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The Adventures of Captain Spirit is Slowly Winning Me Over

by Guest Writer June 12, 2018

By: Drew Habersang

If your tastes are anything similar to mine, you sort of cringed watching the announcement trailer for “The Adventures of Captain Spirit”; a new companion game to Dontnod’s Life is Strange. While I’ll concede that I kind of loved the premise of a kid playing make-believe with dramatic cinematic overlays of spaceships and fireballs and so forth, I was unconvinced that there was much of a story there. At least, I was certain that anything I or anyone else could conjure in our minds would easily outperform a game essentially trying to emulate the same thing.

(I know that isn’t the ‘point’ of this or any game but follow me…)

Today, I rewatched the exact same trailer. And, while I wasn’t completely won over, there were a few elements I hadn’t noticed on the initial viewing that led me to believe I had underestimated the game. Yes, the awkwardly proportioned protagonist looks a little old to be playing pretend in a cape, but there was something so downright charming about peering in on the awkward machinations of a lonely nerdy kid and being invited to see his play as he imagines it.

I’m not yet sold that a compelling story can be derived from this premise, but I am very slowly be charmed into believing that such a thing might not be as important as I first believed.

The Adventures of Captain Spirit launches on June 26 on Xbox One, PS4, and PC for the perfectly reasonable price of $0. With literally no barrier to entry, I cannot imagine I won’t at least take it for a spin. I imagine it might be worth it.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

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June 12, 2018 0 comment

Video Games

Madden 2019 Has Some Big Changes and a New Longshot Mode!

by Stephen Duetzmann June 12, 2018

written by Stephen Duetzmann

Madden is yet again setting the bar for football games. Along with maintaining constantly beautiful visuals that add to the immersive experience. EA has begun taking the Madden franchise down the road to being a true football simulator with the addition of Real Player Motion-Locomotion. What they have done is try and find a more nuanced balance between controller responsiveness and authenticity when you are trying to blast through a tackle or break away from the field or even defending those high flying receivers. Players will be able to string moves together for complex movements like Spin to Juke back to Spin to Push The Pile. The intent is very clear that EA wants players to experience the most realistic football experience possible from a visual and mechanical standpoint. These changes along with changes to the Franchise system that will allow Players to level and evaluate players based on specific offensive and defensive schemes would appear to signify a large jump forward toward being their simulator goal.

However, one item that EA did bring back that is not mechanical is the continuation of the “Longshot” story mode that allows you play experience Devin Wade and Colt Cruise’s attempts to keep their NFL dreams alive while life gets in the way. It appears that EA heard their fans on this one and have added more actual gameplay to the story that was lacking in the 2018 version.

Ultimately all this should be great news for the legions of diehard Madden fans as it really is just more of what has already proven to be a very very very successful business model. With that said though for those of us that are casual fans of the franchise, the closer that they move to a true simulator the more difficult that it becomes to just pick up an play. So while I am excited to see where this franchise has come I know that there will be no way that kids will be able to wrap their minds or hands around this game.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

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June 12, 2018 0 comment

Video Games

Bethesda Announced Elder Scrolls: Blades!

by Stephen Duetzmann June 12, 2018

written by Stephen Duetzmann

Bethesda had huge news during their E3 2018 press briefing. They may have just announced competition to Fortnite’s stranglehold on our collective consciousness. They have just announced the release of their first foray into fully mobile Elder Scrolls game. The Elder Scrolls: Blades, coming this fall, will be free-to-play on iPhone, iPad Android devices, consoles, PCs, and high-end VR. It appears to have all the trappings of what we have come to expect from Bethesda and The Elder Scroll franchise, character customization, swords, spells, beautifully rendered visuals, interactive environments, dungeons, and combat, combat and more combat.

Blades will have three distinct gameplay options:

Abyss: A never-ending, progressively more difficult dungeon crawl
Arena: Real-time one on one combat
The Town: You are responsible for rebuilding your town after it is destroyed. Bethesda has indicated that this will be a fully customizable environment that allows you to create to your own preferences and then share what you have created with your friends. i.e. you get to visit them and they can visit you.

So what does this mean to us parents? First of all the as with most Bethesda games, I expect that ultimately it will end up with a rating of T or higher so we will have to keep that in mind when our kids ask if they can download it. Second, this is a mobile game and just like we have said here about Fortnite there are challenges involved in controlling screen time. Third, this will be a cross-platform game that you can play on your iPhone against someone playing on their PC or someone on VR. And finally, Bethesda has made this game one that could be played in either landscape or portrait mode on your phone so it can be played with one or two hands. For parents, it means that while you could more easily play this during work meetings (their words not ours). It also means that you will have to be a bit more diligent if your kids have a tendency to want to sneak in games when they are not supposed to.

Ultimately though, as a fan of The Elders Scrolls franchise, I am excited to play this and am looking forward to putting this through all the paces.

June 12, 2018 0 comment

Video Games

More Story Revealed in New Shadow of the Tomb Raider Trailer

by Guest Writer June 12, 2018

written by Guest Writer

By: Nicole Tanner

The latest trailer for Shadow of the Tomb Raider was shown during Microsoft’s E3 briefing on Sunday. The third in the series since 2013’s reboot of the franchise, Shadow looks to take Lara on a different type of emotional journey than either of the previous games.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is set in the jungles of Mexico where Lara is looking for a sacrificial dagger. She’s trying to outrun Trinity, the shadow organization that was introduced in Rise of the Tomb Raider. She gets to the dagger first, but it seems like she’s made a huge mistake in taking it. We see her confronted by a man who tells her the “cleansing” has begun.

It’s apparent in the trailer that Lara has honed her combat abilities. She looks more brutal in her killings than either of the previous games, but the biggest difference seems to come from her state of mind.

In Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara’s missions are about doing the right thing – not only in her own mind, but also in the context of the story. In Shadow she seems to be placed in a conflict between what she thinks is right and the negative consequences of her decisions.

It’s an interesting place to take her character. At the end of Rise, she had come into her own and became fully confident about her purpose in life. In Shadow it looks like her problem might be overconfidence. Having a humbling experience will add another level of depth to her character, furthering the developers’ goal of making her a believable and relatable character.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider will be released on September 14 for PS4, Xbox One and PC.

June 12, 2018 0 comment

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