Maize | |
---|---|
Producer(s) | Finish Line Games |
Artist(s) | slipknot |
Platform(s) | Windows, PlayStation 4 |
Release |
|
Genre(s) | Adventure game |
Maize is a video game by Finish Line Games in Toronto. [1] It was released on December 1, 2016. [2]
GameSpot says the game is an "absurdist" game based on Monty Python and X-Files humor. [1] It tells the story of sentient corn created by government scientists who misinterpreted a memo. [1]
During gameplay, players encounter talking objects and solve puzzles. [1] It takes place at an abandoned farm, nearby an active underground research facility. [3] The game also requires you to collect pieces of information. [2]
Toronto-based studio Finish Line Games worked on it, after they had made Cel Damage HD. [1] A trailer came out in May 2016. [3] [4] [5] It later came out for PC in the fall. [3] [6] It was released on December 1, 2016. [2]
The player-character wakes up and sees three living cornstalks running away. Through various collectible items, such as an unusable English muffin, the player then unlocks a large facility door, and is warned by the speaking corn to "watch out for their brother".
As the player descends into the facility, they then learn through various notes that two brilliant yet bumbling scientists, Bob and Ted, were responsible for creating the facility and the living corn. The player then crafts a sentient Russian teddy bear, named "Vladdy", who constantly berates and insults the player. The player enters a ventilation system, and encounters two figures: The narcissistic hulking-yet-lisping albino corn scientist, the Cornpacabra, and the Ruby Queen, the pink corn ruler of the other cornstalks. She then tasks the player with restoring power to the facility and raising the hooks outside on the surface. The player runs into the Cornpacabra twice, during both scenarios he retreats.
The player accidentally breaks a gear needed to raise a hook, so they and Vladdy return to the surface and start a tractor, which accidentally runs over several of the cornstalks, who block off all paths out of anger. This is short-lived, however, as the player gains their trust again by playing the corn's favorite song on a boombox. The player and Vladdy fix the gear, and raise the hooks. The three cornstalks, Bill, Jim, and Fred, send a message to the player, asking them to free their queen.
The player, after accessing the control room, asks Vladdy to fix a vent, during which, the Cornpacabra drags him away. Speaking over the intercoms, the Cornpacabra tells the player that if they want Vladdy back, they'll have to come to the punishments room. The player complies, and finds that the "punishments room" is actually a dance-floor, filled with sentient scarecrows, who call the player "brother". The Cornpacabra then reveals that the player is actually a scarecrow themselves, and the Ruby Queen arrives and scolds the Cornpacabra for his insolence, and commands him to release the player, Vladdy, and the other scarecrows, informing the player that they are the corn's champion.
The player is then told by Vladdy that, though they are stupid, they are still comrades. The Ruby Queen then knights the player as their champion, and requests the cornstalks make preparations for their escape. Bill, Jim, and Fred however, accidentally call in an army drone strike after mistaking the communicator for a telephone. Vladdy suggests using the large lightning rod outside to destroy the drones first, and to lure them towards it by dancing. They successfully destroy the drones, though Vladdy dies in fixing the lightning rod.
The cornstalks then attempt to enter the silo, only to see the Cornpacabra has taken control of an army drone, and plans to destroy the humans. The player throws the English muffin at the Cornpacabra, discombobulating him and blowing both he and the drone up. The Ruby Queen asks the player to send them off, and thanks them for all their help. She gives the player a key, and asks them to send them on their way to the "promised land". After unlocking and pressing a launch button, the silo is then revealed to be a rocket, and the hooks were to bring the corn maze with the rocket. This however, is short-lived, due to Bill, Jim, and Fred forgetting to close the fuel hatch, causing the rocket to blow up, and turning the cornstalks into popcorn.
Metacritic gave it a compiled score of 65/100 from 17 critics. [7]
City Weekly liked the game and found it entertaining, but disliked the frame rate stalling. [2]
The Three Sisters are the three main agricultural crops of various indigenous people of Central and North America: squash, maize ("corn"), and climbing beans. In a technique known as companion planting, the maize and beans are often planted together in mounds formed by hilling soil around the base of the plants each year; squash is typically planted between the mounds. The cornstalk serves as a trellis for climbing beans, the beans fix nitrogen in their root nodules and stabilize the maize in high winds, and the wide leaves of the squash plant shade the ground, keeping the soil moist and helping prevent the establishment of weeds.
Gunman Chronicles is a 2000 first-person shooter game originally created as a mod by the now defunct Rewolf Software. It was originally a Quake deathmatch mod named Gunmanship 101, then it was moved to Quake II's engine before becoming a Half-Life mod. Gunman Chronicles was popular at the Half-Life Mod Expo in 1999, and Sierra approached Rewolf to make a retail version. After significant work, Rewolf was given some office space, funding and a mapper by Valve Software to help complete the project, and it was released as a standalone game. Plans were drawn to release Gunman Chronicles on GameCube, but it was never released.
Rocket Jockey is a Windows video game created by Rocket Science Games and published by SegaSoft in 1996. The game's concept was developed by designer/lead programmer Sean Callahan, paired with an alternate reality 1930s America setting, conceived by VP of development/creative director Bill Davis. The player jets at high speed inside a grassy, enclosed sports arena on a rocket sled that is always in motion and chiefly steered with two grappling-hook guns mounted on its flanks. The rocket can change speeds but always flies about three feet off the ground unless it is engaged in one of the games' frequent and often-comic collisions.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two is a 2007 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. Following Episode One (2006), it is the second of two shorter episodic games that continue the story of Half-Life 2 (2004). Players control Gordon Freeman, who travels through the mountains surrounding City 17 to a resistance base with his ally Alyx Vance. Like previous games in the series, Episode Two combines shooting, puzzle-solving and narrative elements, but adds expansive environments and less linear sequences.
Frontlines: Fuel of War is a first-person shooter game for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360. It was released February 25, 2008, in North America. It was produced by the now defunct Kaos Studios. Frontlines: Fuel of War was also originally in development for the PlayStation 3, although THQ announced it had canceled work on this version on January 24, 2008, seemingly as a result of problems with developing for the PlayStation 3, issues that had been referenced in interviews prior to the PlayStation 3 version's cancellation.
Disney's Villains' Revenge is a video game developed and published by Disney Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh in 1999. The gameplay is an interactive "point-and-click" method in various forms, featuring the player helping Jiminy Cricket save the happy endings of several of the Disney's animated films from the vengeful, greedy Disney Villains.
Maize, also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native Americans planted it alongside beans and squashes in the Three Sisters polyculture. The leafy stalk of the plant gives rise to male inflorescences or tassels which produce pollen, and female inflorescences called ears. The ears yield grain, known as kernels or seeds. In modern commercial varieties, these are usually yellow or white; other varieties can be of many colors.
Homefront: The Revolution is a first-person shooter video game developed by Dambuster Studios. The game was published by Deep Silver for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in May 2016. It is the reboot/sequel to Homefront. Homefront: The Revolution takes place in 2029 in an alternate timeline, following the protagonist Ethan Brady as he joins a resistance movement against the army of a North Korean occupation in the city of Philadelphia.
Warframe is a free-to-play action role-playing third-person shooter multiplayer online game developed and published by Digital Extremes. First released for Windows personal computers in March 2013, it was later ported to PlayStation 4 in November 2013, Xbox One in September 2014, Nintendo Switch in November 2018, PlayStation 5 in November 2020, Xbox Series X/S in April 2021 and iOS in February 2024. Support for cross-platform play was released in 2022. Cross-platform save began in December 2023, it was rolled out in waves to different groups of players and became fully available to all players in January 2024. A port for Android is in development.
Kentucky Route Zero is a point-and-click adventure interactive fiction game developed by Cardboard Computer and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game follows the narrative of a truck driver named Conway and the strange people he meets as he tries to cross the mysterious Route Zero in Kentucky to make a final delivery for the antiques company for which he works. The game received acclaim for its visual art, narrative, characterization, atmosphere, and themes, appearing on several best-of-the-decade lists.
Tom Clancy's The Division is an online-only action role-playing video game developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is set in a near future New York City in the aftermath of a viral pandemic; the player, a Special Agent of the Strategic Homeland Division, is tasked with helping the group rebuild its operations in Manhattan, investigate the nature of the outbreak, and combat criminal activity in its wake. The Division is structured with elements of role-playing games, as well as cooperative and player versus player online multiplayer. This game also marked the debut of Massive and Ubisoft's Snowdrop game engine. Some of the game's characters are featured in XDefiant.
Darkest Dungeon is a roguelike role-playing video game developed and published by Red Hook Studios. The game was first released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in January 2016, which followed a year-long early access development period. Later that year, it was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Linux, with a port for iOS being released in 2017, and ports for Nintendo Switch and Xbox One being released by 2018.
Batman: Arkham Knight is a 2015 action-adventure game developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, it is the successor to the 2013 video game Batman: Arkham Origins, a direct sequel to Batman: Arkham City (2011) and the fourth main installment in the Batman: Arkham series. Written by Sefton Hill, Ian Ball, and Martin Lancaster, Arkham Knight is inspired by the long-running comic book mythos. Set nine months after the events of Arkham City, the game's main storyline follows Batman as he confronts Scarecrow, who has launched an attack on Gotham City and caused a citywide evacuation. Scarecrow, with the help of the mysterious Arkham Knight, plots to unite all of Gotham's criminals in an attempt to finally destroy Batman.
Rocket League is a 2015 vehicular soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix for various home consoles and computers. It has been offered as free-to-play since 2020 when Epic Games acquired Psyonix. A sequel to 2008's Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, Rocket League features up to eight players assigned to each of the two teams, using "rocket-powered" vehicles to hit a ball into their opponent's goal and score points over the course of a match. The game includes single-player and multiplayer modes that can be played both locally and online, including cross-platform play between all versions.
Undertale is a 2015 2D role-playing video game created by American indie developer Toby Fox. The player controls a child who has fallen into the Underground: a large, secluded region under the surface of the Earth, separated by a magical barrier. The player meets various monsters during the journey back to the surface, although some monsters might engage the player in a fight. The combat system involves the player navigating through mini-bullet hell attacks by the opponent. They can opt to pacify or subdue monsters in order to spare them instead of killing them. These choices affect the game, with the dialogue, characters, and story changing based on outcomes.
Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout! is an accelerated drop tower dark ride attraction at the Disney California Adventure park at the Disneyland Resort. Based on the namesake characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it depicts Rocket recruiting guests to attempt to free the remaining Guardians of the Galaxy from display within the Collector's fortress.
Aven Colony is a city-building strategy video game developed by Mothership Entertainment and published by Team17. The Beta was released on September 8, 2016 on Microsoft Windows. The main storyline revolves around the human colonisation of an alien planet, in which a new colony must be built in order to survive.
The Surge is a 2017 action role-playing video game developed by Deck13 Interactive and published by Focus Home Interactive. The game was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on 16 May 2017, while an Amazon Luna version released on 20 October 2020.
Pikuniku is a puzzle adventure video game developed by French-British indie collective Sectordub and published by Devolver Digital, that was released on January 24, 2019 for Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows. It was later released on March 12, 2020 for Xbox One and on February 9, 2021 for Stadia. The player controls the titular red creature, Piku, through a colorful world, to put an end to a plot to harvest the entirety of the land's resources.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint is an online tactical shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Paris and published by Ubisoft. The game was released worldwide on 4 October 2019 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and on 18 December 2019 for Stadia. The game is the eleventh installment in the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon franchise and is a narrative sequel to the 2017 video game Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands.