Portal:Video games Information

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is an action-adventure video game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Eidos Interactive. It was released for the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows in 1999 and for the Dreamcast in 2000. As the second game in the Legacy of Kain series, Soul Reaver is the sequel to Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Soul Reaver was followed by three games, one of which, Soul Reaver 2, is a direct sequel.

Taking place 1500 years after the events of Blood Omen, Soul Reaver chronicles the journey of the vampire-turned- wraith Raziel, lieutenant to the vampire lord Kain. Raziel is killed by Kain, but is revived by The Elder God to become his "soul reaver" and to exact revenge. Raziel shares this title with Kain's sword, the Soul Reaver, which he acquires during the game. ( Full article...)

Empires: Dawn of the Modern World is a 2003 real-time strategy video game developed by Stainless Steel Studios and published by Activision. Set in a world-historical period that extends from the Middle Ages to World War II, the game tasks players with guiding one of nine rival great civilizations to victory. Customer surveys from Stainless Steel's previous game, Empire Earth, were used as a starting point for Empires: these inspired the team to take a more minimalist design approach, and to include civilizations without overlapping styles of play. Empires was positively received by critics, who enjoyed its multiplayer component. However, certain reviewers disliked its single-player mode, and opinion clashed on the game's level of uniqueness compared to competitors such as Rise of Nations. The sales of Empires, when combined with those of Empire Earth, totaled 2.5 million units by 2004. ( Full article...)

Chrono Trigger is a 1995 role-playing video game developed and published by Square. It was originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as the first game in the Chrono series. The game's development team included three designers that Square dubbed the "Dream Team": Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Square's Final Fantasy series; Yuji Horii, creator of Enix's Dragon Quest series; and Akira Toriyama, character designer of Dragon Quest and author of the Dragon Ball manga series. In addition, Kazuhiko Aoki produced the game, Masato Kato wrote most of the story, while composer Yasunori Mitsuda wrote most of the soundtrack before falling ill and deferring the remaining tracks to Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu. The game's story follows a group of adventurers who travel through time to prevent a global catastrophe.

Chrono Trigger was a critical and commercial success upon release and is frequently cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. Nintendo Power magazine described aspects of the game as revolutionary, including its multiple endings, plot-related side-quests focusing on character development, unique battle system, and detailed graphics. Chrono Trigger was the second best-selling game of 1995 in Japan, and shipped 2.65 million copies worldwide by March 2003. Excluding the PC version, the game had shipped over 3.5 million copies worldwide by February 2018. ( Full article...)

Proteus is a 2013 exploration and walking simulator video game designed and created by Ed Key and David Kanaga for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. In the game, the player traverses a procedurally generated environment without prescribed goals. The world's flora and fauna emit unique musical signatures, combinations of which cause dynamic shifts in audio based on the player's surroundings.

The game began development in 2008. Key first conceived Proteus as an open-ended role-playing game akin to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion but, because of the work required for such a project, later redesigned it to be "nontraditional and nonviolent". Audio designer and composer David Kanaga joined the project in 2010. Versions for the PlayStation 3 video game console and Vita handheld console were developed by Curve Studios, whose team added new gameplay features to the Vita edition at Sony's request. ( Full article...)

Wipeout 2048 is a racing video game in which players pilot anti-gravity ships around futuristic race tracks. It was developed by Studio Liverpool and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The game, which was a launch title for the Sony PlayStation Vita hand-held console, was released worldwide in 2012. It is the ninth installment of the Wipeout series and the last game to be developed by Studio Liverpool before its closure in August 2012. Wipeout 2048 is a prequel to the first game in the series and is set in the years 2048, 2049, and 2050.

The game was designed as a test-bed for the PlayStation Vita. During development, Studio Liverpool staff sent feedback about aspects of the game that could affect the design of the new console to Sony. Ideas for improvements to the device, including the addition of a rear touchscreen and two separate joysticks, which were not part of Sony's original design, were eventually added to the Vita. ( Full article...)

Islands: Non-Places is a 2016 abstract art game developed and published independently by artist and animator Carl Burton, best known for the animated GIF illustrations he created for season two of the Serial podcast. The game was released on November 17, 2016, on iOS, Windows, Mac, and Linux, and consists of a series of anonymous, liminal environments – the eponymous " non-places". These scenes appear mundane at first, but become increasingly surreal as the player interacts with the scenery.

