Well, for a game with such a simple title, this game certainly has more than its fair share of girth. The install file for this thing is almost a whole gigabyte (which, yes, is not much when dealing with games, but most of these games are 50MB, tops).
The question is, does Block Breakers squander its generous memory space? Or does it use all it has to deliver an experience as jam-packed as my hard drive?
Well, to be perfectly honest, this game isn't much in terms of depth. The gameplay is as simple as the title, though the control scheme is a bit wonky. There's an optional tutorial, but with out playing it, I'm not sure how you'd figure out that you use the arrow keys to attack when movement is already handled by WASD and the mouse buttons are completely unused. Oh well. The tutorial is short and sweet, so i can forgive this game for now.
This game is arcade-style, which is good for me because it only takes me about ten minutes to play it before I've gained enough info to write a review. The main selling point of this game is the aesthetic. They really try to impress you with their 3D rendering skills. I wasn't blown away, but honestly I think that's only because I was comparing it to bLight the whole time. True, the game isn't quite as pretty as bLight, but it's still got charm, personality, and enough polygons to make my graphics chip sweat a little.
The gameplay is absolute madness. Everything moves so quickly and sporadically that it's nigh-impossible to tell what you're doing. True, the characters are varied enough that you can spot the difference between you and an enemy easily, but that doesn't help when you're careening down into the void because you didn't see that hammer flying at the block you happened to be standing on. In fact, the game would be confusing even if it weren't for the crazily paced environment shifts and particle physic nightmares. See, you are given a hammer and some enemies. Every human instinct should tell you to aim your hammer at your enemies, but that doesn't do anything. What you're aiming for is the ground beneath them, which creates a weird disconnect that leaves the game feeling overall sloppy and imprecise.
As odd as this may seem, I think I'm going to end up recommending Block Breakers for the very reasons that I've just spent three paragraphs complaining about. See, a game like this isn't meant to test your skill, and the player should know that going into it. It's very similar in my opinion to a variation of Super Smash Bros. Brawl (oh dear, I've said it. Let the firestorm begin).
Like Brawl, the controls are messy and designed in such a way that you end up blindly mashing buttons rather than learning the nuances of the game. It's not a game you compete with your friends in. It's a game you play because you want to turn your brain off and escape for a bit. And escape I did. The music, graphics and gameplay meld together in such a way that I was unable to maintain my analytical viewpoint and instead just relaxed and played. And you know what? If a game can do that, I give it my seal of approval (even if falling into the depths of space every 2 nanoseconds does ruin the flow a bit).
Links
a Mario Party minigame on 'roids: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=8714
PS - the music keeps playing indefinitely, even after you close the game...WHY?!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Blitzkrieg
Okay, folks. You know the drill. Wednesday = lousy review day, so bear with me.
Actually, this week it seems Wednesday also = lousy game day. Remember when I said that Berserk was the most average game I've played? Well Blitzkrieg is literally Berserk. The two games are nigh identical.
Same controls, same graphical style, and I swear one of the enemies is a direct copypasta of one of the enemies from Berserk. The two games were made by separate students in the same grade in the same academic year, too, so maybe the two teams were collaborating at some point and then there was some sort of split, so each team took their ball of source code and went home. I'm not sure. If this post somehow makes it to someone who knows, be sure to comment away (and so, the first step toward selling out was taken).
The only real criticism I can level at Blitzkrieg is that the difficulty curve is absolutely off the walls. The first 10 or so levels are walks through the park that anyone with two functioning hands should be able to get through on their first shot. Just when I was ready to declare that the game was too worried that the player might die every now and again, I hit a brick wall of a level that took me about 5 tries to get past. Not even three levels after that one, the difficulty was reduced to zero and literally all you had to do to beat the stage was hold "up." A bit more care in handling the difficulty curve would have been greatly appreciated.
Apart from that, the flow isn't executed very well. To begin with, the movement speed is sluggish enough to get slightly annoying. The real flow killer, however, is that every time you clear a level you have to wait for an obnoxious and unskippable score counter to do a flirtatious little dance for you.
Well that's all the time I have for now. Honestly I'm relieved that an insubstantial game like Blitzkrieg should fall on my off day.
Until next time, stay glowy
Links
Berse-uh-I mean-Blitzkrieg: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25881
Actually, this week it seems Wednesday also = lousy game day. Remember when I said that Berserk was the most average game I've played? Well Blitzkrieg is literally Berserk. The two games are nigh identical.
Same controls, same graphical style, and I swear one of the enemies is a direct copypasta of one of the enemies from Berserk. The two games were made by separate students in the same grade in the same academic year, too, so maybe the two teams were collaborating at some point and then there was some sort of split, so each team took their ball of source code and went home. I'm not sure. If this post somehow makes it to someone who knows, be sure to comment away (and so, the first step toward selling out was taken).
