FiringSquad: What are the team's favorite new monsters in the expansion?
Michael Verrette: One of the great things about Immortal Throne and using Hades as a backdrop is it gave us a little more artistic freedom in terms of the types of creatures we could create. In Titan Quest we tried to stick very closely to the typical mythological creatures that people would be familiar with. With Immortal Throne we were able to take things a little further and push the creature design a bit more than we did in the original game. Creatures such as the Anteok, Odontotyrranus, and the Siege Walkers were very popular around the office.
FiringSquad: What other new content can we expect to see in the expansion?
Michael Verrette: The expansion will also feature caravans, which are a new type of NPC that will store additional equipment for players. They will also allow players to transfer items between all of their characters. So if you stumbled across a great staff with your warrior, you can now transfer that item over to your casting character. As I mentioned before we have also added Enchanters to the game which will allow players to create artifacts and also allow them to separate relics from items - for a fee of course.
Additionally we have added things like an auto-sort in the inventory windows, attribute undo functionality when players level up, complete redesign on the multiplayer lobby with a new advanced search feature, selectable pet AI and new control options, and many other tweaks and enhancements to the existing game systems.
FiringSquad: Will the game get any graphical upgrades for Immortal Throne?
Michael Verrette: The graphics engine is the same as it was in the original Titan Quest with the exception of some optimization and minor features, but we have raised the bar with respect to the look and feel of the levels. The level designers focused on taking advantage of vertical space in Immortal Throne so the new gameplay spaces feature more vistas and more areas where the player will be using elevated gameplay spaces. We have added a lot of environmental effects and particle effects to some of the new levels to establish the mood of Hades, which makes the Immortal Throne content quite different than the original Titan Quest levels.
FiringSquad: What is the status of the expansion's progress and when will it be released?
Michael Verrette: Immortal Throne has gone gold and will be shipping to US stores on March 5th and will be available throughout Europe shortly thereafter.
FiringSquad: What hints can you give us about Iron Lore's plans following the release of the expansion?
Michael Verrette: There isn't much I can say about what we are currently working on at Iron Lore. We hope to continue to grow the Titan Quest franchise and are exploring new and exciting directions to take our next game in.
FiringSquad: Is there anything else you wish to say about Immortal Throne?
Michael Verrette: I would just like to wrap up by saying I think the Immortal Throne really rounds out the Titan Quest experience and adds a new dynamic to the game without making it more complicated for those playing for the first time. Between the new content and replaying the entire campaign with nine new class possibilities I think players will really enjoy what this expansion has to offer.
Elemental: Fallen Enchantress Preview Elemental: Fallen Enchantress is a standalone expansion pack and follow-up to developer Stardock's previous game in the series, subtitled War of Magic. That 4X strategy game was highly-anticipated and slated to compete with games such as Sid Meier's Civilization V for your turn-based strategy play-time, but was released in an incredibly broken and unfinished state that it never fully recovered from. Lead designer Brad Wardell apologized profusely to fans and set out with his team to go back to the drawing board and try again.
Almost two years later, the result of that proverbial mulligan is currently undergoing closed beta testing. In today's article, Will reports his thoughts on how Fallen Enchantress is shaping up, and will tell you whether or not you should be keeping an eye on it as it nears release later this year.
The Elder Scrolls Online Details Leak - Should Fans Be Excited? The Elder Scrolls Online, long rumored to be in development, was officially announced yesterday. Still in development at Zenimax Online Studios, this MMO aims to combine traditional genre mechanics with the spirit and sensibilities, not to mention setting and lore, of the immensely popular series of single-player RPGs. Though the game is set for a full unveiling in the next issue of Game Informer magazine, what appears to be the entire cover story article has been leaked to the interwebs already. In today's article, you'll find summary and analysis of all the alleged details, as well as feast your eyes on the very first screenshots and concept art from the game. Of course, the burning question now is, should you be excited?
ANNO 2070 Review
The year is 2070. The majority of life on Earth was devastated when global sea levels surged after the melting of the polar ice caps. Swaths of previously habitable land are now deep underwater, and sovereign nations are a relic of the past. But there is still hope...
This city-building RTS/simulation game from Ubisoft tasks you with re-colonizing what little land areas are left on the planet following a global warming apocalypse. Does it have what it takes to be worthy of your time and money, or should it be cast out to sea with the rest of civilization? Find out in today's review!
Mass Effect 3 PC Review
This latest release from EA/BioWare is the final entry in their trilogy of sci-fi action RPGs, putting you in a dire situation: rally the troops to save Earth at all costs. There was a lot of hype surrounding the final act of what has been a vast and highly-customizable story-telling experience, and the reception among many hardcore fans has been less than stellar. Even people that haven't played the game have probably heard about all the nerd rage going on over Mass Effect 3's ending...
If you want to cut through all the crap and find out whether or not the rest of ME3 is worth playing, come check out Will's spoiler-free take on the first blockbuster game release of 2012.
Batman: Arkham City PC Review Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to 2009’s smash-hit action game Batman: Arkham Asylum. As the name suggests, you will be reprising your role as the Caped Crusader and going against an even larger 'prison' filled with Gotham's criminals and villains. A textbook example on how to do a proper sequel, Arkham City takes what worked in the original, excised or improved upon what didn’t, and elevated everything to an even greater scope. The PC version suffered from a few months of delay, but in that time, Rocksteady worked closely to NVIDIA to implement some familiar technologies from the last game, such as PhysX and 3D Vision, along with new DirectX 11 optimizations. But how well was the whole package executed? Read on to find out!
Saints Row: The Third PC Review Saints Row is one of most unique series of games to build upon the open-world action template forged by Grand Theft Auto, and has met with plenty of critical and commercial success since it began on consoles back in 2006. This latest iteration, titled Saints Row: The Third promises the most outlandish fun and freedom of customization of them all, and in a much more PC-friendly package than its predecessor. Does it live up to those expectations and, more importantly, is it worth the price of admission? Find out in Will's latest review!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim PC Review The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is Bethesda Softworks’ latest offering in their series of epic fantasy RPGs, as well as one of the most highly-anticipated PC titles of 2011. As the Dovahkiin, or Dragonborn, prepare to take the fight to the mythical beasts that have returned to the realm after centuries of slumber, all the while exploring a huge and highly-detailed open world.
The PC version of the game promises enhanced graphical fidelity, standard RPG trimmings such as hotkeys and quick-save, as well as unbridled mod support, something we’ll all be thankful for once they release that SDK. Skyrim has already sold millions of copies and set records for play-time on Steam... Find out why in today's review, which happens to be one of the biggest and most in-depth articles on the subject out there!
L.A. Noire Complete Edition PC Review L.A. Noire, as the name clearly states, is a video game built on the tropes of one of the greatest periods of American cinema: film noir. Developed by the now defunct Australian developer Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games, this title has been out on consoles for a full six months before finally making its way to the PC. This “Complete Edition” of the game features improved graphics, keyboard/mouse controls, and every bit of previously-released DLC for free. But was it truly worth the wait? Read on and find out!
Mass Effect 3 PC Demo Impressions Mass Effect 3, EA/BioWare's third iteration in their series of sci-fi action RPGs and one of the most anticipated titles of the year, is fast approaching its March 6th release. This week, though, they released a playable demo on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 that offers a glimpse into both the single-player and multi-player portions of the full game.
Whether you're waiting impatiently for your download to finish or don't have the time to check it out yourself, go ahead and read some impressions of the demo from resident FSers Synch and Vandy in today's article!
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Xbox 360 Review
The self-appointed "most anticipated game in history" launched worldwide this past Tuesday. Why, it's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, of course (of course), what else? Unsurprisingly, the military FPS debate between this and Battlefield 3 rages on, but now that both have been released, surely we can take a look and objectively evaluate them both? Luke's taken the Xbox version of MW3 for a spin this week, so to find out what he thinks of it in today's review!
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