System Shock Remastered: Will It Be Any Good?

What's going on guys, I'm back! Today I'll be sharing with you my first impressions from the System Shock Pre-Alpha, which came out on steam about a month ago and is free for everyone to try out. So without further ado, let's get started!

So in case you didn't know, System Shock is a futuristic RPG game with horror elements that is set in the future. According to Wikipedia, the game starts with you awakening in some sort of space station, and as a nameless hacker you must try to stop a malevolent AI. Naturally, I didn't know any of this since I didn't play the original and wasn't around to play it when it came out in 1994.

As for the gameplay, from what I could gather the game has you exploring the space station while solving different kinds of puzzles and defeating enemies, very similar to a lot of other adventure-horror type games. It felt very similar to a cross between Half-Life and SOMA, which is awesome since I loved both of those games and would definitely like to see more games coming out that are like them! The game seems to borrow aspects from both, with the creative puzzle-solving of Half-Life and the cinematic nature and story-driven gameplay from SOMA. There's one thing that definitely needs to be addressed for System Shock'
s full release however...

...It's the combat. From what I played, the combat was incredibly dull and empty and lacked any sort of real tension or strategy. When you get a lead pipe a couple minutes into the game and then see a robot that starts attacking you, the fight basically consists of moving in, hitting it, then moving back. Repeat that about 5 times and then you kill it. The monsters and robots that I saw in this pre-alpha also weren't very scary and all looked the same, which isn't a good thing when you're trying to make an atmospheric game with lots of tension and suspense.

The graphics do look very nice, especially considering the fact that System Shock is created in Unity, as it displays when you first start up the Pre-Alpha. The lighting, shadows and textures look good, but I feel like the look of some of the monsters could use a bit of work, as they don't look scary enough right now in my opinion. Visuals are not up to par with recent or upcoming AAA titles such as Battlefield 1 or Call of Duty Infinite Warfare, but they do look great. I'd probably rank them at about the same quality as Call of Duty 4 Remastered, which is set to drop in the IW Legacy Edition in November.

Anyway, to wrap it all up I really like this game so far, and hope that they give the combat and monsters a bit of a facelift for the final release, or maybe even an alpha or beta version of the game. You can't go wrong with a Half-Life and SOMA combo, and the atmosphere is excellent as well!

Here's some gameplay in case you're interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okPLF9Ad9ns

The project is being funded on kickstarter and has exceeded by $300,000 US its goal of $900,000, which really shows that there are a lot of gamers that are looking forward to this game as well! I'll post a link to the kickstarter page right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598858095/system-shock

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this quick little post! Are you excited for System Shock Remastered?!?

Thank you so much for reading, and with that, I'll see you guys later!

Zombieville USA 2: Mindless (But Fun) Zombie Slaying

What's up everyone, I'm back! Today I'll be talking about and somewhat reviewing Zombieville USA 2, which I used to play years ago on my iPod touch and had a ton of fun with, and when I got an android phone I anxiously anticipated it's release on the play store. Now that it's finally here, let's take a look!

Just like always, we'll first be discussing the gameplay. It's very simple but also addicting at the same time! You spawn into the level with 3 weapons and up to 3 perks which help you in various aspects, and it's your job to survive and kill as many zombies as possible until the timer at the top of the screen reaches zero, at which point a helicopter ladder drops down and you have to reach it to beat the level.

There's 10 different levels, which all vary in difficulty and types of zombies, but of course more zombies means you'll earn more money when you finish. The money you earn can be used to purchase new weapons and perks, and also upgrade the ones you already own. There's around 20 different weapons in the game, and each one feels and functions completely differently. There's an uzi, a pistol, a sniper rifle, an assault rifle, landmines, a minigun, a RPG, and many more guns, and each one is really fun to use. I found that I was excited to try out each new weapon I unlocked, and that's honestly how unlocking a new thing should be, so that great too!

As for the graphics, Zombieville 2 opts for a cartoony style nearly identical to its predecessor, which definitely does the job here, and adds a lot to the game through a lot of fun and violent zombie kill animations!

There's also some really cool things about this game not related to the actual gameplay. The first is that there's absolutely no microtransactions to be found anywhere in-game. You know how in most mobile games when you try to buy something but have insufficient funds and it directs you to the store to buy some? Well, there's none of that in Zombieville 2. I think this is fantastic because it takes me back to a time when not many mobile games had money-grubbing microtransactions and cheap easy ways to unlock the cool stuff. I love the idea of working hard for an achievement or unlock and then having the satisfaction of earning it, and that's how all games used to be.

Zombieville USA 2 is also only $0.99 on the play store, which is the second reason that this game is awesome. I remember a time about 5 years ago, when you paid $1 for a game like angry birds, cut the rope or doodle jump (games that I played way too much back then) and you got the full experience and the hours of entertainment that came with it, microtransaction-free. Now, there's a ton of games that should cost a buck but go for way more than that. Also, it's unfortunate that with games like candy crush flooding mobile gaming, that's not the case anymore. There was actually a story I found online that said some kid spent $46,000 US in a mobile game. That's totally insane, and really shows how possible it is to lose massive amounts of money on these games if you aren't careful. A few years ago, that might not have even been possible, since almost all mobile games were free of microtransactions.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this review of Zombieville USA 2 (and microtransactions rant). I'm sorry that my posts have to be so long-winded, but I'm very detail oriented and really want to make sure that I cover everything you need to know about a particular subject. Well, that and the fact that I just have a lot to talk about sometimes :)

I'll put a link here in case you're interested in the game:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.MikaMobile.Zombieville2&hl=en

Thanks so much for reading, and with that, I'll see you guys later!