Broforce

What can be said about Broforce that hasn’t already been said about Tony Hawk, lightsabers, and KFC’s Double Down?

Broforce is a side scrolling shoot-em-up title whose heavy inspirations are early shooters and everything related to explosions in the 80s and 90s. Marry the one hit deaths, high ammo count, and hostage rescuing of Contra with destructible terrain and everything Arnold Schwarzenegger and you’ve got it. You take control of one of many action star-inspired characters like Bronan the Brobarian, B.A Broracus, Bro Dredd, the Brominator, and many more. Each character has their own abilities and moves to take down a sea of bad guys to make it to the end of the stage, shoot Satan in his stupid face, and fly away on a sweet helicopter. The controls are tight and constantly switching characters upon death keeps things very interesting. Add in killer multiplayer action and this is easily going to be the next big party game for anyone who hears about it.

It’s been compared to video game version of The Expendables and it’s so apt. I can’t wait until I can sit on my couch with some Mountain Dew Code Red, crank the Beastie Boys, flip my baseball cap backwards, and settle in for an American ton of fun.

You can also hear my full interview with Evan, one of the creators of Broforce here:

Developer/Publisher: Free Lives/Devolver Digital

Release Date: Out now on Steam Early Access, planned release on consoles

Transistor

The latest title from Bastion creator Supergiant Games was unveiled right before PAX East last year and the demo was already pretty great. Fast forward one year and where are we with one of the most anticipated indie games of the year?

Well, the demo was almost identical. Same stage, same general layout, slightly different dialogue. At first I was confused. Why, I wondered, would you show off an old demo when release is imminent? That’s when I discovered what had been hiding under my nose all along — the upgrade system.

Now, the main character not only gains more abilities along the way, but when you level up, you can combine those abilities for form new abilities. So if I have a quick smash and a bouncing projectile ability, I can combine them to add knockback to the projectile. And this addition isn’t just with a set number of abilities. From what I’m told, you can combine any number of abilities with any number of other abilities, making a gargantuan pool of potential power-ups.

If you enjoyed Bastion and the wonderful storytelling abilities of Supergiant, you’re sure to love Transistor. Pick it up on PS4 and PC later this year.

You can hear my interview with the writer of both Bastion and Transistor, Greg Kasavin, here:

Developer/Publisher: Supergiant Games

Release Date: May 20, 2014 for PC and PS4

The Evil Within

Detective Sebastian Castellanos is having a rough day. He and his partners go to the scene of a murder only to find a supernatural force waiting for them. Sebastian is sucked into a world that makes no sense, filled with monsters, trying to fight his way out. Sounds cool, eh?

If it is, I honestly can’t tell. Maybe I’ve been jaded by an oversaturation of games in this genre, but I was really not feeling it. The colors are grey, like a lot of modern games these days, we’ve seen all the weapons before, zombies are the enemies and they just kind of hang around until you get close. Can anyone say Resident Evil?

But take out the creepy stuff and replace it with a general feeling of sleepiness. Like Resident Evil 6/ That’s my impression of The Evil Within — it’s like a more boring version of Resident Evil 6.

I was a little surprised by the guided demo they showed too. It starts with Sebastian in a falling elevator shaft. He yells, clearly startled, and after falling, groans before getting back up. In all that time, his facial expression didn’t change. At all. What is this, PS1? And about halfway through the demo, the game froze to load (no loading screen, just a dead stop) for about five seconds before continuing. You’re supposed to show your best side at an expo and if this is The Evil Within’s best side, it’s release can’t be good. If you’re still interested, you can pick it up later this year.

Developer/Publisher: Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks

Release date: August 26, 2014 for PC, PS3, PS4, 360, and Xbox One.