The only real criticism I can level at Blitzkrieg is that the difficulty curve is absolutely off the walls. The first 10 or so levels are walks through the park that anyone with two functioning hands should be able to get through on their first shot. Just when I was ready to declare that the game was too worried that the player might die every now and again, I hit a brick wall of a level that took me about 5 tries to get past. Not even three levels after that one, the difficulty was reduced to zero and literally all you had to do to beat the stage was hold "up." A bit more care in handling the difficulty curve would have been greatly appreciated.
Apart from that, the flow isn't executed very well. To begin with, the movement speed is sluggish enough to get slightly annoying. The real flow killer, however, is that every time you clear a level you have to wait for an obnoxious and unskippable score counter to do a flirtatious little dance for you.
Well that's all the time I have for now. Honestly I'm relieved that an insubstantial game like Blitzkrieg should fall on my off day.
Until next time, stay glowy
Links
Berse-uh-I mean-Blitzkrieg: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25881
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
BLINK
Alright, folks, I've got a Physics test and an English paper to deal with, so I'm going to keep this snappy.
Blink is good. It's not great, but it's good. The best way to describe it is budget Braid. Yes, the two games have completely different mechanics and the playstyle of one is unlike the playstyle of the other, aesthetically the resemblance between the two games is uncanny. The suspicions starts when the player hears the classy piano piece being played in the background, which sounds almost exactly like the background music for Braid. Toss in a character with a frighteningly proportioned head, a stylized world with a minimalist graphical style and world manipulation mechanics and the similarities become hard to miss.
Like Braid, this game is going to take me a while to finish because the puzzles to get pretty difficult pretty fast and I don't have the time to really think of solutions now. Even though I didn't play through the game, I got a sense for its mechanics, which really do hold up well.
Because of my limited experience with the game and my cramped schedule, I'm going to end this little analysis with some closing remarks. The game is pleasant and thought provoking if a bit frustrating. If you like puzzles, check it out. If not, don't.
Links
ironically titled game because robots don't blink... https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25909
P.S- the development team also has a funny title of "team alien" with a logo of a robot. It's the little things that keep ya goin.
Blink is good. It's not great, but it's good. The best way to describe it is budget Braid. Yes, the two games have completely different mechanics and the playstyle of one is unlike the playstyle of the other, aesthetically the resemblance between the two games is uncanny. The suspicions starts when the player hears the classy piano piece being played in the background, which sounds almost exactly like the background music for Braid. Toss in a character with a frighteningly proportioned head, a stylized world with a minimalist graphical style and world manipulation mechanics and the similarities become hard to miss.
Like Braid, this game is going to take me a while to finish because the puzzles to get pretty difficult pretty fast and I don't have the time to really think of solutions now. Even though I didn't play through the game, I got a sense for its mechanics, which really do hold up well.
Because of my limited experience with the game and my cramped schedule, I'm going to end this little analysis with some closing remarks. The game is pleasant and thought provoking if a bit frustrating. If you like puzzles, check it out. If not, don't.
Links
ironically titled game because robots don't blink... https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25909
P.S- the development team also has a funny title of "team alien" with a logo of a robot. It's the little things that keep ya goin.
Monday, January 28, 2013
bLight
oh dear, where to begin with this one?
I suppose the first thing I should mention is the first thing that intrigued my about this game: the graphical style. Hot damn this game is pretty. I say that not only because the graphical quality is enough to rival even the most affluent of indie developers but also just because the game looks beautiful aesthetically. Like Aphotic Ascent, the game plays with the whole Light/Dark dichotomy, except this game is a lot more pleasing to the eye. For starters, the light is colorful. That's more than just a childish desire for pretty colors, mind you. Visually, more colors are simply prettier to look at. The game is very vibrant for the most part, which really makes the enemies stand out. When you go over a dark area to introduce light to it, you can see the shadows being replaced by twinkly moss, the character designs are wonderful...it's just a damn fine game to look at. Certainly the prettiest game on the list so far. But, the question still remains...how does it play?
Well, for the most part, the controls are solid. The setup is simple, but the implementation of the controls is kind of complex. I'll try to summarize it, but you would get a much better understanding from actually playing the game (yeah, big surprise). Basically, you WASD to move and use the arrow keys to change into any 4 colors: blue, red, yellow and green. These colors correspond not only to which kind of teammates you can spawn, but also the attack formation your teammates will take. This gives the game a good amount of complexity, leaving the player to constantly analyze in his head which position he or she wants to be in strategically while also needing to consider which enemies to spawn. In addition, teammates can be combined together to form significantly stronger teammates, but there are only a small amount of combined teammates you can have on the field at one time, giving the player even more to think about.The gameplay as a result could get very frantic as a result.
It could...but it doesn't.
