Mature Gaming » earth

Fallen Earth to increase app range to other mobiles

gazzara — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:25:38 +0000

Following the recent announcement of Icarus Studios’ development of a Fallen Earth mobile companion iPhone application, Icarus Studios, co-developer of Fallen Earth, the critically-acclaimed MMORPG, has teamed up with technology start-up AFK Interactive to extend the Fallen Earth mobile companion application to the Blackberry, Android, Brew, and Java platforms, set to be released in Q2.

The mobile companion application, described by early reviewers as “game changing,” allows Fallen Earth players in-game and real-time access to several key features of the MMOG from their mobile phone. Similar to the upcoming iPhone application, the app will enable players on other mobile devices to log in to the live Fallen Earth server and interact with their character(s) and other players via several different modules such as Chat, Crafting and the Auction House.

“People have been talking about interconnectivity between MMOGs and mobile devices for a long time, but until now, no one has gone so far as to build an app that provides real-time interaction to this level,” said Jim Hettinger, CEO of Icarus Studios. “Just the ability to chat with members of your clan in-game from your mobile phone is a huge benefit, but this product does so much more than that.”

In addition to providing the ability to chat and send and receive in-game mail, the app allows users to perform a number of other tasks, such as:

• Manage crafting queue and craft items
• Access all of the in-game features of the Auction House
• Interact with clan members
• View character profiles
• View the world map

“There are so many other cool features we can pull from the game and bring to the mobile phone,” commented Doug Dyer, President of AFK Interactive. “We’ve built a powerful platform based on commercially-launched technology that’s taken years to develop. This platform enables the app to be run on low-end to high-end mobile devices and will be able to deliver everything from interactive game wikis to virtual goods storefronts that support multiple revenue models and integrated billing. This is the next direction for online games.”

The Fallen Earth mobile companion app will be available for download from the Fallen Earth website in Q2. AFK Interactive will continue to support the product across new devices and operating systems on an ongoing basis. In addition, upgraded versions of the app with new feature modules are planned for the future.

Following the availability of the upcoming applications, several of the Fallen Earth mobile app features will be made available via the Fallen Earth website for players without a compatible mobile device.

Fallen Earth: Reviewed (PC)

Fallen Earth team announces new enhancements

gazzara — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:31:27 +0000

Fallen Earth, LLC today announced the inclusion of several wilderness graphics enhancements, specifically to the elements of scrub—including grass and shrubs—terrain and fog.

Sharpening and blending textures, colors and lighting, the new and improved details enhance the look and feel of the Fallen Earth post-apocalyptic environment and heighten player immersion.

“The environment in Fallen Earth adds so much to the players’ experience,” said Chris Deavellar, art director for Fallen Earth. “We want to capture the mood of the post-apocalyptic world and the improvements certainly enhance the appearance and atmosphere of the game.”

The new, full scrub enhances several environmental aspects, sharpening textures and adding more detail with improvements to the resolution and quality of the previous scrub. With the new enhancements, players who view the landscape in first-person character mode will notice more volume within the brush and grass than before.

Additionally, players will see improvements on terrain as detail textures have been blended to enhance the appearance of the landscape and color maps have also been re-worked in order to provide a smoother blend between shades and augment color variation.

Leaving no environmental element untouched, developers have also incorporated distinctive cloud movement and have further taken a look at fog effects. Improvements on the existing fog equation now enable fog to build up more gradually, distance-wise, to players, creating a more realistic and layered appearance.

“Our team did a wonderful job on the enhancements and we’re sure players will notice the improvements,” said Deavellar.

Although this game has been out for a while, Matuegaming has managed to have a detailed look at this game so expect to see our review very soon.

Fallen Earth: Reviewed (PC)

Fallen Earth: Reviewed (PC)

gazzara — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 07:25:39 +0000

Fallen Earth, the debut MMO from Icarus Studios will always be hard to review. Not because of the scale of the game but simply because any MMO that gets released normally needs a few months to bed in properly as updates, patches and fixes come our way to get the game running correctly. The premise and style of the game itself could easily be seen as a MMo version of Fallout but being so blinded by initial reactions will not make you see the game for what it really is.

OK, so Fallen Earth is set in the post apocolyptic backdrop of Washington DC the wastelands themselves bring tribal communities and their settlements to the forefront to act as mission hubs for players to act out roles and proceed to join up with factions and groups in a quest to complete various storylines and goals.

The story basic story behind Fallen Earth is that it has been attacked by the Shiva virus and a subsequent nuclear war broke out which lay waste to the beautiful landscapes that we all knew and loved. Obviously, there is more guts to the story but the important information is that LifeNet – a subsidiary of a corporation called GlobalTech – has developed a way to clone human beings to help rebuild life as we once knew it. Humans are rebuilt as clones and that is what we play.

Before you start you need to create your character or clone if you will and are provided with an array of options that include tattoos, piercings etc. It is not as heavy as some games that I have seen but more than enough to make you stand out in the world you are about to enter. Once done it is time to go through the basic tutorials of the game and then get released into Fallen Earth itself.

Icarus Studios made a noble attempt to mate shooter mechanics with an MMO here, but I don’t think it works well enough. Any time you mix player skill with random chance, you’re going to get a lot of equally mixed reactions. Take Fallen Earth’s rewarding of shots to the enemy’s head with a critical hit as an example. On one hand, I feel like I’m playing well because I’m shooting my enemy in a small target area while he’s running around like a madman. On the other hand, I just unloaded a dozen bullets into some bandit’s face and he didn’t die. I am clearly not playing a shooter (because that bandit would be dead) and clearly not playing an MMO (because why would I have to worry about aim?), but I’m encountering pitfalls of both.

The control system to Fallen Earth does take a while to get used to. Standard keys and the mouse are used for directions with a hotbar
Even controlling the combat can be a bit of a chore. I constantly found myself forgetting I had a hotbar with skills I could use simply because it took me out of the flow of combat to consider using them. My eyes are on the crosshairs and my hands are on W-A-S-D and my mouse; it seems very counter-intuitive to have to look down at my skills and then use my movement fingers to use my special attacks. It’s not a bad system by design, but it can be very disorienting, especially if you’ve played other shooters or MMOs recently.

Fortunately, Fallen Earth has plenty of other things to suck players in. The quests are well-written and numerous, if a bit standard by design. There are plenty of postal delivery and “kill x monster” quests to go around, but the real star is the dialogue and presentation. It’s rare that I will read so much quest text in any game, much less an MMO, and the quality of the content is clear.

It’s not just entertaining by presentation, either. Fallen Earth is hard! Players looking for a bit more challenge in their MMOs need look no further. The content itself is one thing, but the time investment and required knowledge are another entirely. Fallen Earth is an experience best approached cautiously. There are no respecs, the leveling curve is slow, and it’s very easy to create a sub-optimal character from the very start.

If that isn’t challenging enough, there are ten tradeskills and a ludicrously large amount of recipes for you to sink your time and teeth into. It’s definitely worth the investment, especially if you decide to use firearms in combat. Players either have to craft or buy all of their ammo and you will soon find yourself penniless if you don’t spend some time with the professions.

When it finally comes time to level up, Fallen Earth has no classes, instead opting for a hybridized skill & level-based advancement system that lets players pick which stats and skills advance with each level. In addition to the shared basic abilities, there are both Faction-based skills and Mutations that you can use to further customize your character. In theory, this allows for a lot of variety, but in practice it seems to lead to a lot of min-maxing and balancing problems.

You may have noticed that I seem to balance every bit of praise with a new criticism. Fallen Earth is a game of dualities. It’s immediately comparable to Fallout and yet very different. It’s a shooter-hybridized MMO. It’s a very good game that can burn you with its inaccessibility. It’s a game that you simply cannot play half-heartedly, though it’s tremendously fun in short bursts.

In the end, Fallen Earth is something that every fan of the post-apocalyptic setting, shooters, and massively multiplayer gaming should try. Even if you don’t like it, chances are you’ll recognize uniqueness of the experience and the quality of the world Icarus has created.

Square Enix’s 0 Day Attack On Earth due for Christmas

gazzara — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:34:28 +0000

Square Enix Ltd, today announces 0 DAY ATTACK ON EARTH, a brand new title for Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 will be available from 23rd December, priced 1200 points.The Fight to Protect Earth Begins. High-tech Tokyo is in rubble. The once vibrant New York is ground to a halt. And the City of Light, Paris, is enveloped by darkness and despair.

Hordes of humongous life forms have suddenly and brutally converged on the world’s metropolitan areas, overwhelming the defenceless Earth and paralyzing humanity with unprecedented fear. Those that remain after the initial assault, which would later be known as the 0 Day Attack On Earth, take to the skies in a seven day battle fighting for the survival of all humanity.

Experience exhilarating gameplay as you dodge endless waves of bullets to destroy the enemy. Enter into awesome multiplayer action with up to 4 players in online co-op play and 8 players in VS mode!

EA Sports unveils FIFA Earth

gazzara — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:22:22 +0000

EA SPORTS FIFA EARTH beta is now live at fifa.easports.com. FIFA EARTH is the premier online destination for sharing all the latest FIFA 10 news, stats, rankings, and more.

Through FIFA EARTH players can get closer than ever before to the real life data that drives the EA SPORTS FIFA 10 community. From tracking the number of FIFA 10 games being played online to the number of wins, losses and draws of individual clubs or countries, FIFA EARTH enables you to keep a finger on the pulse of everything happening within the EA SPORTS FIFA community. If your club is starting to slide down the league standing, FIFA EARTH alerts you, enabling you to take control into your own hands to win more games and increase your overall winning-percentage. FIFA EARTH enables users to connect to FIFA 10 fans from all over the world, collecting EA SPORTS FIFA tweets and football thoughts as they occur, in real-time.

And all this is just the beginning. Just as football keeps growing and growing, FIFA EARTH will evolve along with it to become a platform of infinite possibilities. You decide how big football can get!