Each place is rendered in the stylized manner that characterizes Burton's work, with solid monotone colors, dark shadows, and foggy backgrounds. The gameplay is minimal and consists mainly of clicking on the environment and observing what unfolds, a design choice that Burton hoped would engender a sense of slight confusion in the player without overwhelming them with difficult puzzles. In developing Islands, Burton drew inspiration from diverse sources, including the work of anthropologist Marc Augé, the installation art of James Turrell, and the field recordings of Chris Watson. ( Full article...)

Mass Effect 2 is an action role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in 2010, and for PlayStation 3 in 2011. It is the second installment in the Mass Effect series and a sequel to the original Mass Effect. The game takes place within the Milky Way galaxy during the 22nd century, where humanity is threatened by an insectoid alien race known as the Collectors. The player assumes the role of Commander Shepard, an elite human soldier who must assemble and gain the loyalty of a diverse team to stop the Collectors in a suicide mission. With the use of a completed saved game of its predecessor, the player can impact the story of the game in numerous ways.

For the game, BioWare changed several gameplay elements and put further emphasis on third-person shooter aspects, including limited ammunition and regenerable health. In contrast to the exclusive focus on the main story of the original Mass Effect, the developers opted to create a plot where optional missions had as much intensity as the main mission. Mass Effect composer Jack Wall returned to compose Mass Effect 2's music, aiming for a darker and more mature sound to match the mood of the game. Mass Effect 2 also supports a variety of downloadable content packs, ranging from single in-game character outfits to entirely new plot-related missions. Notable packs include Kasumi – Stolen Memory, Overlord, Lair of the Shadow Broker, and Arrival. ( Full article...)

God of War is an action-adventure hack and slash video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). First released on March 22, 2005, for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) console, it is the first installment in the series of the same name and the third chronologically. Loosely based on Greek mythology, it is set in ancient Greece with vengeance as its central motif. The player controls the protagonist Kratos, a Spartan warrior who serves the Olympian Gods. The goddess Athena tasks Kratos with killing Ares, the God of War and Kratos' former mentor who tricked Kratos into killing his wife and daughter. As Ares besieges Athens out of hatred for Athena, Kratos embarks on a quest to find the one object capable of stopping the god once and for all: Pandora's Box.

The gameplay of God of War focuses on combo-based combat, achieved through the player's main weapon—the Blades of Chaos—and a secondary weapon acquired later in the game. It features quick time events that require the player to complete various game controller actions in a timed sequence to defeat stronger enemies and bosses. The player can use up to four magical attacks and a power-enhancing ability as alternative combat options. It also features puzzles and platforming elements. ( Full article...)

Panzer Dragoon Saga, known in Japan as Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG, is a 1998 role-playing video game developed by Team Andromeda and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn. It departs from the linear rail shooter gameplay of the Panzer Dragoon series, introducing RPG elements such as random encounters, semi- turn-based battles, and free-roaming exploration. The player controls Edge, a young mercenary who rides a dragon and encounters a mysterious girl from a vanished civilization.

Sega felt an RPG was critical to compete against the PlayStation and Final Fantasy. Development began in early 1995 alongside Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (1996). The project was arduous and repeatedly delayed; incorporating the series' shooting elements with full 3D computer graphics and voice acting, both unusual features in RPGs at the time, pushed the Saturn to its technical limits and strained team relations. Two staff members died during development, which director Yukio Futatsugi attributed to stressful working conditions. ( Full article...)

Aquaria is a side-scrolling action-adventure game designed by Alec Holowka and Derek Yu, who published the game in 2007 as the independent game company Bit Blot. The game follows Naija, an aquatic humanoid woman, as she explores the underwater world of Aquaria. Along her journey, she learns about the history of the world she inhabits as well as her own past. The gameplay focuses on a combination of swimming, singing, and combat, through which Naija can interact with the world. Her songs can move items, affect plants and animals, and change her physical appearance into other forms that have different abilities, like firing projectiles at hostile creatures, or passing through barriers inaccessible to her in her natural form.

After more than two years of development, the game was released in late 2007 for Windows. A port of the game to Mac OS X was released in 2008 by Ambrosia Software, and an updated version of the game was released on the Steam service that same year. A Linux version of the game was released as part of the first Humble Indie Bundle collection in 2010, a version for the iPad was released in 2011, and an Android version debuted in 2013 alongside another Humble Bundle collection. In 2009, an album with the Aquaria soundtrack was released. It includes all of the music in the game, as well as a new nine-minute vocal track and a few remixes. ( Full article...)