The main flaw of the game is that it's just way too easy. In fact, it's so easy it becomes literally impossible. Allow me to clarify: the game starts up difficult enough when you only have a limited amount of troops to work with, but eventually you're so bogged down with troop-spawning crystals that every slot is filled up and you still have about 300 crystals in your inventory just wasting away. Also, the only way you can get rid of teammates and free up some space for more teammates is to have enemies kill them. Unfortunately, if you're like me and filled up half the screen with healing creatures, you're SOL because the little buggers never die. It got to the point where I needed to collect the power of blue (yes, that's actually how the game refers to it) and spawn some defensive guys, but there was no room for any more troops. I suppose this is why the game decided never to give me the power of blue, thus preventing me from advancing.
Perhaps this was a glitch, but still. The low difficulty is noticeable and spamming monsters is just too effective a strategy. This game would have really benefited from a fratricide button so you could clear out some space to rearrange your team.
This flaw is really glaring, and makes the game kind of unfun after 20 or so minutes of play. Nevertheless, I recommend it. Most of these games aren't 20 minutes long anyway, and the 20 minutes I had with this game were some of the best I've had since I started the list. This game gets my seal of approval.
Until next time, stay beautiful (hey, it actually works here!)
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18531
I suppose the first thing I should mention is the first thing that intrigued my about this game: the graphical style. Hot damn this game is pretty. I say that not only because the graphical quality is enough to rival even the most affluent of indie developers but also just because the game looks beautiful aesthetically. Like Aphotic Ascent, the game plays with the whole Light/Dark dichotomy, except this game is a lot more pleasing to the eye. For starters, the light is colorful. That's more than just a childish desire for pretty colors, mind you. Visually, more colors are simply prettier to look at. The game is very vibrant for the most part, which really makes the enemies stand out. When you go over a dark area to introduce light to it, you can see the shadows being replaced by twinkly moss, the character designs are wonderful...it's just a damn fine game to look at. Certainly the prettiest game on the list so far. But, the question still remains...how does it play?
Well, for the most part, the controls are solid. The setup is simple, but the implementation of the controls is kind of complex. I'll try to summarize it, but you would get a much better understanding from actually playing the game (yeah, big surprise). Basically, you WASD to move and use the arrow keys to change into any 4 colors: blue, red, yellow and green. These colors correspond not only to which kind of teammates you can spawn, but also the attack formation your teammates will take. This gives the game a good amount of complexity, leaving the player to constantly analyze in his head which position he or she wants to be in strategically while also needing to consider which enemies to spawn. In addition, teammates can be combined together to form significantly stronger teammates, but there are only a small amount of combined teammates you can have on the field at one time, giving the player even more to think about.The gameplay as a result could get very frantic as a result.
It could...but it doesn't.
The main flaw of the game is that it's just way too easy. In fact, it's so easy it becomes literally impossible. Allow me to clarify: the game starts up difficult enough when you only have a limited amount of troops to work with, but eventually you're so bogged down with troop-spawning crystals that every slot is filled up and you still have about 300 crystals in your inventory just wasting away. Also, the only way you can get rid of teammates and free up some space for more teammates is to have enemies kill them. Unfortunately, if you're like me and filled up half the screen with healing creatures, you're SOL because the little buggers never die. It got to the point where I needed to collect the power of blue (yes, that's actually how the game refers to it) and spawn some defensive guys, but there was no room for any more troops. I suppose this is why the game decided never to give me the power of blue, thus preventing me from advancing.
Perhaps this was a glitch, but still. The low difficulty is noticeable and spamming monsters is just too effective a strategy. This game would have really benefited from a fratricide button so you could clear out some space to rearrange your team.
This flaw is really glaring, and makes the game kind of unfun after 20 or so minutes of play. Nevertheless, I recommend it. Most of these games aren't 20 minutes long anyway, and the 20 minutes I had with this game were some of the best I've had since I started the list. This game gets my seal of approval.
Until next time, stay beautiful (hey, it actually works here!)
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18531
BlackOut
The amount of games that simply don't work on this list is starting ti get disheartening. I've reviewed 35 games so far and something like 5 of them gave me some sort of error screen when I tried to play them. That's not even counting the ones like Apoch, which broke down after I played it for a bit.
It's a shame too because BlackOut looked like a really fun game. The screenshots were promising and it advertises itself as having "incredible replay value." Unfortunately, I can't be the judge of that because "the side-by-side configuration is incorrect" (honestly sometimes I think programmers just make stuff up).
Well I'm not going to waste any more time on this because I want to get a legitimate review out my the end of the day. Stay beautiful.
Links
*sigh*: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26138
It's a shame too because BlackOut looked like a really fun game. The screenshots were promising and it advertises itself as having "incredible replay value." Unfortunately, I can't be the judge of that because "the side-by-side configuration is incorrect" (honestly sometimes I think programmers just make stuff up).
