Dungeon Defenders looks set to try and please everyone by combining tower defence gaming with RPG combat and some zany ‘toon’ stylin’. Plot and character development matter little when over 100 monsters are on their way to destroy your castle as you are given direct control over your various troops, defences and customisable hero. Developer Trendy Entertainment promises a myriad of stat building, upgrades, familiars and unique weaponry that can be displayed for all to drool over in your very own Adventurer’s Tavern.

The PSN version of Dungeon Defenders will support the PlayStation Move peripheral and 3D viewing while the PC version will allow you to make your own mods, leaving Xbox Live players feeling a little worse for wear. All gaming formats will allow up to four players to team up for some split screen or online action, with participants able to join and leave the game without interrupting the overall flow.

This jaded gamer can’t help but remember many average downloadable games for every gem like Plants vs Zombies, Peggle or Limbo. In a market where many games have press releases that claim addictive game-play, or direct inspiration from other successful titles, it should be originality and depth of experience that really separate the quality from the drek.  One can only hope.

Dungeon Defenders is due for release in spring 2010.

In this episode: Mafia II, Gun Loco, Resistance 3, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, Hydrophobia, Captain Smiley, Super Meat Boy, Bloody Good Time and much more!

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The Panellists: Erin Marcon (@ErinMarcon), Karen Jacobson (@KarenMJacobson), David Walden (@Havok73) and Peter Nickless

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Related links: What… the… hell?; nanoBITES 8; Ratchet & Clank drought finally over; Resistance continues; The (near) future of XBLA

Retail Roundup is your indispensible checklist of the titles arriving in stores this week.

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Looking for a list of last week’s downloadable games? Check out our latest Downloadable Digest.

Here it is, your handy reminder of the new downloadable titles released last week.

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Looking for a list of this week’s disc based games? Check out our latest Retail Roundup.

Welcome to the Black List, our regular retrospective on the week in games.

On MONDAY, we brought you an interview with the creator of Jolly Rover, the Best Australian Game at the recent Freeplay awards.

On TUESDAY, Karen travelled back to the 1950s not only to ensure that her parents met one another, but also to review time bending first person shooter Singularity.

On WEDNESDAY, we examined the Xbox Live Arcade release schedule for the next two months and took another cheap shot at Hydrophobia in the process.

On THURSDAY, we brought you the latest on Project Sword, MotoHeroz, Bangai-O and more and more in nanoBITES our ongoing feature devoted to small but important news items.

On FRIDAY, we covered the announcement of Bloody Good Time before being forced to apologise to Australia’s clown community.

Thanks for reading.

Erin Marcon (@ErinMarcon)

Editor

Fans of comedic shooters have been well served in recent years. The rabid online communities for Team Fortress 2 and the more recent Monday Night Combat suggest a growing interest in games that combine playful cartoon graphics with… err… savage acts of violence. You know, it’s probably best not to examine these things too closely. Instead, let us turn our attention to the announcement of Bloody Good Time, a multiplayer focused first person shooter from Ubisoft and Scottish developer Outerlight.

Bloody Good Time pits a cast of would-be Hollywood stars against one another in a frantic battle for survival. If you’ve been waiting for the chance to shoot a “bikini beach babe” then this could well be the game for you. Also, you should definitely see someone about that. On a brighter note, you’ll have ample opportunity to gun down circus clowns, which most will agree is a public service. Did I mention that the game features mobile explosives disguised as rats? Well, it does.

Bloody Good Time is actually a sequel of sorts to Outerlight’s The Ship, which began life as a Half-Life mod before achieving a commercial release in 2006. The new game is scheduled for release on Xbox Live Arcade and Steam in spring 2010.

I’ve been guilty of prejudging games in the past, so I’m definitely not going to say that this looks cheap, profoundly unfunny and filled with misogynistic stereotypes.

NanoBITES captures those small but important morsels of gaming information that otherwise might slip between the cracks.

ITEM! Epic Games has revealed that it will publish Project Sword, an iPhone fantasy action game from Shadow Complex developer Chair Entertainment. Powered by Unreal Engine 3, Project Sword is due for release later this year.

ITEM! The studio responsible for the diabolically challenging, though strangely addictive, Trials HD is returning to the track. RedLynx has revealed that its next project will be MotoHeroz, a racing platformer for Nintendo’s WiiWare service.

