Focus Home Interactive

Final Exam was developed by Mighty Rocket Studio and published by Focus Home Interactive. It was originally released on November 8, 2013 for $9.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

Final Examis a game that feels dated from the start. The zombie setting feels like an overused trope here, decided upon not because of any significant meaning to storyline or gameplay mechanics, but because zombies were popular at the time the game was being developed. Any game that casts a group of four people working as a team against zombies is going to owe something to Valve’s Left 4 Dead; Final Exam, owes a little too much — the first boss is called the Tank and looks like a ripoff of the monster from Valve’s popular first-person shooter. The game runs at 30 frames per second, which makes everything feel just a little slower than it should. There’s a neat idea or two to be found here, but nothing that adds up to a game worth any significant investment of time.

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Focus Home Interactive and developer Mighty Rocket Studio have released an overview trailer for the upcoming stylized side-scrolling brawler Final Exam, arriving on Xbox Live Arcade November 8. Most high school …
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Spiders Studio’s next project Bound By Flame is already confirmed for the Xbox 360 early next year. It’s described as a dark fantasy RPG that assimilates much of the gameplay crafted in Mars: War Logs, Spiders’ previous offering, and builds upon that foundation with a bigger budget and more development time.

The premise places you in the role of a cursed mercenary, bound to a demonic being who tempts you with power in exchange for bits of your soul. You’ll choose whether to entertain this pact for shunned power in the face of increasingly deadly opposition, or go it alone, training in the purer ways of the hero. Intriguingly, scenarios and experiences within the game are said to change depending on the entity’s influence over you, altering your appearance in the process.

Combat in Bound By Flame unfolds in real-time, similarly to its predecessor with three skill trees dedicated to the holy trinity of combat, stealth and magic, but expanded to a much a larger degree. On the features front, genre staples confirmed to be making an appearance include: a crafting system to create and improve weapons and armor at both ends of the experience spectrum, the option to customize your character’s gender and facial features, and of course, droves of creatures in all shapes, sizes and levels of lethality.

The first teaser trailer seems to confirm that elves, dwarves, goblins and other high fantasy fare are thankfully missing, opting for a more gothic bestiary with somewhat of a Dark Souls vibe. Finally it should come as no surprise, like both of Spiders’ previous RPG offerings, Bound By Flame looks gorgeous. Hit the jump to see for yourself, and definitely keep this one on your radar.

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Before E3 2013, Spider Studios, whom are previously known for developing Mars: War Logs, announced their latest game in development, Bound by Flame. Published by Focus Home Interactive, Bound by Flame was set to be released on XBLA, PSN, and Steam by the end of 2013. However, based on a press release yesterday, the title has been delayed to early 2014. One possible reason for the delay is that Spider Studios announced that Bound by Flame is now coming to the Playstation 4. As of this press release, Focus Home Interactive is only confirming that Bound by Flame is coming to XBLA on the Xbox 360. There is no news about this title coming to the Xbox One.

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Mars: War Logs, the atmospheric cyberpunk action RPG, is finally coming to Xbox Live Arcade. Announced late last year, War Logs had always targeted XBLA, but took a detour for an early PC release. Fortunately, Roy Temperance and his murky past will finally arrive on the red planet this Friday, July 26 for 1200 MSP.

We’ve logged quite a bit of information ourselves about Spiders’ upcoming offering. From their cleverly named Silk engine that weaves War Logs‘ impressive visuals to the fluid combat system, lifting more than a little inspiration from Batman: Arkham Asylum.

To get a sense of what’s in store for those looking to take the plunge into the martian world, hit the jump to hear Spiders’ motivations behind the ambitious downloadable title.

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Mighty Rocket Studio has announced their aptly-titled sidescrolling beat-em-up Obscure is no longer so inconspicuous. The developer reintroduced the game earlier this week as Final Exam, citing reactions from fans of …
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If you haven’t heard of Magrunner: Dark Pulse yet, this video is worth checking out. The game looks great and the action is very Portal-like. You play Dax, a …
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Focus Home Interactive and 3AM Games’ Magrunner is an interesting one. It’s premise is a little bit Portal, a touch of Half-Life 2, with a heavy dose of Cthulu …
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If Mars: War Logs could be summarized with one word, that word would be ‘ambitious’. With each new bit of news we learn that this game is looking to …
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Mars: War Logs is quickly shaping up to be one of the most visually impressive Xbox LIVE Arcade games to date. It’s an interesting mix of action and RPG. Think of it as one part Red Faction, one part Batman: Arkham series, and one part Mass Effect series.

Players control Roy Temperance, your typical ‘I-have-a-murky-past’ character. War is being waged over Mars’ most precious resource, water, and Roy is stuck right in the middle of it. The setting feels very much like the Mars-in-fiction we’ve come to know over the years, and closely resembles Marauder territory in the Red Faction: Origins film released in 2011.

Combat is handled much like today’s “crowd fight” titles. As with the Batman: Arkham and Assassin’s Creed games, Roy will be equipped to handle multiple foes at once. Three available combat skill trees will help players specialize their character as a melee, ranged or “technomancer” combatant. Players can evade enemy attacks by rolling, and combine melee and ranged attack for maximum efficiency.

Much like the Mass Effect games, Roy will have traveling companions. They will assist him in combat and on his missions, which will be doled out by various NPCs found throughout the game. Roy can use his charm (or intimidation factor) to influence conversations with characters. The game also has a crafting system, powered by items found on corpses or looted from the gameplay world. These can be used to create or upgrade weapons and armor, the latter of which will also change Roy’s appearance. All of these experiences lead to XP that will level up Roy and, presumably, his companions.

Mars: War Logs is being developed by Spiders and published by Focus Home Interactive. It’s currently set for a Spring 2013 release, but no hard date or price point has been set. Given what we’ve seen so far we’re pretty confident this will fall into the 1200 MSP or above price range. It seems to be quite an in-depth title, and we’re looking forward to another visit to the Red Planet. Hit the jump for additional screenshots.

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