On this week’s TMA, the boys discuss Red Dead Redemption 2, spooky games and a trip to a flea market! Ohhhhhhhhh!
Listen here.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Ultimate Edition UNBOXING Xbox One | Steelbook, Maps and More!
Red Dead Redemption 2 Standard? Special? We unbox the Ultimate Edition!
Halloween Special 2011 - Mortal Kombat / A Nightmare on Elm Street Redux
It's that time of the year again! Halloween is upon us, to celebrate we've resurrected a classic Halloween Special Blast Process episode from 2011.
This episode was originally created to celebrate the inclusion of Freddy Krueger in 2011's 'Mortal Kombat'.
Dave's busy enjoying the latest game in everyone's favourite fighting gore-fest, when Tom joins him to try out the latest DLC. As Tom goes to sleep that night, the game lingers in his mind as he's visited by a familiar face...
LEGO DC Super Villains Deluxe Edition UNBOXING XBOX One | Steelbook, Season Pass and More!
Embark on an all-new LEGO DC Super-Villains unboxing video by Neil!
BETWEEN THE STARS - Prologue Demo - STEAM REVIEW (PC)
A REVIEW BY IAN CHANDLER
Between the Stars is a Kickstarter game which has just received full funding and is due for release in Q1 2019 by Isolated Games. They have released a long playable demo called Prologue which is what I'll be reviewing here. BTS is a single player spaceship action game with management elements and is the latest in a long line of games of this type, going way back to Elite in the 8-bit era.
You play a starship captain of the Interstellar Republic as you hop about the galaxy in a variety ships, shooting space pirates, managing your crew and carrying out various missions along the way. The graphics are pretty but being as it's space there's often not a lot to look at. The music is well done too and I didn't notice it repeating even though it did. Voice work on the whole is good and the ships handle pretty well. There's no controller support (at least on this demo) but it doesn't take long to get used to the basics.
The missions follow the basic routine of flying where you need to go, maybe shooting a few enemy ships, then docking at your objective. Once you arrive the game turns into a text adventure, with a dialogue box giving a description, ie "You have entered a large room, do you want to go left or right" and the choices available are listed below. This was a bit strange at first and I wondered if I had flown through a time warp to the 1980s. There's not even any spoken dialogue, it is strictly old school. Once you finish the mini adventure section (which usually only takes a couple of minutes) you are back flying about again.
The downside to this is there can be long periods of just getting from A to B which although you can use 'turbo' engines to get there a bit quicker, it can drag the pace of the game down a bit.
The space combat is quite fun, and there looks to be a large amount of star systems to explore, upgrades to ships and general Elite-ing about available in the main game when it gets released.
Whilst it is difficult to review an early demo, and of course the main game could be very different, the demo itself is worth downloading if like space-em-ups and have a fancy to relive Level 9-style text adventuring.
Oh, an important thing to note, you can't save your progress in this demo, so be sure you want to quit when you do!
-Ian
PROS Lots of gameplay for a demo, good presentation
CONS Can get repetitive, long periods without action, no Save Game
4/5
You can find more out about the game at the official Isolated Games website:
Ian Kennedy at The Lakes International Comic Art Festival 2018
On a very wet Saturday Neil attended the Lakes Comic Art Festival and after watching the 'Flying High - Meet the Kennedys' drawing demonstration caught up with Ian Kennedy at the Scottish Comics Bothy. A very popular and crowded location.
The comic courses mentioned by Ian are in association with the University of Dundee;
https://www.dundee.ac.uk/english/comics/ https://www.dundee.ac.uk/study/pg/com...
See some of Ian's work here;
TMA 200 – The Big Two Hundred!
It’s time for the 200th episode of Tom & Mat Attack! The boys talk Star Link, Moon Walker and Super Mario Wii U! Beyond that, the boys reflect on the 200 podcasts- 5 years of nattering about games! Things get a bit real, but here’s to 200 more!
Listen here.
STRANGE BRIGADE - STEAM REVIEW (PC)
A REVIEW IAN CHANDLER
Strange Brigade by Rebellion is a third person action-adventure set in a steampunk style 1930s, which features 1-4 online co-op, a variety of weapons, traps and puzzles. It’s available on PC, Xbox 1 and PS4, usually for around £25.00.
The setting is Egypt, where an ancient evil force, Seteki the Witch Queen has been unwittingly let loose by an archeologist. It’s the job of the Strange Brigade, made up of Nagala Rushida (African tribeswoman), Frank Fairburne (sharpshooter) Professor De Quincy (Scholar) and a Manchester factory worker Gracie Braithwaite. Each have their own starter weapons, and have a different powered up attack which you get by killing a variety of nasties.
The game itself looks pretty enough, and plays very similarly to Rebellion’s own Sniper Elite series but without slow motion replays of internal injuries.
I played mainly as Nagala, as she seemed to have the best starter weapon, also after finding a power-up, I discovered that I could take a lot of enemies out with one shot.
These weapon power-ups are difficult to find and in four stages I only managed to get the one. This is due to the nature of the puzzles in the game which have locked doors hidden by symbols that have to be opened in a variety of ways. Some of these are very obvious, some seemed completely random and you only get 3 chances before the door gets locked for good.
The quantity of enemies, mainly mummies and giant scorpions, can make the game a bit of a slog and you have to clear all of them in a certain area before moving on. There are some traps like spinning blades and spikes dotted about that you can shoot to activate, and occasionally you’ll pick up other weapons like grenade launchers which can help, but often the sheer weight of numbers makes it hard going. Ammunition dumps are quite well dotted around and your character’s pistol has infinite ammo but is really only good for setting off traps as it’s very weak. It’s the constant mowing down of the same creatures, together with a pretty but repetitive set of backgrounds that makes this game best played in multiplayer, as in one-player the puzzles aren’t amazing and you’ve basically seen all of this done before.
-Ian
PROS: Nice concept, good in short bursts, nice cut scenes
CONS: One player gameplay can get repetitive, samey backgrounds
3/5
You can find more out about the game at the official Strange Bridge website:
The Art of Stranski - Lorenzo Etherington interview at the Wildman Gallery
Neil attended a very wet 'Lakes International Comic Art Festival' but that didn't stop him from interviewing!
Here he talks to Lorenzo Etherington; who along with his brother Robin is more widely celebrated as the Etherington Brothers and whose comics for all ages are adored by an army of fans. A point admirably demonstrated earlier this year when their 'How to Think When you Draw' Kickstarter campaign became the biggest funded UK comic project ever.
When Neil caught up with Lorenzo it was at the Wildman Gallery where his Art of Stranski Exhibit had just opened (12th October to 15th November). So sit back and discover together this forgotten lost 1940s masterpiece.... [Spoiler - Its all Lorenzo!]
For more information about the Etherington Brothers (and links to their free teaching materials);
http://etheringtonbrosportfolio.blogs...
https://twitter.com/etheringtonbros
https://www.instagram.com/etherington...
Thanks also to 'Turtle Steve' for stepping in as camera-operator!
SEGA Lock On Laser Tag Game Unboxing
Join Mike as he unboxes the SEGA Lock-On that was also known as the VR-SHOOTER!
The Sega Lock-On is a laser tag game developed by Sega and originally released in 1992.
TMA 199 – Greedy Pikachu!
They’re back in one room! For one night only (well, the next two months at least…) we’ll be back in the shack, sat across a table and moaning about games, just like old times! Mat’s been playing Minit and going to the library, while Tom’s been playing the Soul Calibur Network Test, some Star Wing on his Super Retron HD and some Silent Hill! Beyond that, we talk about the rumoured Game Boy phone case, moan about the Switch pre-Christmas line up and just generally have a natter… Ahhh, we’ve missed this!
Listen here.
Doctor Who Magazine Issue 530 DELUXE EDITION
The latest issue of the official Doctor Who Magazine by Panini is out and is also available as a Deluxe Edition. Neil has tracked one down (it’s a WHSmiths exclusive) and opened it in front of the camera so that you all can see what you’re getting.
FAB Worlds of Anderson - National Space Centre - Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Space 1999 and more!
Neil's out and about again, this time he headed over to Leicester to visit the National Space Centre where a fantastic event was held on the 22nd - 23rd of September to celebrate the FAB Worlds of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.
Find out more at the link below:
Worms W.M.D (SWITCH) - Super Rare Games - Unboxing!
Super Rare Games have done it again! Worms W.M.D is now available in a physical edition for Nintendo Switch!
This release is limited to just 4000 copies and Tom was lucky enough to snag himself a copy!
So, join Tom as he unboxes this long-awaited limited physical Switch release of the latest in the Worms series!
At the time of writing the game is still available to purchase from the Super Rare Games Website, which you can find a link to below:
Forza Horizon 4 – Ultimate Edition (XBOX ONE) Unboxing!
Join Neil as he peers inside the Ultimate Edition of the latest instalment of Microsoft’s driving adventure and this time the unboxing is in the same country as the game’s setting!
Blast Process @ EGX 2018 (BIRMINGHAM NEC)
EGX is the biggest gaming event in the UK, this year it took place at the Birmingham NEC from the 20-23rd of September, and as always Blast Process were there to cover the event.
The first thing we did was head off to the Indie area to see what caught our eye. Neil’s attuned Indie senses soon locked onto the Curve Digital stand where ‘Carried Away’ was being exhibited. With this trusty Singstar Mic in-hand, Neil switched into Interview mode!
In 'Carried Away' you construct ski lifts, jumps and bridges from a range of building materials to help your passengers navigate the ups and downs of the treacherous mountain landscape. Master the rope physics and the stresses and strains it will put on your constructions. Cutting corners along the way will compromise the safety and comfort of your passengers. When design alone isn't enough, turn to your skiing skills to get that extra nudge towards your destination.
Carried Away is available on Steam Early Access right now! The full game will arrive Early 2019 along with a version for Nintendo Switch!
After we’d had a good chinwag with the Hugecalf boys another Indie gem glistened on the horizon, the game in question was Eagle Island…
We were really struck with Eagle Island, it’s a game created and developed by mostly one person, Nick Gregory, who kindly agreed to be interviewed by us.
We'd like to extend a thanks to the rest of the team at Screenwave Media (who are publishing the game) who were very welcoming and friendly, we enjoyed chatting with you guys!
Eagle Island will be available on Steam in the not too distant future, you can add it to your Wishlist at the link below:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/68...
After our stint in the Indie section we went off to see what else EGX had to offer, Tom however, only had eyes for one game though, so he led Mike and Neil to the Bandai Namco area where a certain weapon based fighter was gathering plenty of attention…
Yes, the long-awaited Soul Calibur 6 was playable at EGX 2018, once Tom got the game in his sights he challenged Mike to a duel, best of 3, who will win? Let's fight!
After Soul Calibur it didn’t take Tom long to spot another favourite games series of his, Team Sonic Racing and the game was playable at the Sega stand…so it was decided, we would film the first ever ‘On Tour’ episode of our regular ‘Tom Plays’ series…
Lastly we decided to chill out with some Arcade games, it was there that we bumped into Anthony from Retro Games Party who kindly agreed to chat with Neil about providing Arcade Machines for events and of course, the joys of Arcade gaming!
To find out more about Retro Games Party, check out the link below:
And that was that! As well as spending a bit more time looking around other various areas of the massive event, we had had our fill of EGX 2018 and headed home. Honestly it’s a fantastic event and well worth your time, head on over to the official EGX website to find out more and make sure you grab tickets to next year’s event as soon as they’re available!
- Tom