Well I'm not going to waste any more time on this because I want to get a legitimate review out my the end of the day. Stay beautiful.
Links
*sigh*: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26138
Sunday, January 27, 2013
BlackHole
Ok, we need to talk about conveyance.
Conveyance is one of the most important aspects of game design. period. People who actually know something about game design will be angry with a game developer who doesn't incorporate it into their games; and people who aren't familiar with game design will be angry as well, even if they don't know exactly why.
If you don't know what conveyance is, you should watch Egoraptor's Sequelitis on Megaman. He explains it much better than I ever could. I'll provide a link below. Basically, conveyance is how well you teach the player how to play your game. Some games do this with button tutorials (which I loathe), but really well designed games will be able to teach the player through the mechanics alone. Usually, conveyance refers to teaching players how to use the controls they already know in order to progress through the game. In games with bad conveyance, however, it can sometimes be difficult to even learn which buttons you are supposed to press
And herein lies the most basic problem with BlackHole.
See, if you're dealing with a controller, there are usually a maximum of 10 buttons that you have to work with. Because of this, it's acceptable for controller-oriented games to not explain which buttons do what, because the player can just press all the buttons and learn for themselves in a matter of seconds. This is more rewarding to the player than is having his or her hand held through a button tutorial.
Then again, if you're dealing with a computer, there are often more than 100 buttons that the player has to work with. Most PC games stick with a generally accepted button layout so as not to confuse the players. WASD to move, mouse to aim, click for action. BlackHole keeps to this formula for the most part, except WASD and the mouse both aim, leaving no feasible control for movement. In order to move forward, you have to press "r", and to move backward, you press "f".
Now why did I spend the last 5 paragraphs of this little analysis ranting about that? Because it took me like 15 minutes to figure out how to move forward! Granted, "r" and "f" are close to the WASD keys, so they should be among the first buttons the player presses for experimentation. However, unless you hold the keys down, the speed boost you gain from hitting them is negligible, which lead me to believe that the keys did nothing. I suppose that's why they put a speed counter on the HUD, so you can see that pressing "r" causes the value to shoot up a bit, but still; a "how to play" screen would have been appreciated in this case.
Other than that, BlackHole is actually a really entertaining game. There's no specific goal to accomplish, but there are a good variety of missions to select, all available from the start, leaving the player to decide which game mode he or she wants to play at all times. I like this in a game, personally.
The incentive for completing missions is that you get money, which you can spend on upgrades, which you will need if you want to stand a chance in some of the harder missions. This is a good system at its core, but the execution is a little sloppy in BlackHole because you can just keep playing an easy mission for 10 minutes and get enough money to upgrade your laser to its maximum potential, at which point there's very little that can touch you. Seriously, once you get the laser to the highest level even the enemy flagships go down easier than a fly in a hurricane.
In short, once you figure out the controls of BlackHole, it becomes a fun experience that's very reminiscent of the dogfights from Star Wars: Battlefront II. In fact, The graphics rival those of Battlefront II (at times...kind of) and the sound direction is, in my opinion, superior. That alone earns this game my seal of approval
Until next time, stay spacey.
Links
sequelitis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM
Wholly Black: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=549
Conveyance is one of the most important aspects of game design. period. People who actually know something about game design will be angry with a game developer who doesn't incorporate it into their games; and people who aren't familiar with game design will be angry as well, even if they don't know exactly why.
If you don't know what conveyance is, you should watch Egoraptor's Sequelitis on Megaman. He explains it much better than I ever could. I'll provide a link below. Basically, conveyance is how well you teach the player how to play your game. Some games do this with button tutorials (which I loathe), but really well designed games will be able to teach the player through the mechanics alone. Usually, conveyance refers to teaching players how to use the controls they already know in order to progress through the game. In games with bad conveyance, however, it can sometimes be difficult to even learn which buttons you are supposed to press
And herein lies the most basic problem with BlackHole.
See, if you're dealing with a controller, there are usually a maximum of 10 buttons that you have to work with. Because of this, it's acceptable for controller-oriented games to not explain which buttons do what, because the player can just press all the buttons and learn for themselves in a matter of seconds. This is more rewarding to the player than is having his or her hand held through a button tutorial.
Then again, if you're dealing with a computer, there are often more than 100 buttons that the player has to work with. Most PC games stick with a generally accepted button layout so as not to confuse the players. WASD to move, mouse to aim, click for action. BlackHole keeps to this formula for the most part, except WASD and the mouse both aim, leaving no feasible control for movement. In order to move forward, you have to press "r", and to move backward, you press "f".
