Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Tempestfall - Swing and a Miss

Posted By: Alex - February 16, 2022

Swing and a miss, but literally. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Tempestfall is a VR-exclusive action-adventure game. A game that I was super excited about, because who doesn't enjoy being a Stormcast Eternal! When the combat worked, it felt great, but the game didn't support that! I was super stoked for this, as a fan of all things Warhammer I leapt into the game with excitement, looking forward to playing a skilled Lord-Arcanum of

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Pupperazzi, cute game of dog photography

Posted By: Ryan - January 26, 2022

A wholesome, casual video game for lovers of dogs and photography everywhere. This review was written based on my experiences playing the Xbox Game Pass version on an Xbox One X. Pupperazzi has a simple premise: take pictures of adorable dogs. That’s it. There’s no overarching story, there’s barely any lore to speak of, and that’s okay. The world has been a dark place in the past few years and sometimes it’s ni

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Unleash your creativity with updated messaging.

Posted By: GamerDating Team - January 18, 2022

Back in December, we began testing our new GamerDating update that overhauled nearly every bit of the site. We began testing out our new messaging, emoji support and GIF integration (is it GIF or is it JIF?). Our goal is to bring more ways to communicate, to express yourself, and to add a bit more style and personality to your messages. We have a load of new updates, which includes, pretty much everything. No joke. The new update has imp

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January Gaming Rewards - The latest rewards to welcome 2022.

Posted By: GamerDating Team - January 11, 2022

GamerDating's January Game Rewards 2022 Happy New Year! 2022 and we have new Subscriber Rewards features a great collection of games: SCARF, Ready or Not, This is the President, Unsouled, and Gunfire Reborn. More offers, more games, more options for dates. Each week we add more new games that are available with your subscription, and each month we update the selection. We've restocked some of the popular choices from last year and added so

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December Gaming Rewards - Latest Rewards to round out the Year!

Posted By: GamerDating Team - December 02, 2021

GamerDating's December Game Rewards 2021 The final month of 2021, and our new Subscriber Rewards features a great collection of indie games, such as: The Last Stand Aftermath, Kainga: Seeds of Civilzation, Epic Chef, Surviving the Aftermath and Starsand. More offers, more games, more options for dates. Each week we add more new games that are available with your subscription, and each month we update the selection. This final month of the

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Giants Uprising Review - Roghbar SMASH!

Posted By: Alex - November 24, 2021

Giants Uprising throws me back to the feeling and vibe of the early PlayStation games back in 1995. The colours, the animations, the clunk, the edge of thrill. Does this make it bad? Roghbbaaaaarrrrr! Giants Uprising is a medieval fantasy action game. You play Rogbar the Giant in a world where the Imperial Human forces have managed to enslave giants and are slowly conquering the world.  Your story starts enslaved in a gladiator

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November Rewards - Latest games for you!

Posted By: GamerDating Team - November 03, 2021

GamerDating's November Game Rewards 2021 This months new Subscriber Rewards features a great collection of indie games, such as: Defend the Rook, Forgive Me Father, Sphere - Flying Cities, The Last Campfire and Disciples: Liberation. More offers, more games, more options for dates. Each week we add more new games that are available with your subscription, and each month we update the selection. Check out the summaries or skip to the list:

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We're Back4Blood - Review

Posted By: James - October 11, 2021

Is Back 4 Blood good? I played a lot of Left 4 Dead. I mean, a lot, back in 2008, and you're 21 years old, and this game comes out that blows everything dead including the pun. That game was stellar, and the thing over all these years that still makes it playable is - guess what - the PVP. The PVP in that L4D was and is some of the best PVP you'll ever play, and long in the tooth has the industry been to not take that incredible 4v4

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October Rewards - Latest games for you!

Posted By: GamerDating Team - October 04, 2021

GamerDating's October Game Rewards 2021 This months new Subscriber Rewards are: Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator, Aragami 2, Tails of Iron, Arboria, Hoa and more. More offers, more games, more options for dates. Each week we add more new games that are available with your subscription, and each month we update the selection. Check out the summaries or skip to the list: Gamer Dating Rewards Rewards Game List We offer 2 or 4-

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September Rewards - Latest new games for you!

Posted By: GamerDating Team - August 31, 2021

GamerDating's September Game Rewards 2021 This months new Subscriber Rewards are: Tormented Souls, Road 96, City of Gangsters and Jupiter Hell. More offers, more games, more options for dates. Each week we add more new games that are available with your subscription, and each month we update the selection. Check out the summaries or skip to the list: Gamer Dating Rewards Rewards Game List We offer 2 or 4-month subscriptions

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Deiland: Pocket Planet - Review

Posted By: Jennifer - August 19, 2021

A beautiful update to a big adventure in a tiny world. Earlier in 2021, one of my favourite game studios, Chibig Games, released an updated version of their game ‘Deiland’ for the Nintendo Switch. A relaxed, quest-based farming adventure game that takes you on a journey from your own tiny planet across the galaxy as you try to solve the sinister mystery that endangers your world. You play as Arco, the sole inhabitant of the tiny pl

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August Rewards - New Releases for your Subscription

Posted By: GamerDating Team - August 03, 2021

GamerDating's August Game Rewards 2021 This months new Subscriber Rewards are: GRIME, Skydrift Infinity, Tribes of Midgard, Orcs Must Die! 3, Sims 4: Cottage Living DLC and Black Skylands! More offers, more games, more options for dates. Each week we add more new games that are available with your subscription, and each month we update the selection. Check out the summaries or skip to the list: Gamer Dating Rewards Rewards Game L

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No Longer Home - Review

Posted By: Ryan - July 30, 2021

Bittersweet, creative and all too human No Longer Home is one of the best LGBTQIA+ games I have ever played. Really, I could just leave the review there, but where’s the fun that? Before going any further, I should say two things: much like the developers of No Longer Home, I am non-binary (my pronouns are they/them, thank you for asking), and I will try my hardest to avoid being overly poetical. As an aside, it made my heart happy to

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Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance Review

Posted By: Ryan - July 20, 2021

Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance could have been one of the best games on Game Pass, if it were finished. With Game Pass’ wide customer base, the global success of Dungeons and Dragons, and the simplicity of the hack and slash genre, it really wouldn’t have taken much to produce a competent and successful entry into the Dark Alliance franchise and yet, somehow, Tuque Games didn’t. Drizzt is an iconic and brilliant c

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July Rewards - Latest new games for you!

Posted By: GamerDating Team - July 02, 2021

It's July, summer is heating up, curtains are getting closed to game, so its time for a new wave of Subscriber Rewards - We have Roguebook, Scarlet Nexus, Going Medieval and a classic revisisted - Ghosts 'n' Goblins. It's that time again! Each week we add more new games that are available with your subscription, and each month we update the selection. With every first subscription, you get to select a game, gift cards or games to bundle w

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June Rewards - The latest new games for you!

Posted By: GamerDating Team - June 11, 2021

It's June, so its time for a new wave of Subscriber Rewards - We have Chivalry 2, Necromunda: Hired Gun, GRAVEN, King of Seas, Grand Casino Tycoon and More. It's that time again! Each week we add more new games that are available with your subscription, and each month we update the selection. With every first subscription, you get to select a game, gift cards or games to bundle with your premium access. This month we've added even more

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Dating a Gamer: If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them!

