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Sunday 24 November 2013

The Bard's Tale - Completed

This game is not a challenger to Diablo. You will not horde items and decide whether you would like the quicker sword with a less power, or the more powerful t hat's a bit slower. You won't have to make difficult decisions about whether to save a woman or save a town. The RPG mechanics are not innovative or thought-provoking. And the quest will not demand countless hours of your life. You will, however, enjoy every step in your (short) journey.

It's funny, it's quirky, and you'll never have to worry about anything except from moving forward. Everything you pick up is something you automatically equip or something that turns instantly to gold. (you should still look at what these things are, though, as often times it's hilarious). Even new weapons when you find one, will be automatically equipped, and your old sword will turn to gold. These are not admirable designs in deep, generic adventure games. In this game though, which you play alone, they are godsends.

It's cheap right now on Steam, and worth every penny. It won't change your life, but it will leave you happy.






Saturday 23 November 2013

The Baconing - Completed

I really don't understand what game all these people having been playing to give this such a poor rating. The Baconing has quite quickly worked its way into one of my favorite games, ever.

Wonderful visual style and art, sci-fi futuristic theme. It's funny and entertaining dialog makes it even better. The combat is satisfying, with a block feature which can become clunky at times and you very rarely actually have a need to use it. The boss fights are somewhat frustrating but you really get a sense of achievement when you actually kill them.

This is probably one of the only games I've played where I actually ended up talking to every bystander in towns, rather than the opposite, the dark sense of humor makes this game.

I seriously love this game and can't wait to play the other games in the series.










Monday 18 November 2013

Aura: Fate of the Ages - Completed

This is probably one of the most inaccessible games I have ever played. This is a Myst clone, and not exactly a good one. I spent most of my time sweeping my cursor across the screen, hoping that there will be something I can interact with. The puzzles themselves are mind-boggling stupid. I had to refer to the wiki walkthrough a number of times to even get a grasp on what was happening.

The story it self was completely un-engaging. Pretty graphics for 2004 standards, but good god, it doesn't run well on a modern PC.

Keep away if I were you.




Sunday 17 November 2013

Anodyne - Completed

If you are in your twenties, this is the only game you should play this year. It's an inspirational game made by people like us, about us.

I grew up on Final Fantasy and Zelda. This game fits into that world, explores it further in many respects and falls short as well. As you go through the game, you realize these game devs played those games, and they remember what it was like to be a kid. The nostalgia goes beyond the stylization and pixel art. It's as much an homage to the genre as it is to the kids that played the genre back in the nineties. The game is a gift to it's users. For that reason, it gets high remarks from me. I have trouble critiquing what I didn't enjoy because it was part of the art. The previously mentioned games are tedious, and Anodyne has annoying spots that require some sort of jujitsu to jump holes..

The game features the best post completion New Game+ experience that I've come across. I won't give away spoilers, but the rabbit hole goes deep...real deep.

A must play for any avid gamer.






Saturday 16 November 2013

Alien Zombie Megadeath - Completed

This is a deceptive little game, it starts off nice and easy but as you progress into the levels it becomes much more difficult.

The graphics and sound are nice and simple, different game modes to play too, baby rescue survival, bomb disposal ect. It also has local co-op which is always nice for these sort of games.

Do not be fool by this game. It is a very arcade game. It's not a game that convinces on presentation and visual splendor, but the addictive, varied game play and humorous zombie aliens. For arcade stands, the amount of content  is admirable.




Alien Breed 2; Assault - Completed

This is a top down shooter that makes a solid first impression, but after a few minutes of playing you will discover that the execution of many essential elements are not very good. The game play gets repetitive rather quickly, as you frequently walk from A to b, holding down space bar to interact with switches. The gun sounds and sound effects are also rather bland. The environments are also very dark, with little variety, although the actual graphics aren't too bad.

You will also battle with the camera as it sometimes switches to bizarre angels, obstructing your view to certain areas, such as the other side of a wall. There is also a load of on-screen text, so you will know right off the bat which objects are interactive, and although some people make like this. I think it does take away the discovery aspect of the game.

Get this if you must but there are far batter top down shooters out there.







Thursday 14 November 2013

7 Wonders: Ancient Alien Makeover - Complete

7 Wonders: Ancient Alien Makeover is a match-three puzzle game, similar to Bejeweled. I've never been a fan of Bejeweled...I've always found the game to be boring, but this game adds a bunch of elements to the formula, and for me, this game succeeds where Bejeweled fails; in providing clear goals as you play. This apparently is the fifth game in the series, but it's the first I've played.

As you play, you have several goals you have to keep in mind. You need to make a match of a certain colour of the colored cells, you may have to get as many resources as possible by making matches with the resources tiles and you have to breakaway the background and make a piece fall to the bottom to complete the level. It was much easier for me to stay engaged with this game as I tried to fulfill every goal on the level.

There's sort of a meta-game where you use the puzzles to build things, but it doesn't do much for me. The story is incredibly stupid, but it's un-intrusive. This is definitely a game build for touch screens, and the keyboard and mouse controls suffer for it. but the only reason you get a game like this is for the puzzles, and I found them fun. The game's tutorial is completely rubbish, unfortunately, and it almost prevented me from playing at all. You must read all the help screens to play.

I'd pick this game up if you see it cheap. There's no shortage of good casual games, and if you enjoy match-three games, I'd recommend this one.



Wednesday 13 November 2013

Bloody Good Time - Completed (as such)

For £3.99 - you get a lot of content! Sure it's only 3 maps but what you have to look at here is it's fun, addicting and will last for hours. Plus there are hardly any bugs, the unique game-play instilled in this, just makes it even more fun. Also, did I mention it runs on the source engine? Any game that runs on this whether made by Valve or not, is winning and always plays for good and is essentially a good game. For what it's worth, it's addicting and will keep you for days if not months. The only downside is there is not a massive online community, about 20 servers, everyday, but solo with bots is just as good and you can earn all the achievements in this mode as well, so you're not missing out on anything. You can do basically all the same modes, maps and difficulty as well.

It's silly cartoonish graphics and cliche movie-star characters and some dangerous environmental trap kills as well as the fame-stars you get for each kill. There are plenty of game odes too, hunter, death-match, free for all, infection, kill the leader and many more!

This game is a Bloody good time, excuse the pun, and you should certainly pick it up for it's small price!







Monday 11 November 2013

Blood Omen 2 - Legacy of Kain

Let's get something out of the way before I begin. I am a huge fan of the entire "Legacy of Kain" series. I remember when I first got the original "Soul Reaver" and found my self completely fascinated by its plot.

The story of this one however, could use some work, it feels rushed and sloppy which shows in the pacing of some of the dialogue. Overall, the story really failed to impress me in this one. Especially after you get past the first few levels.

The game play is sadly no better. I found myself struggling with the weird controls, and no easy way to change them. The puzzles in this game consist of mainly hitting switches and moving boxes, this very much like the previous games in the series, apart from the fact that Kain can for some reason only move boxes forwards and backwards.

I don't mean to portray this as a game that's completely lacking in every area, because it isn't. It has its moments of fun, the first two or three levels are quite enjoyable, and the voice acting is great. But overall game play is disappointing, so much so that I could only play so much of it before I felt the need to close it because of the repetitive nature of everything.

If you feel you need to own every game with "Legacy of Kain on it, get this, otherwise try to find this in a bundle to make your own judgement on it.



Naval Warfare - Completed

Ultimately, Naval Warfare is a decent arcade shooter. Unfortunately, the story-line is confusing and the levels are inconsistent in difficulty - many levels are maddeningly easy, while others are suddenly extremely difficult. This makes for a frustratingly uneven campaign experience, and because upgrades are level-specific, there is little reason to want to replay this title.





Sunday 10 November 2013

Sniper: Ghost Warrior - Completed

Do you want a sniper game with 100% linear corridor levels? With heavy hand-holding so you can't go where you want and there is a permanent white circle showing you where you must go? Where the enemies can jog and fire automatic weapons from the hip at you, and hit with every single bullet even though you are behind hard cover and you don't die, but also can't fire back because the screen jumps every time you're hit? A sniping game with bullet drop and wind effect, but also an indicator which shows you exactly where the bullet will hit, and where you constantly find yourself running and gunning instead of sniping? A game full of invisible walls and impassable straws of grass.

Man, do I have good news for you, this is the game you want!

Everyone else, stay away.