Now why did I spend the last 5 paragraphs of this little analysis ranting about that? Because it took me like 15 minutes to figure out how to move forward! Granted, "r" and "f" are close to the WASD keys, so they should be among the first buttons the player presses for experimentation. However, unless you hold the keys down, the speed boost you gain from hitting them is negligible, which lead me to believe that the keys did nothing. I suppose that's why they put a speed counter on the HUD, so you can see that pressing "r" causes the value to shoot up a bit, but still; a "how to play" screen would have been appreciated in this case.
Other than that, BlackHole is actually a really entertaining game. There's no specific goal to accomplish, but there are a good variety of missions to select, all available from the start, leaving the player to decide which game mode he or she wants to play at all times. I like this in a game, personally.
The incentive for completing missions is that you get money, which you can spend on upgrades, which you will need if you want to stand a chance in some of the harder missions. This is a good system at its core, but the execution is a little sloppy in BlackHole because you can just keep playing an easy mission for 10 minutes and get enough money to upgrade your laser to its maximum potential, at which point there's very little that can touch you. Seriously, once you get the laser to the highest level even the enemy flagships go down easier than a fly in a hurricane.
In short, once you figure out the controls of BlackHole, it becomes a fun experience that's very reminiscent of the dogfights from Star Wars: Battlefront II. In fact, The graphics rival those of Battlefront II (at times...kind of) and the sound direction is, in my opinion, superior. That alone earns this game my seal of approval
Until next time, stay spacey.
Links
sequelitis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM
Wholly Black: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=549
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Berserk
Sorry about yesterday, folks. In all honesty, I wish I could follow up on my promise for this weekend a bit better, but this is probably the most hectic weekend I've had since ever. I won't bore you with the details, so let's just jump right into today's review
Berserk can best be described as Arc Angle meets Amoeba Evolution. The controls are pretty much the same as those in Amoeba Evolution and the aesthetic is pretty much identical to Arc Angle
you fly around in a colorful, visually pleasing neon world; if you come across a square, you kill the square. Simple as that. The controls are very easy to master and at its core, the gameplay is very simplistic. Point to aim, click to shoot, WASD to fly.
This is by far the most average game I've played on this list so far, and that's pretty much the worst kind of experience a reviewer can have with a game. In all honesty, it's a good game, but there's nothing that really makes it good. There are just things that make it not bad.
for example, the enemies can swiftly fill up the screen with bullets, meaning you have to be vigilant and gameplay can get frantic at times. This keeps the game from being boring.
That's really all I can say. I'm not going to artificially lengthen these reviews by going on and on to meet some kind of arbitrary word count. There's genuinely nothing to say about Berserk other than "It's fun and looks pretty. Give it a shot if you're bored."
Links
blarglwhargl: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25884
Berserk can best be described as Arc Angle meets Amoeba Evolution. The controls are pretty much the same as those in Amoeba Evolution and the aesthetic is pretty much identical to Arc Angle
you fly around in a colorful, visually pleasing neon world; if you come across a square, you kill the square. Simple as that. The controls are very easy to master and at its core, the gameplay is very simplistic. Point to aim, click to shoot, WASD to fly.
This is by far the most average game I've played on this list so far, and that's pretty much the worst kind of experience a reviewer can have with a game. In all honesty, it's a good game, but there's nothing that really makes it good. There are just things that make it not bad.
for example, the enemies can swiftly fill up the screen with bullets, meaning you have to be vigilant and gameplay can get frantic at times. This keeps the game from being boring.
That's really all I can say. I'm not going to artificially lengthen these reviews by going on and on to meet some kind of arbitrary word count. There's genuinely nothing to say about Berserk other than "It's fun and looks pretty. Give it a shot if you're bored."
Links
blarglwhargl: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25884
Friday, January 25, 2013
nothing today
No time to explain. I just got home and I have SATs tomorrow. You guys know I try to make time for these reviews, but I just couldnt do it this time. Not the end of the world. After all, I've skipped days before. I promise I'll go hardcore tomorrow
Salutations
Salutations
Thursday, January 24, 2013
BEMPU
This game...is an absolute mess.
If pinball and roulette had some kind of mutant lovechild, this would be it. As soon as you press start, you are bombarded by sound effects and a confusing game screen before you realize that the only controls that do anything are lift and right click to control your left and right bumpers, respectively. Basically, there's a pair of bumpers on each edge of a shape of your choosing (hexagon for 6 players, etc). Whenever a ball comes within striking range of your bumpers, hit a button. That's how you play. Literally. That's it.
So, basically, you spend 90% of your time waiting for the opportunity to hit a ball and sighing. Sounds like fun? I didn't think so. See, pinball is fun because of its fast pace. When you aren't actively hitting a bumper, you're frantically scanning around, attempting to trace the path of the little shiny metal ball as it bounces off of stuff. This can get a little tricky and it certainly requires focus, but it's manageable and fun because it only forces you to look at one thing. The human mind can trace one object rather easily. BEMPU, on the other hand, features many slow-moving objects rather than one fast-moving one. This makes the game not only boring but also very disorienting. Even if you did try to follow the motion paths of all the balls as they flew through the air, it seems like ages before you actually get the opportunity to hit one of them.
Also, remember before when I said I would stop commenting on sound direction unless there was genuinely something worth talking about? Well in this game, there is no music. I already commented on the confusing and discombobulated sound effects, so I think we can all agree the sound direction isn't exactly competent.
In summary, this game is a bug-eyed, delirious mess that I suggest you pass on unless you want to study it to gain knowledge about the human mind and its weaknesses.
I was kind of harsh in this review, I admit, but you know what? I'm glad that this game was made. Damn glad. All that info I spewed about the difference between one vs many objects I learned just from playing this game. This kind of hearkens back to my Astrobunny review where I commented on the possible benefit to scholarly pursuits that game can have. I see that same faintly glimmering diamond somewhere in BEMPU, but whereas Astrobunny was a genuinely enjoyable experience, BEMPU just hurts.
Thanks for hearing me out again. Until next time, stay sentient.
If pinball and roulette had some kind of mutant lovechild, this would be it. As soon as you press start, you are bombarded by sound effects and a confusing game screen before you realize that the only controls that do anything are lift and right click to control your left and right bumpers, respectively. Basically, there's a pair of bumpers on each edge of a shape of your choosing (hexagon for 6 players, etc). Whenever a ball comes within striking range of your bumpers, hit a button. That's how you play. Literally. That's it.
So, basically, you spend 90% of your time waiting for the opportunity to hit a ball and sighing. Sounds like fun? I didn't think so. See, pinball is fun because of its fast pace. When you aren't actively hitting a bumper, you're frantically scanning around, attempting to trace the path of the little shiny metal ball as it bounces off of stuff. This can get a little tricky and it certainly requires focus, but it's manageable and fun because it only forces you to look at one thing. The human mind can trace one object rather easily. BEMPU, on the other hand, features many slow-moving objects rather than one fast-moving one. This makes the game not only boring but also very disorienting. Even if you did try to follow the motion paths of all the balls as they flew through the air, it seems like ages before you actually get the opportunity to hit one of them.
Also, remember before when I said I would stop commenting on sound direction unless there was genuinely something worth talking about? Well in this game, there is no music. I already commented on the confusing and discombobulated sound effects, so I think we can all agree the sound direction isn't exactly competent.
In summary, this game is a bug-eyed, delirious mess that I suggest you pass on unless you want to study it to gain knowledge about the human mind and its weaknesses.
I was kind of harsh in this review, I admit, but you know what? I'm glad that this game was made. Damn glad. All that info I spewed about the difference between one vs many objects I learned just from playing this game. This kind of hearkens back to my Astrobunny review where I commented on the possible benefit to scholarly pursuits that game can have. I see that same faintly glimmering diamond somewhere in BEMPU, but whereas Astrobunny was a genuinely enjoyable experience, BEMPU just hurts.
Thanks for hearing me out again. Until next time, stay sentient.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Beluxed Defense
You know what, guys? I'm just pooped. Straight up pooped.
I just got home at 7:00pm with an assload and a half of work bearing down upon me, not to mention a math test to study for. I hope you guys appreciate me coming out here and spewing words at your face parts...
Well anyway, I was kind of looking forward to Beluxed Defense because it advertised itself as a "humorous" game, which is just what I need to distract myself from my inevitable demise. Apparently, though, my blinky lights machine that I blew half my savings on doesn't have pixel shader 3.0 technology (which is bs, by the way. I checked and it does) so I can't run Beluxed Defense.
All the better for me. Now I get to say nothing and still feel good about myself for posting.
I wish I had the time to be witty, but I've already blown more time than I should have writing this. Maybe when it's midnight and I'm burned out but still too high on caffeine to sleep I'll come back and drunkenly reveal some deep, personal secrets. Don't count on that, though. I'll probably just pass out.
Until next time, stop procrastinating (unless you procrastinate by reading my reviews...then it's ok).
Links
maybe you have pixel shader 3.0:https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=401
I just got home at 7:00pm with an assload and a half of work bearing down upon me, not to mention a math test to study for. I hope you guys appreciate me coming out here and spewing words at your face parts...
Well anyway, I was kind of looking forward to Beluxed Defense because it advertised itself as a "humorous" game, which is just what I need to distract myself from my inevitable demise. Apparently, though, my blinky lights machine that I blew half my savings on doesn't have pixel shader 3.0 technology (which is bs, by the way. I checked and it does) so I can't run Beluxed Defense.
All the better for me. Now I get to say nothing and still feel good about myself for posting.
I wish I had the time to be witty, but I've already blown more time than I should have writing this. Maybe when it's midnight and I'm burned out but still too high on caffeine to sleep I'll come back and drunkenly reveal some deep, personal secrets. Don't count on that, though. I'll probably just pass out.