ITEM! Microsoft is preparing to release a revised Xbox 360 controller. The new model features a (fighting game friendly) adjustable D-Pad. There has been no word thus far on an Australian release.

ITEM! Infinite Interactive’s Puzzle Quest 2 is coming to the PSP in the form of a PSN download in late 2010.

ITEM! D3Publisher has announced plans to bring Treasure developed bullet hell shooter Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury to the Xbox Live Arcade. The series originated on the N64 in 1999.

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Dark Energy Digital’s offices are flooded yet again. No wonder we’re still waiting for Hydrophobia…

Microsoft’s Major Nelson has gazed into his crystal ball. Instead of sneaking a peak at the lotto numbers, he’s unveiled the Xbox Live Arcade line-up for the next two months, or at least a large proportion thereof. Let’s take a look.

Wednesday 8 September: Hmmm. A tough choice first up. PopCap’s diabolically addictive tower defence game Plants vs Zombies or budget Wii port Dance! It’s Your Stage? Thank goodness we have a week to think about it.

Wednesday 15 September: Sonic Adventure becomes the latest Dreamcast title to grace the service. SEGA’s fast paced 3D platformer was originally issued in 1999 and is considered by some critics to be the last great Sonic game.

Wednesday 29 September: Not a dream! Not a hoax! It appears that Dark Energy Digital’s perennially delayed undersea action game Hydrophobia is finally set to surface. We’ll believe it when we see it.

Wednesday 6 October: Drawing inspiration from various eras of American and Japanese comic books, Comic Jumper is the latest platformer from talented ‘Splosion Man developer Twisted Pixel.

Wednesday 13 October: Zen Studios’ Pinball FX would be a lot more fun if we could work out what the hell was going on. Perhaps the creatively named Pinball FX 2 will help us make sense of it all.

Wednesday 20 October: Indie darling Super Meat Boy finally gets its moment in the sun, which is probably isn’t all that hygienic. Who wants to play as a chunk of meat? Wow, a surprising number of you. That’s kind of disturbing.

Many science-fiction writers have given it due consideration and even Cher flirted with the idea in the late 80s,  but only Raven Software are able to provide us with the experience of being able to turn back time. At its core, Singularity is a straightforward first person shooter. However the ability to manipulate time is integral to both its storyline and gameplay.

The plot revolves around Katorga-12, an island that the Russians used to conduct experiments in the 1950s. After scientists attempted to form a singularity, it blew up Chernobyl style. Cut to 2010 and you’re a part of a Black Ops team sent to investigate radiation that has been emitting from Katora-12. Within minutes, the helicopter which is flying you to the island spins out of control and crashes. You awake to some nasty surprises including the revelation that these experiments have created, wait for it, mutant monsters. Will they never learn?

Once on the island, you begin to experience time shifts, during which you see ghostly figures from the past arguing about the morality of the experiments or fleeing for their lives after the explosion. At one stage you walk into a school classroom and you watch as the teacher instructs her children to hide under the desk in readiness for an explosion. When you snap back into present time, you see the charred bodies of the children still under those desks. This is a much more engaging method of storytelling than the old note left behind scenario or, as is now almost as common, audio recordings. Unfortunately Singularity doesn’t completely break the shackles of video game conventions and throws in its fair share of notes and recordings as well.

Fortunately, the graphics provide as much information about the story as those tiresome notes. This is especially the case as you seamlessly shift from present time to 1955. The environment changes from a run down, dishevelled wasteland of greys and browns to the sterile white and pastille surroundings of the Katora-12 before it all went to hell.

Once you obtain the Time Manipulation Device (I guess the place blew up before they had a chance to give it a decent name), you can completely transfer back to 1955. Unfortunately Singularity is, in some respects, a very linear game and you can only travel back in time when the narrative cues you to do so. The lack of autonomy is somewhat disappointing when you consider potential of the Time Man… let’s just call it the TMD.

Throughout the earlier levels you use the TMD to ‘age’ or ‘renew’ objects to solve puzzles, reveal information or uncover hidden supplies. You can also use the ‘age’ or ‘renew’ functions to devastating effect against your enemies. Eventually you gain the power to create bubbles which manipulate time or turn enemies into blind monsters who will attack anything that makes a noise (including you unfortunately).

Although there is not a huge array of weapons in Singularity, the combination of guns and the TMD, provide you with enough gameplay variety and, let’s say, satisfaction in finishing off your enemies.

You have your standard first person shooter fair including a nifty sniper rifle which has the capacity to briefly slow time. All of these weapons and a few others are ‘stored’ in a series of magical lockers. Once you pick up a weapon, it will be conveniently available to collect or upgrade in any of the lockers throughout any of the levels. This gives you the freedom and enjoyment of trying new weapons without risking losing your favourites.

There are a couple of exceptions to this locker storage bonus and they are the ‘special’ weapons. If you’re anything like me, you’ll come to depend upon, and perhaps even love, The Seeker. This high powered rifle allows you to shoot its explosive ammo and then guide the bullet in slow motion.  You can then watch your handy work as it slowly destroys your enemies. The sweet memories I have of blowing off an enemy’s head and watching the blood gush out is….sorry, I must remember to cut this section out of the review.

There’s a decent variety of enemies. You have numerous Russian soldiers and a bunch of grotesque mutant monsters. Each class of soldier has a particular type of gun and capabilities. Each monster has its own (sometimes disgusting) way of damaging you. One such mutant is the Revert. Vomit is its weapon and, let me tell you, it’s mighty powerful and more than a little ‘ick’.

The multiplayer is somewhat limited, and certainly not populated with a large number of gamers. However, I did enjoy the opportunity to play some of monsters that caused me such headaches during the single player campaign. There are only two modes of multiplayer in Singularity. One is Extermination (renew or defend your beacons) and the other is Monsters Vs Soldiers (a team death match style encounter). Both modes have you playing with either a team of monsters (in a third person perspective) or a team of soldiers (first person). There is joy to be had as you vomit on your opponents or lash out at them with your claws. However, once you play all the monsters, your interest in the multiplayer mode begins to wane. Like most games, other than bigger titles such as Halo or Call of Duty, there is probably not going to be a great deal of longevity in the multiplayer facet. Raven Software has understandably opted for a smaller niche multiplayer mode, rather than trying to complete with the aforementioned.

The selling point of the Singularity is the single player campaign. The solid story, which allows you to experience all three ending one after the other, provides an engaging backdrop to some fun first person shooter action.  Those who enjoy the combination of powers and weapons in games such as BioShock will likely get something out of Singularity. The time travel element provided a really strong basis for the game, but Raven could have done so much more with it.

I’ve spent the past few days sinking my canines into Jolly Rover, a traditional point-and-click adventure from Australian developer Brawsome. In a genre sometimes considered inaccessible, if not deliberately obscure, Jolly Rover impresses with its subtle comedy, logical puzzles and mercifully understated voice-acting. We spoke to Brawsome’s Andrew Goulding shortly after Jolly Rover received the 2010 Freeplay Award for Best Australian Game.

Jolly Rover’s most assured feature is its script. I’m therefore surprised when Goulding identifies it as an area of concern. “Being my first time writing for a game this was the thing I was most worried about. It was also the thing I most cared about because I want to do more of it. I thought I could write for a game, but wouldn’t know for sure until it was out there.” Though he lists “design and writing” as his chief interests, the economic reality of independent development saw Goulding wear a range of hats. “I took on just about everything that didn’t constitute art and audio,” he says, citing programming, voice casting and marketing among his many responsibilities.

In announcing Tales of Monkey Island, LucasArts and Telltale Games inadvertently triggered the darkest chapter in Jolly Rover’s development. While comparisons with the pirate themed classics were already inevitable, Goulding now faced the prospect of sharing virtual shelf space with the genre’s most celebrated franchise. “I almost wanted to quit when I heard that news,” he says. “I didn’t want to be seen as a ‘me-too’ product. But I’d come so far I couldn’t bear to quit. Plus I thought I could still make my own pirate adventure game that would stand on its own.”

Adventure games have enjoyed something of a renaissance in recent years, with Telltale’s Sam & Max and Capcom’s Phoenix Wright among the more successful efforts. I ask Goulding to identify the impetus for the genre’s return to the mainstream, only to discover that my question may be based on a false premise. “I’d hardly say ‘returned to the mainstream’,” he says. “Yes Telltale has been the champion of adventure games but I don’t know if it’s really mainstream in the same sense that Halo, Call of Duty or Wii Fit is mainstream.” I take this as confirmation that Wii Balance Board support is coming to Jolly Rover, but you probably shouldn’t.

