The freshman effort from Insomniac’s North Carolina studio treads familiar territory: platforming, shooting and collecting through the world of Ratchet & Clank. But All 4 One treads with a few more footsteps. Six more, to be exact. A formula that could begin to get tired finds new life with friends, and the collect-a-thon is more bearable as a relay race. READ MORE
Akimi Village is the spiritual successor to NinjaBee’s A Kingdom for Keflings and World of Keflings, and it shows in just how much more streamlined everything seems. Like the Keflings games before it, Akimi Village casts you as a giant charged with building the infrastructure for a tiny society. Unlike the Keflings games, however, you have a reason for doing so.
For months, Telltale has been teasing fans about the nature of Jurassic Park: The Game‘s mechanics. They didn’t say much, but they made clear that it wasn’t going to follow the standard point-and-click formula. We got some time with the first episode, and one thing’s apparent: the developers were definitely inspired by the cinematic quick-time-event gameplay of Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain. As always, though, Telltale’s focus is on story.
“What we really wanted to do was to take players back to the experience of the original films, especially that first film,” said designer Joe Pinney. “”It’s got the intimate moments of wonder and awe, it’s got a real story with real characters, and it’s got intense, awesome, carefully-choreographed action sequences.”
At this year’s E3, we got the chance to talk to illustrious designer Dave Grossman, currently the design lead at Telltale Games, about the company’s projects. Some highlights:
ON TELLTALE’S NEW PROJECTS:
“We’re in a place where we’re exploring new territory for ourselves, exploring more serious material.”
ON SCORING MICHAEL J. FOX FOR BACK TO THE FUTURE’S FINAL EPISODE:
“You can’t just walk up to Michael, hand him a wad of cash and say ‘be in our game.’ You have to convince him.”
ON THE PLANNING FOR THE NEW KING’S QUEST GAME:
“We did call Roberta Williams. She is unwilling to come out of retirement for any reason at all, but she was super nice about it.”
ON LAW & ORDER: LA’S CANCELLATION RIGHT AFTER TELLTALE ANNOUNCED A GAME BASED ON IT:
“That was so annoying. I’m not sure exactly how that’s going to sort itself out.”
Awesomenauts, the latest project from Swords & Soldiers developers Ronimo Games, is first and foremost trying to be amusing. Don’t get us wrong; there’s some serious gameplay under the candy-coating. But with an aesthetic inspired by ’80s cartoons and a theme song that’s simultaneously funny and fun, it won’t be long before you’re saying “awesome” at least once or twice a minute. READ MORE