Until next time, stop procrastinating (unless you procrastinate by reading my reviews...then it's ok).
Links
maybe you have pixel shader 3.0:https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=401
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Bear Pile
Another day, another review frantically pushed through the series of tubes known as the internets.
I'm gonna keep this one short and sweet and say Bear Pile is an impressive game with a surprising amount of polish. There's my review in a nutshell. You can leave if you want.
Of course, I wouldn't feel right about myself if I left you with just that. Here's a more in-depth analysis:
The graphics are probably the game's most impressive feature. Everything is colorful and stylized as well as being competently textured, giving off what I would call the best 3D graphical style on this list so far (with the exception of Base Invaders).
The sound direction is well done, too. Again, there's not much to say. I'm probably going to stop including this section in my reviews unless I have something outstanding to comment on. I think what I like best about the sound direction in Bear Pile are the sound effects. They do a great job cluing you in as to what's happening. I feel like I could play this game with my eyes closed, but don't want to because it looks so damn pretty.
The gameplay is, once again, the main selling point. The hook this time around is that there are two armories, a defensive cache and an offensive cache, that you can take stuff from. There are no unnecessary gimmicks like warm up time, thus keeping the game fast-paced and fun. You can only carry one weapon at a time, so you need to decide whether to go for an offensive approach or a defensive approach. Although, you won't get far unless you use both caches. The one problem I have is that there's one strategy that's quite easy to figure out and trumps all the others. Build up the defensive before the bears get close and then switch to offensive and smash the bears' heads in with a lead pipe.
All things considered, this game impressed me. One nitpick point I feel I should add in here is that the game doesn't let you alt+tab out of it. I usually play these games with Blogger and Skype open, but while I was playing Bear Pile, I couldn't use either. A bit annoying, but I say you should still give it a shot.
Until next time, stay away from the bears.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18584
I'm gonna keep this one short and sweet and say Bear Pile is an impressive game with a surprising amount of polish. There's my review in a nutshell. You can leave if you want.
Of course, I wouldn't feel right about myself if I left you with just that. Here's a more in-depth analysis:
The graphics are probably the game's most impressive feature. Everything is colorful and stylized as well as being competently textured, giving off what I would call the best 3D graphical style on this list so far (with the exception of Base Invaders).
The sound direction is well done, too. Again, there's not much to say. I'm probably going to stop including this section in my reviews unless I have something outstanding to comment on. I think what I like best about the sound direction in Bear Pile are the sound effects. They do a great job cluing you in as to what's happening. I feel like I could play this game with my eyes closed, but don't want to because it looks so damn pretty.
The gameplay is, once again, the main selling point. The hook this time around is that there are two armories, a defensive cache and an offensive cache, that you can take stuff from. There are no unnecessary gimmicks like warm up time, thus keeping the game fast-paced and fun. You can only carry one weapon at a time, so you need to decide whether to go for an offensive approach or a defensive approach. Although, you won't get far unless you use both caches. The one problem I have is that there's one strategy that's quite easy to figure out and trumps all the others. Build up the defensive before the bears get close and then switch to offensive and smash the bears' heads in with a lead pipe.
All things considered, this game impressed me. One nitpick point I feel I should add in here is that the game doesn't let you alt+tab out of it. I usually play these games with Blogger and Skype open, but while I was playing Bear Pile, I couldn't use either. A bit annoying, but I say you should still give it a shot.
Until next time, stay away from the bears.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18584
Monday, January 21, 2013
Be Good
Well, this was...uh...interesting.
Be Good is an interactive story in the most basic sense of the word. It's a point-and-click claymation game where you live the life of Donald Martin, an average ordinary everyday guy as he journeys from infancy to adulthood, having to make moral choices along the way.
Now, moral choice systems are a relatively debated topic in games today. Some people think they overcomplicate things while others think they add a huge amount of depth that makes the narrative of a game that much more entertaining. Still others think that moral choice systems have the potential to add that kind of depth, but modern implementation of the systems causes them to simply overcomplicate things. I happen to be in this third category, and the reason for that is that moral choice systems are usually binary, meaning there are only two paths to go down. This doesn't leave any room for experiementation or nuance. I'm reminded of one point in Mass Effect 2, a game to which I took a mostly paragon approach, where I needed to choose whether to give a hungry Krogan a fish that he thinks was caught in the magical waters of the Praesidium (but actually was just bought from the store next door) or to keep the fish and tell the Krogan that there are actually no fish in the Praesidium. I wanted to give him the fish for free and wish him a good day as he chowed down on childish delightful wonder, but when I chose the "give him the fish" option (which was the renegade choice) I ended up shaking him down for all the money he had on him, leaving him incapable of buying a gun that he needed to protect himself.