Though he feels that adventure games “may never get to the top spot again”, Goulding is encouraged by the proliferation of the genre, stating that “the increase in the number of titles can I think be directly linked to digital distribution”. Jolly Rover is already available to download from no fewer than seven online stores, including industry leader Steam. “Before digital distribution if you wanted to get a game out you’d need to convince a publisher it was going to sell. Now, you can just get it out there online. It allows you to reach niche audiences with lower overheads.” According to Goulding, taking “out the middleman has allowed developers to actually make a living doing what they love.”

However, his decision to bring Jolly Rover to Steam wasn’t universally welcomed by those anticipating the game. “I’d heard some people didn’t like Steam,” he confirms, “but it did surprise me how vocal some people were about it after the game was released. I think Steam is hands-down the best digital distribution method for gamers and developers. I saw distribution on Steam as key to success. And I have certainly seen the bulk of revenue come from Steam. Honestly, without Steam, Jolly Rover could have been an abject failure.”

In 2003, Goulding used the fan-friendly Adventure Game Studio toolset to release Just Another Point and Click Adventure. He was part of a small but dedicated community of enthusiasts sustaining a genre that, at least in a financial sense, had long since collapsed. Therefore, it’s hardly surprising that he decided to abandon the genre when he set out to make his fortune. Actually, that’s a blatant lie. History tells us that Goulding contributed to the development of casual adventure games Emerald City Confidential and Avenue Flo before releasing Jolly Rover into a hostile market. “I was concerned about the commercial prospects of Jolly Rover,” he concedes, “but if you look around there are still high quality adventure games being made and selling, though they’re not selling in great numbers, as far as I know.”

While cognisant of the trials awaiting him, Goulding remained confident that his game could appeal to an underserviced niche. “The adventures games that are being made are for the most part high-end 3D games with a focus on realism, or low-end 2D titles. Telltale, I believe, comes in at a sweet spot between the two and focuses on characters and story and a more cartoony style, but they’re also episodic. With Jolly Rover I felt there was a hole in the market for a high quality full length 2D adventure. There are other companies doing that as well, such as Daedalic with The Whispered World, but I still felt Jolly Rover would find its place among these few titles.”

We ask Goulding to list some of the stumbling blocks that he faced in bringing Jolly Rover to market. “Distribution and marketing were the two biggest challenges,” he says, “mostly because I didn’t know exactly how I would get them.” Fortunately, as an active participant in the indie development community, Goulding was able to trade “ideas and expertise” with his fellow creators. “It seems we band together around the business aspects because they’re the things we’re all still figuring out,” he says. This spirit of cooperation doesn’t appear to apply to the creative aspect of development, at least not to the same extent. “We don’t talk about design much, we figure we’ve got that covered. We all have our own unique ideas and actually keep them fairly close to our chest. But we’re quite open about the marketing, distribution and networking side of things.”

Though many have described the iPhone as the perfect canvas for adventure games, Goulding once had his eye on an entirely different handheld console. “I originally wanted to bring Jolly Rover to the DS,” he says, “because I thought that was the ideal platform for adventure games.” He is certainly not alone in his assessment, with Lost in Blue, Hotel Dusk and Another Code among the dozens of adventure titles already available on the format. Though Jolly Rover is going great guns (or should that be muskets) as a PC release, it’s clear that Goulding still harbours a desire to see his baby released on other systems. As for the iPhone, he remains uncertain. “The screen does seem a little small for adventure games,” he muses. “I think I’d prefer to port Jolly Rover to the iPad, but I wouldn’t mind seeing how it would look on the iPhone, even if I don’t release it.”

What’s next for Andrew Goulding and Brawsome? “Currently I’m working pretty much full time on various contracts for other people. This is just to make ends meet, so unfortunately I don’t have the luxury of time to develop my own ideas.” This is not to suggest, however, that Goulding will permit economic concerns to derail his artistic ambitions. “There are plans for a sequel to Jolly Rover,” he says, “but development on that won’t start until I can do a game on the same scale as the original, which was quite large.”

He also alludes to a second, as yet unannounced, project. “I am talking with a designer friend about a potential new design of a puzzle game with adventure elements, which is looking pretty cool and I’m getting excited about it. We’d like to apply for funding to get the project off the ground, but I’m not entirely ruling out talking to the right publisher. So, any publishers reading this, come talk to the award winning Jolly Rover developer Brawsome about an awesome new project.”

Jolly Rover is available now on Steam, Club Casual and a host of other gaming portals. Our thanks to Andrew Goulding for participating in this discussion.