Tag: blends
Dead Island 2’s latest trailer blends zombies and Alexa voice commands
When Dead Island 2 remerged earlier this year after a lengthy absence, publisher Deep Silver announced it would be the first title to support Amazon’s Alexa Game Control, a feature that allows you to use your voice to play a game. On Tuesday, the company shared a trailer showcasing the functionality, albeit one that offers a staged view of things.
The trailer opens with a group of zombie apocalypse survivors finding a playable build of Dead Island 2. “What a weird coincidence,” says one of the characters, commenting on the meta-narrative. “What’s Alexa Game Control?” asks the leader of the group. As one of their friends goes outside for a smoke, the video shows how certain voice commands will trigger actions within the game. “Hey zombie,” for example, draws the attention of the nearest undead. You can also say, “get me my ax” to cause your character to, well, switch to their ax.
Not every voice command that’s in the game is shown off in the trailer. An Amazon spokesperson told The Verge you’ll be able to use your voice to do things like set waypoints and greet other characters. Alexa Voice Control doesn’t require an Echo device. All you need is a headset with a microphone. We’ll get a chance to see how well the voice commands work when Dead Island 2, after nearly a decade of development, finally arrives on April 28th.
RimWorld update 1.4 blends the Ideology and Biotech expansions
Colony management game RimWorld just saw the launch of a big expansion that adds all kinds of new genetic and robotic possibilities to the mix. With the latest RimWorld update, the Biotech Expansion becomes more compatible with other components of the game – specifically, the Ideology expansion that launched last year. The combined expansions offer new narrative possibilities in RimWorld, and they all can add interesting wrinkles to your next colony.
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Jack Move review: a bite-sized JRPG that blends Neuromancer with Final Fantasy VII
It cannot be a coincidence that 1997 is a pivotal year in the world of Jack Move. In the game, it’s the year everything went dark in this turn-based Japanese-style RPG, with a solar storm biffing the world’s electronics. It threw the world into chaos, giving rise to the megacorps that now control the dystopian cyberpunk society where our heroine Noa is trying to make a living. In the real world, of course, 1997 was the year Final Fantasy VII came out, the seminal JRPG that Jack Move owes a great deal to (right down to its menu plink plink sound). Developers So Romantic have said outright that it’s been one of the main inspirations for Jack Move, and its shady corporate powers and grungy urban landscape certainly feel of a piece with ShinRa’s grip on the city of Midgar.
But the bigwigs at MonoMind aren’t out to poison the world and suck the life from it in Jack Move. Instead, they’re more concerned with using their newfound technological powers to find eternal life – a classic ‘upload your mind to the metaverse’ kind of tale you’ll probably recognise if you’ve read any of the cyberpunk 101 novels such as William Gibson’s Neuromancer or Permutation City by Greg Egan. Jack Move’s story doesn’t tread any new ground in this respect, but Noa and her hacker pal Ryder are a fiery spirited pair that make this six-hour tale of espionage and rebellion against its cartoonish villain well worth dipping into. Yes, you read that correctly. A JRPG you can polish off in a single day of play. Bliss.
Disney Dreamlight Valley blends Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing
With the success of games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, ‘life simulators’ are a dime a dozen these days, especially ones with farming elements. Few life games have the appeal of such well known and beloved characters as Disney Dreamlight Valley however, giving it a bit of an edge right from the get-go. It’s clear that this is geared towards children just as much as adults, so don’t expect the romancing shenanigans of Stardew, but Dreamlight Valley certainly has something for everyone.
There’s no beating around the bush when it comes to just how Disney Dreamlight Valley is – Merlin shows up right away and enlists your help as the magical saviour of the titular town, before introducing you to Scrooge McDuck, Goofy, and the big fella himself, Mickey Mouse. Four of the biggest Disney names are your fellow villagers from day one, and it’s these folks who set your first few tasks, whether it’s searching the meadow for basil and oregano so Goofy can teach you how to cook, or learning how to enter other worlds to save Merlin’s friends.