SD Gundam Dimension War is a 1995 tactical role-playing video game published for the Virtual Boy in Japan by Bandai. Being the system's only licensed game in Japan, it is part of the SD Gundam series, a spin-off of the larger Gundam franchise by Sotsu and Sunrise. Players control a fleet of robots and vehicles as they set out to rid the galaxy of enemies, with gameplay involving moving robots towards opponents and engaging in combat sequences.

Developed by Locomotive Corporation, Dimension War is the last Virtual Boy game released in Japan, produced following a final call from Nintendo before they ceased support for the system. It is one of few Gundam games not to have any involvement from Tose, who developed the majority of games in the series up to that point. Retrospectively, Dimension War received largely negative reviews for its structure, pacing, and combat scenarios, and is listed as being one of system's worst titles. It is one of the rarest and most sought-after Virtual Boy games, with original copies selling for over US$1000 in the second-hand market. ( Full article...)

Mega Man Network Transmission, known in Japan as Rockman EXE Transmission (ロックマン エグゼ トランスミッション), is a video game developed by Arika and published by Capcom for the GameCube console. The game was first released in Japan on 6 March 2003, and in North America and PAL regions the following June. The European version featured a completely different logo, which was also used on Mega Man X7, Mega Man X8, Mega Man X: Command Mission, Mega Man Zero 2, Mega Man Zero 3, Mega Man Zero 4, Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge, Mega Man Battle Network 3, Mega Man Battle Network 4, and Mega Man Battle Network 5. Network Transmission is part of the Mega Man Battle Network series, which originated on the Game Boy Advance (GBA) handheld.

Taking place one month after the events of the first Megaman Battle Network game, the plot follows the protagonist Lan Hikari and his online avatar MegaMan.EXE in their fight against the " WWW (World Three)" organization and its attempt to unleash and spread the infectious "Zero Virus" into cyberspace. The player controls MegaMan through a set of levels that require actions such as jumping, sliding, and shooting, as well as the use of special "Battle Chips" that grant the player various combat and movement abilities. Network Transmission combines action and platforming gameplay elements from older Mega Man games with the strategy and role-playing elements as defined by the Battle Network series. ( Full article...)

Hildegard von Krone (ヒルデガルド・フォン・クローネ, Hirudegarudo fon Kurōne), Hilde (ヒルダ, Hiruda), /ˈhɪldə/ for short, is a fictional character in the Soulcalibur series of video games. Created by Namco's Project Soul division, she first appeared in Soulcalibur IV and its subsequent sequels, later appearing in various merchandise related to the series.

A princess in the fictional European country of Wolfkrone, in Soulcalibur IV she finds her kingdom under attack by Nightmare and his forces. With her father driven insane, she takes control of the kingdom's army and seeks to revive an ancient "Hero King", Algol, in order to bring peace to the land. In Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, the game's Gauntlet storyline (non-canon) revolves around her search for ingredients necessary to cure her father, interacting with various characters in the series. As a video game character, Hilde's fighting style is unique to others in the Soul series, allowing players to "charge" attack command inputs to increase the strength of their offensive strikes. ( Full article...)

Depression Quest is a 2013 interactive fiction game dealing with the subject of depression. It was developed by Zoë Quinn using the Twine engine, with writing by Quinn and Patrick Lindsey, and music by Isaac Schankler. It was first released for the web on February 14, 2013, and for Steam on August 11, 2014. The game tells the story of a person suffering from depression and their attempts to deal with their condition. It was created to foster greater understanding about depression. Depression Quest can be played for free, and has a pay-what-you-want pricing model. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline receives part of the proceeds.

Depression Quest was praised by critics for its portrayal of depression and its educational value. The game was noted for diverging from mainstream uses of video games as a medium. Popular reception was mixed, and Quinn received threats and harassment from people who disapproved of the game. False allegations that the game had received a positive review from a journalist in a relationship with Quinn triggered the Gamergate controversy. ( Full article...)

Gumball is a video game written for the Apple II by Veda Hlubinka-Cook (credited as Robert Cook) and published by Broderbund in 1983. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family, and Commodore 64. The player controls the valves of a maze-like machine to sort gumballs by color.

Broderbund co-founder Doug Carlston conceived of the machine-sorting concept and Cook added the gumball concept and built the core gameplay within a week. A secret image was found three decades after the game's release. Reviewers separately noted the difficulty of the game's later stages, praised its comical elements, and commented on the social role of simulating mundane work. ( Full article...)

Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans is a canceled graphic adventure game developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Animation Magic from 1996 until 1998. Set in the Warcraft universe after the events of Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal, it followed the orc character Thrall in his quest to reunite his race, then living on reservations and in slavery following its defeat by the human Alliance. Assuming the role of Thrall, the player would have used a point-and-click interface to explore the world, solve puzzles and interact with characters from the wider Warcraft series.

Warcraft Adventures was conceived in late 1996, when Blizzard's sister company Capitol Multimedia suggested that the Warcraft license might be suited to an adventure game. As a result, the Blizzard team chose to co-develop the project with Animation Magic, a subdivision of Capitol responsible for the CD-i games from The Legend of Zelda series. While the game design and direction occurred at Blizzard's Irvine, California headquarters, Animation Magic handled the programming and art respectively in Boston and Saint Petersburg, and the studio Toon-Us-In helped to create the cutscenes in South Korea. The team opted for a conservative design approach on Warcraft Adventures, influenced by LucasArts adventure games such as The Dig and Full Throttle. ( Full article...)

Sweet Home is a survival horror role-playing video game developed and published by Capcom for the Family Computer in 1989. It is based on the Japanese horror film of the same name and tells the story of a team of five filmmakers exploring an old mansion in search of precious frescos hidden there. As they explore the mysterious mansion, they encounter hostile ghosts and other supernatural enemies. The player must navigate the intricately laid out mansion, battling with the enemies, and also a permadeath system to keep the player characters alive with the limited weapons and health restorative items available.

The game was directed by Tokuro Fujiwara, who previously worked primarily on arcade games such as Ghosts 'n Goblins (1985). Fujiwara toured the film's set to gather inspiration for the game, and the film's director Kiyoshi Kurosawa gave Fujiwara permission to take some liberties with the game's script. Sweet Home was released in December 1989 exclusively in Japan, where it gathered generally favorable reception and was considered better than the film. The game was never localized to western markets, likely because of the game's gruesome imagery and the unpopularity of role-playing games outside Japan. ( Full article...)

Slither.io is a multiplayer online video game available for iOS, Android, and web browsers, developed by Steve Howse. Players control an avatar resembling a snake, which consumes multi-colored pellets, both from other players and ones that naturally spawn on the map in the game, to grow in size. The objective of the game is to grow the longest snake in the server. Slither.io is similar in concept to the popular 2015 web game Agar.io and is reminiscent of the classic arcade game Snake.

The game grew in popularity following its promotion among several prominent YouTube users such as PewDiePie, and topped the App Store soon after its release. Slither.io's browser version was ranked by Alexa as one of the 1,000 most visited sites by July 2016, while the iOS version ranked first in the most downloaded apps on the App Store. A mobile version of the game for Android was released on March 27, 2016. The reception of the game was positive, with reviewers praising its appearance and customization but criticizing it for its low replay value and the high price users must pay to remove advertisements. ( Full article...)

Tails' Skypatrol is a 1995 horizontal-scrolling shooter video game published in Japan by Sega for the Game Gear. It is a spin-off of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and one of two Game Gear games to star Sonic's sidekick Tails. The player controls the titular character in his quest to stop the evil witch Witchcart before she conquerors an island and turns its inhabitants into crystals. Gameplay involves shooting enemies, collecting power-ups, and defeating bosses.

Skypatrol was developed by Japan System House with assistance from SIMS, a part-owned subsidiary of Sega at the time. It was in development as an educational game for a cancelled handheld system, before being moved to the Game Gear. It did not feature the Sonic branding until it was presented to Sega, which requested the main character be replaced with Tails. Skypatrol received largely negative reviews, with critics focusing specifically on its high difficulty and poor controls. It has been re-released through Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut (2004) and Sonic Gems Collection (2005). ( Full article...)

Secret of Mana, originally released in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 2, is a 1993 action role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sequel to the 1991 game Seiken Densetsu, released in North America as Final Fantasy Adventure and in Europe as Mystic Quest, and it was the first Seiken Densetsu title to be marketed as part of the Mana series rather than the Final Fantasy series. Set in a high fantasy universe, the game follows three heroes as they attempt to prevent an empire from conquering the world with the power of an ancient flying fortress.

Rather than using a turn-based battle system like contemporaneous role-playing games, Secret of Mana features real-time battles with a power bar mechanic. The game has a unique Ring Command menu system, which pauses the action and allows the player to make decisions in the middle of battle. An innovative cooperative multiplayer system allows a second or third player to drop in and out of the game at any time. Secret of Mana was directed and designed by Koichi Ishii, programmed primarily by Nasir Gebelli, and produced by veteran Square designer Hiromichi Tanaka. ( Full article...)