Titan Souls Review
Titan Souls is a game of contradictions. It's difficult until it isn't. It's compelling until it isn't. And it's fun until it isn't, which fortunately the game understands, drawing to a close after four hours or so when the triumphs no longer outweigh the aggravations. It is the subject of difficulty that makes Titan Souls so unusual, however. This is a game about--and only about--boss battles. Your first step into an arena is likely to lead to death in a matter of seconds, but your moment of triumph, which might come after five, 10, or 20 attempts, may end the boss in a similarly brief span. And suddenly, a challenge that seemed insurmountable minutes before is now over before you can take a single breath. And you must wonder: How can something so hard also be so...easy?
The answer lies within Titan Souls' very structure. You are a tiny archer who takes up very little space on screen, a pixelized adventurer with a single arrow providing your only protection from the monstrosities you face. The 2D world you explore may try to calm you with curlicues of wind, gently swaying brush, and light snowfall, but the dark forests and stone temples offer no hope to those that seek it. This place has no healing springs, no wildlife to tame, and no wolves to slay with a few well-aimed shots. It only hides bizarre deviants made of flesh and metal, each monstrosity designed to tower above your miniature frame moments before before destroying it.
Each boss fight, in turn, presents itself first as a puzzle to solve, and then as a challenge to be overcome. Entering an arena may lead to death in a mere second or two before you're able to even get your bearings. With each attempt comes more understanding, however. That tumbling yeti will likely squash you the first time you ever see him, and probably the tenth time too. A giant coal-powered skeleton head propels itself around the arena with spiked orbs, killing you not just by crushing you, but by driving you to cross the flames that rise from the arena's floor vents. So you process the relevant information. What is the creature's weak point? How does it move through the arena? Do you defeat it by using the arena in any way? Where one enemy is concerned, avoiding death means noting where shadows appear on the ground before you can be crushed by the objects that caused them. For another boss, counting the number of times it rotates before resting for a moment can prove helpful.
Now you know what must be done, and it's time to execute on your plan. Charging up your shot leaves your tiny archer unable to move--and retrieving your arrow means either picking it up where it last fell, or holding a button to summon it to you, a process that also stills you for as long as the button is held. The behemoth might be vulnerable to your single arrow for a fraction of a second, so you exploit the boss fight's rhythms as best you can, trying and trying until the moment comes, your arrow finds its mark, and the beast falls without a single cry of pain or declaration of future vengeance. It is simply stilled, accompanied by a dramatic drum cue, and the screen turns a sepia hue, reflecting the loss of the soul that once existed here. When you summon your arrow back to your bow, you also pull points of light representing the boss's soul to you, and they swirl about you as the music swells; it's a beautiful moment of triumph, and one of many examples of how Titan Souls' excellent audio design instills excitement and eases mounting frustration.
Victorious sound effects aside, Titan Souls' very design can lead to a disappointing anticlimax. Just as a swimming leviathan can murder you in a single stroke, so too can you murder it in a blink of an eye. A well-timed arrow shot just seconds after the battle begins can bring the baddie down, and leave you wondering why you stressed over such a simple endeavor. It was so hard--until it was easy. It's naturally fulfilling when you put this game's lessons to good use, but after eight or nine different boss battles, you know how each fight will end: you will make many attempts to fell the boss--and on a few frustrating occasions, many many attempts--before one last go, upon which you will deliver a precise shot that ends the action before it begins.
And that is why Titan Souls is compelling--until it isn't. What starts as an interesting idea loses its shine as it nears its conclusion, and along with it, the sense of reward. Success can be its own reward in video games, but in Titan Souls' distilled formula, the only mystery to uncover is the behavior of the titan you have next to face. Some of these encounters are cleverly designed, but the cleverness is not so great as to mask the game's intrinsic austerity. Titan Souls also provides structural rewards that, frankly, aren't very interesting. Hard mode; a mode in which you cannot run or dodge; a mode in which you only have one life to live: these don't provide much reason to return unless you thrive on speedruns and ultimate mastery, nor does the final reveal, which you are privy to only if you defeat every boss, which is not required for you to officially beat the game.
Not that austerity must be a bad thing, only that Titan Souls stretches its single idea as far as it can go--and then a few battles beyond the limit. It's fitting that the world surrounding those battle is similarly simple. Unlike Shadow of the Colossus, the game I would say it most recalls, Titan Souls doesn't tell much of a story with its world, but it's at least a lovely place to be. You access boss fights from themed hubs, so you walk a short distance from a nearby save point to each nearby boss arena--and moving from one hub to another is a few minutes' journey. Those journeys have you crossing stone pathways, swimming across shallow pools, and riding mechanical platforms; giant eyeballs adorning nearby doorways follow you as you travel past, instilling unease.
It is the soundtrack and general audio that deserves the most credit for making this world enjoyable to pass through. (I wouldn't say "explore" is the right word, since there are no treasures to unearth or truly commanding sights to drink in.) One of the first bosses is a disembodied brain encased in ice, and the resounding clank it makes as it collides with walls gives the entire battle a tremendous sense of pressure and weight, while vivacious bongos exacerbate the battle's percussive feel. When you leave sunshine behind for snowy fields, the open strings of a fiddle recall similar tunes from the film Fargo, which also takes place in a frigid land. When green grass returns, a flute and guitar engage in a leisurely minuet, making your stroll feel particularly pleasant.
Don't let the soothing songs lull you, however: stress is always just a minute away, and once you have internalized Titan Souls' lessons, so is relief. In time, those lessons become exhausting; you keep studying the exam, yet fail it over and over again until, suddenly, you pass with little fanfare, and a new class begins. Luckily, before work comes joy, and in the few hours that Titan Souls maintains your interest, you prove that you--and the diminutive hero that you play--can change the world with incredible patience, and a single arrow.
Terminator Genisys: A New Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger as T-800
Arnold Schwarzenegger is reprising his role as T-800 in the upcoming Terminator Genisys and the film's official Twitter account has offered a new peek at the character.
UNLOCKED: New look at Arnold @Schwarzenegger as the #Terminator. Tweet #TerminatorUnlock to reveal the new trailer. pic.twitter.com/BlXvE3MsPT
— Terminator Genisys (@Terminator) April 13, 2015
That Fight Scene in Daredevil Was Really Done in One Shot
Spoilers for Daredevil episode 2 ahead.
Daredevil's stunt co-coordinator Philip J Silvera has revealed that the visceral fight scene in the show's second episode, featuring an exhausted Matt Murdoch (Charlie Cox) beating up child traffickers through a dimly lit corridor, was a "pure, one shot fight".
"Phil Abraham was directing, and it was always scripted that this scene was going to be a one-shot" Silvera told The Observer. "For me in my head, with the time, we had, I said let’s do wipes and we’ll be able save things. But Phil challenged us to do a pure one-shot, which really just brought a grounded real feeling to the whole thing.
Scream: Upcoming MTV Series Gets First Official Trailer
During this year's MTV Movie Awards the network debuted the first official trailer for its upcoming Scream series, based on Wes Craven's 1996 horror classic.
As in the films, the TV show will revolve around the "rules" of the slasher movie, specifically the idea of turning a slasher movie into a series. The adaptation follows a deadly cyber-bullying incident involving a "YouTube video that has gone viral and causes problems for the protagonist, Audrey, who is caught in the middle of murder and the town's troubled past."
The cast includes Willa Fitzgerald, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Bobby Campo, John Karna, Connor Weil, and Disney's Bella Thorne, who will recreate Drew Barrymore's "What's your favorite scary movie?" scene from the original film.
Stallone Reveals First Photo from Creed
Sylvester Stallone has published the first photo from his upcoming boxing film Creed with Fantastic Four star Michael B. Jordan. The shot appeared on the action icon’s Instagram earlier today.
Creed, helmed by Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler, is a spin-off from Stallone’s own legendary Rocky series focusing on the son of former world heavyweight champ Apollo Creed, Adonis Johnson. Born after his father’s death (and despite the circumstances of Apollo’s passing) Adonis heads to Philadelphia to be trained by his father’s best friend: Rocky Balboa (who is described as currently “battling an opponent more deadly than any he faced in the ring”).
Spider Silk May be Used to Grow New Hearts in the Future
Genetically engineered fibers of protein that builds cobweb strands called spidroin may be used to build human heart tissue, according to a study recently published in PLOS ONE.
Scientists at the Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology examined if lab-grown silk proteins could be used as a mesh to grow cardiomyocytes, the cells that form heart tissue. Cardiomyocytes were seeded on electrospun spidroin fiber structures and cultured to form confluent cardiac monolayers.
The spidroin fiber meshes were found to be directly suitable for the adherence and growth of the cardiomyocytes and represent a much needed material for bio-scaffolds. While great achievements have been made in the field of tissue engineering over the past decade, there’s no ideal or appropriate material to be used as scaffolds.
Netflix: A Global Service Would Cut Down on Piracy
Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, believes a global video-streaming service would cut down on piracy considerably.
According to Overclocked3D, the Netflix boss is in favor of a worldwide service because it would remove the incentive to use a VPN, eliminating the problem at its root. "The VPN thing is a small little asterisk compared to piracy," Hastings said. "Piracy is really the problem around the world."
"The basic solution is for Netflix to get global and have its content be the same all around the world so there’s no incentive to
. Then we can work on the more important part which is piracy," he added.
What if…Game of Thrones Was a Kids Cartoon?
Thanks to Conan O'Brien and George R. R. Martin, we can now picture what Game of Thrones would look like if it were a kids cartoon. Or, a very violent kids cartoon.
Produced by TBS, and in the vein of The Muppet Babies or Li'l Gotham, check out the musical short for "Lil Thrones" below:
For something a little darker, check out our review of the Game of Thrones: Season 5 premiere
Anthony Couto is a writer for IGN. If you’d like to discuss the DC Multiverse or Star Trek, chat with him on Twitter at @AnthCouto or on IGN at TonyCouto.
A New Ant-Man Teaser Lands
Marvel has dropped a 30-second preview for Ant-Man's next trailer during the MTV Movie Awards.
The teaser is very much in step with the first trailer's serious tone, despite the rather hilarious opening line from Corey Stoll as Darren Cross/Yellowjacket: "imagine a soldier. The size...of an insect".
Check it out below, and stay tuned to IGN tomorrow when the second trailer lands.
Ant-Man, starring Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas, is set to hit theaters July 17.
Lucy O'Brien is Entertainment Editor at IGN’s AU office. Follow her ramblings on Twitter.
Gotham Returns Monday with a Killer New Villain
Shrek made ogres seem like friendly creatures, but there are still plenty of nasty examples and one is coming to the next episode of Gotham, which returns Monday to kick off its final four Season 1 episodes.
"Beasts of Prey" will introduce Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes) as Jack Lennon, a.k.a. the Ogre. He's a serial killer who targets young women in Gotham City, and when police start investigating him, he turns his attention to the investigating detective and people close to him or her. Yeah. He's creepy.
Elsewhere in Gotham, Fish plans her escape from the Dollmaker and Bruce and Selina talk to Reggie.
Gotham: "Beasts of Prey" Photo Gallery: