzword bingo contest and they are trying to cross off their cards so they can be the first to yell Bullsh*t! Bingo!

Botswana wrote:

Do most of the people throwing around how important 60fps is to our visual perception even understand what that means in terms of the human eye and its ability to process visual information?

Uff da, let's not even get into human eye/computer display canards. We'll probably be having these debates until 120 fps games are standard*. But 60 fps and not-60 are distinguishable, so it means something. What it means depends on the player and the game of course. If you can get 60, great. If you can't, then that's not "unplayable", especially if a locked 30 is available (again, if that's important to the player).

In any case, I'm sure we can all agree: The Hobbit was weird.

Spoiler:

*

From the article wrote:

That said, for the record there are various scientific theories of the human eye and image processing in the brain that are relevant. I don’t think any single element provides the full story. But one interesting component I wasn’t aware of until recently involves what you might call wobble. By that I mean your eyes wobble constantly, but just a little bit. It’s a process known as microtremor and in evolutionary terms it’s intentional, even if intention is a misnomer in the context of evolution. But you know what I mean. The purpose or, if you prefer, consequence of microtremor, it’s thought, is to increase the effective resolution of your retina, apparently doubling it.

Now it just so happens that this wobble ranges in frequency from 70Hz to just over 100Hz in humans. And that, to me, seems significant. Because in my experience mucking around with high refresh monitors, the jump from 60Hz to, say, 85Hz is subjectively substantial. Bumping things up to 100Hz makes a difference, too. But after that, well, I’d have a hard time spotting the difference between 120Hz and 144Hz in terms of fluidity, that’s for sure. I’d like to see anybody reliably distinguish between the two on those terms. For me, the law of diminishing returns begins to kick in above 100Hz.