Posted By: Jennifer - June 01, 2021

Dating a Gamer: If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them! How many times have you heard the phrase “my boyfriend is attached to his Xbox!” or “all my partner wants to do is play online with their friends!”? I am Jenny, and here is my story and my experience dating a Gamer. Both complaints are very familiar to me as someone who works with a lot of people in their mid-20s. While I completely understand the frustratio

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Our May Rewards for you 2021

Posted By: GamerDating Team - May 06, 2021

It's May, summer is right around the corner, so its time for a new wave of Subscriber Rewards - MotoGP 21, Evil Genius 2: World Domination, Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion and Orbital Bullet. It's that time again! Each week we add more new games that are available with your subscription, and each month we update the selection. With every first subscription, you get to select a game, gift cards or games to bundle with your premium access. Th

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April Game Rewards with your first Subscription

Posted By: GamerDating Team - April 07, 2021

It's April, Spring is here, so its time for a new wave of Subscriber Rewards - We have Paradise Lost, Can't Drive This, Cartel Tycoon, Ranch Simulator and Star Dynasties. It's that time again! Each week we add more new games that are available with your subscription, and each month we update the selection. With every first subscription, you get to select a game, gift cards or games to bundle with your premium access. This month we'

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Our March Rewards for you 2021!

Posted By: GamerDating Team - March 05, 2021

    It's March, Spring it around the corner and, so its time for a new wave of Subscriber Rewards - We have Volta-X, Superliminal, Sword of the Necromancer, Elite Dangerous and More.   It's that time again! Each week we add more new games that are available with your subscription, and each month we update the selection. With every first subscription, you get to select a game, gift cards or games to bundle with y

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They are Billions PS4 Review - Zombies will Zomb.

Posted By: Craig - July 04, 2019

Game

They are Billions bringing steampunk zombie apolcalypse to consoles.
 

Real Time Strategy games are one of those genres that I’ve always enjoyed but have never really been that good at. I’d panic at the first site of a Zerg rush, I’d play on Easy in Dawn of War, I’d absolutely never play an RTS online against another human and I’m the sort of person who would always use the car cheat in Age of Empires because I found it funny.

Yet I still love RTS. So now we’ve got that out of the way and you may be judging me a little (it’s fine, I get it, I’m judging me too), I can say this game was fun.

They are Billions is a steampunk zombie apocalypse survival RTS by Numantian Games and ported to console by Blitworks.

None of those words made me unhappy. Let’s break that down with some scientific memeology to explain just how that went in my head:

 

Cheers Vince

 

The game initially released on PC on the 17th of December 2017 through Steam’s Early Access program with a full release coming out just last month on the 18th of June.
However...

They are Billions has made its way onto consoles as well, and it is the PS4 version that I had the honour of reviewing.

Now I know what you’re thinking. An RTS, on a console? That’s madness. You need the finesse of a keyboard and mouse to get the most out of the game’s controls! (Not since the days of Command and Conquer on PS1 surely!? - Ed)

And you’d be right! But, the PS4 (and I presume the Xbox One, but I don’t own one so please do correct me) has USB ports which can read keyboards and mice.

Did I use them? Nope. Because I’m an idiot and wanted to see what a controller would be like... plus I couldn’t find my mouse. And let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. It felt sluggish to move the cursor and select my options. But it still worked. My troops still moved where I wanted them to and my buildings still placed in the right places, and everything still died perfectly fine when the infected hordes came to town…

I know my editor played They are Billions on PC, and he loved the controls as it simply worked for him, but we wanted to figure out if They are Billions lined up on PS4.

 

This isn’t what I meant when I said invite a few friends for dinner…

 

Now, for those of you who read my last article on here discussing Door Kickers (thank you, you’re too kind), you may recall I had a major gripe with the game about having nothing in the way of a tutorial or any means of explanation for the controls, leaving me to fumble around to figure out the controls myself. Well, guess what… They are Billions HAS NO TUTORIAL! It gives you multiple options on how to make the Survival mode easier (much appreciated) but no actual tutorial.

However, credit where due, there is an extensive Help menu on the title screen which does go into great detail to explain the way the game works and how to fumble your way through with a controller if you’re some kind of sadist who can’t find his mouse (hi, I’m Craig, have we met?). This was really helpful and left me feeling at least moderately prepared for the game ahead, understanding the purpose of the different resources and how the infection mechanics worked. Sure, this was a false sense of security as my first try at a Survival map had me chewed alive within seven minutes, but, learning curve. I got better. My second try I lasted a whole ten!!

(On the PC, this is no different. Part of the beauty and challenge, when I first picked it up, was learning how to survive for mere minutes! - Ed)

That’s not to say that this game is hard. Challenging, yes, very, but you can tailor the maps to match your play level very well, which is a feature I greatly appreciate in older RTS games so it’s nice to see it here as well.

Visually, the game is lovely. It clings to a grimy steampunk aesthetic without just going down the route of slathering everything with copper and cogs (copper cogs count double) and the sprites all hold their own unique level of charm between the Unit types; a Hunter looks like a Hunter, you can actually visualise these lithe, silent warrior women stalking through the woodland ready to kick ass and not be seen. The Soldier by comparison is much bulkier, much more armoured; he looks like he can take more of a kicking and dish out just as much. And this is just from tiny sprites!

 

Snipers gonna snipe

 

The game boasts 4k graphics for PC. Is this true for PS4? I’m not sure. I don’t have a fancy enough TV. But what I did get was crisp and definitely HD textures that ran very smoothly, especially when you had literal hundreds of infected bodies sprinting right for you. There wasn’t a single frame dropped, no lag, nothing, which a lot of PC purists would be surprised by I’m sure. See? We console scrubs can have decent frame rates too!

Gameplay-wise, as I’ve said, it is a learning curve and it is a challenge. This is offset somewhat by the game having the interesting mechanic of being able to place buildings and assign unit commands while paused. Now, this is not a new feature to videogames, it’s been around since Baldur’s Gate, but it is nice to have in an RTS. Also, there is a very nice grid mechanic when placing buildings. It shows you exactly how many squares a building will take up, and if it’s a resource gathering building, it will show you exactly where it can be placed when in close enough proximity to the specific resource. Again, this is nothing new, but it feel nice and is very helpful as a visual indicator.

There is currently no campaign mode in the console version of the game, only custom survival maps for the time being. But this is fine, as every game is different and you can make it as difficult or simple as you wish. There is also currently no sign of an online multiplayer, but there is the “Challenge of the Week” where you put your skills against other players across the globe and try to get the highest score on a pre-set map with specific rules and tasks to accomplish… I didn’t do well.

As for the units. I’ve already mentioned their uniqueness in looks, but they all play differently too. You start with the basic Hunters and Soldiers, and even between these two troop types you can feel the differences. The Hunters move so quickly, but they are squishy compared to the slower Soldier’s heavier armour and higher damage output. But even above them, you have the likes of the Lucifer, an exo-suit wearing, flamethrower wielding juggernaut akin to the Firebats from Starcraft. These things just tear through the hordes of the smaller infected.

 

Burn, baby, burn

 

You then have Snipers who have less armour than your Soldiers, but a higher damage output and a much longer range, so they make excellent support units. Then if you survive long enough and can afford them, you get my personal favourite, the Titans. These are GIANT FRIKKIN ROBOTS!! Ugh. I love me some hot Mecha violence action. You’ve seen Love Death + Robots? These are like one of those mechs off the farming episode and I absolutely love them!

 

Titans gonna….tite? (It's better than the alternative - Ed)

 

Overall, I can see myself sinking a lot of time into They are Billions. It’s an enjoyable game and as I’ve mentioned before, I’m stubborn, so I want to do better. Would I recommend it on console? No, probably not. While not unplayable on controller by any stretch, as I’ve mentioned before, it is a slower way to play and it will hinder you somewhat. Unless you have the peripherals to play it properly.

Would I recommend it as a game, however? Definitely. It has all of the familiar charm of an old school RTS with exciting survival elements and a really cool visual aesthetic. While limited in its current form, this game is constantly being updated with new features and gribbly infected to chew your face off. There may even be a campaign mode somewhere down the line for us console gamers, which will only add more longevity to this already fun game.

They are Billions is currently on sale on Steam for between $29.99 or £23.99 and I can only assume it will be available for a similar price when it becomes officially available for console purchase.

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