Wow, that was quite a tangent. The reason I mentioned it is because this is the kind of system Be Good is built from. You click around occasionally talking to people around you and having to pick between happy face and sad face. It actually took me a while to realize that the happy/sad screen was a "choose your path" screen because the game never tells you that. It just throws 2 faces in front of you and leaves it up to you to figure out that the faces are actually buttons. See, you have to click in order to progress the dialogue, so the first couple of times this screen came up, I just kept clicking without knowledge of where my cursor was and ended up making choices I didn't necessarily want to.
Other times, it is very difficult to determine exactly which choice is the right one because the buttons don't always do what you'd think they do. Once I was accused of drawing a nasty picture of a girl in my class and was ordered to apologize. When the happy/sad screen came up, I picked happy, thinking that it represented the good feelings to come after I apologized. Apparently, in this instance, happy meant "keep being a douchenugget" and just like that I had a mark on my discipline sheet.
I find the most engaging parts of the game come from environmental interaction. For instance, as an infant I kept badgering my mom while she was trying to cook. Her response changed a bit every time until suddenly the whole family was eating pizza for dinner. See, in this instance, I had a clear idea of who I was annoying and why. I had full control over my actions and I could predict the implications thereof. If the whole game was somehow like this, I think it would have been improved.
All in all, I enjoyed my time with Be Good. I might even give it another go or two to see how many different experiences I can get from it. If it had a little more time and manpower (surprisingly, the whole game was made by one guy) I think it could have been a really neat little interactive story. As it stands, everyone's experience with the game may be a bit different, but everyone will be a little annoyed with the game's design. Still, I encourage you to try it out. Who knows, you may even learn something about yourself.
Until next time, be good (that was too easy).
Links
happy face sad face: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25460
Be Good is an interactive story in the most basic sense of the word. It's a point-and-click claymation game where you live the life of Donald Martin, an average ordinary everyday guy as he journeys from infancy to adulthood, having to make moral choices along the way.
Now, moral choice systems are a relatively debated topic in games today. Some people think they overcomplicate things while others think they add a huge amount of depth that makes the narrative of a game that much more entertaining. Still others think that moral choice systems have the potential to add that kind of depth, but modern implementation of the systems causes them to simply overcomplicate things. I happen to be in this third category, and the reason for that is that moral choice systems are usually binary, meaning there are only two paths to go down. This doesn't leave any room for experiementation or nuance. I'm reminded of one point in Mass Effect 2, a game to which I took a mostly paragon approach, where I needed to choose whether to give a hungry Krogan a fish that he thinks was caught in the magical waters of the Praesidium (but actually was just bought from the store next door) or to keep the fish and tell the Krogan that there are actually no fish in the Praesidium. I wanted to give him the fish for free and wish him a good day as he chowed down on childish delightful wonder, but when I chose the "give him the fish" option (which was the renegade choice) I ended up shaking him down for all the money he had on him, leaving him incapable of buying a gun that he needed to protect himself.
Wow, that was quite a tangent. The reason I mentioned it is because this is the kind of system Be Good is built from. You click around occasionally talking to people around you and having to pick between happy face and sad face. It actually took me a while to realize that the happy/sad screen was a "choose your path" screen because the game never tells you that. It just throws 2 faces in front of you and leaves it up to you to figure out that the faces are actually buttons. See, you have to click in order to progress the dialogue, so the first couple of times this screen came up, I just kept clicking without knowledge of where my cursor was and ended up making choices I didn't necessarily want to.
Other times, it is very difficult to determine exactly which choice is the right one because the buttons don't always do what you'd think they do. Once I was accused of drawing a nasty picture of a girl in my class and was ordered to apologize. When the happy/sad screen came up, I picked happy, thinking that it represented the good feelings to come after I apologized. Apparently, in this instance, happy meant "keep being a douchenugget" and just like that I had a mark on my discipline sheet.
I find the most engaging parts of the game come from environmental interaction. For instance, as an infant I kept badgering my mom while she was trying to cook. Her response changed a bit every time until suddenly the whole family was eating pizza for dinner. See, in this instance, I had a clear idea of who I was annoying and why. I had full control over my actions and I could predict the implications thereof. If the whole game was somehow like this, I think it would have been improved.
All in all, I enjoyed my time with Be Good. I might even give it another go or two to see how many different experiences I can get from it. If it had a little more time and manpower (surprisingly, the whole game was made by one guy) I think it could have been a really neat little interactive story. As it stands, everyone's experience with the game may be a bit different, but everyone will be a little annoyed with the game's design. Still, I encourage you to try it out. Who knows, you may even learn something about yourself.
Until next time, be good (that was too easy).
Links
happy face sad face: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25460
Battlepod
Yet another game that just straight up doesn't work. I got as far as the loading screen before the game decided to crash. Oh well. I'm running out of witty things to say about nothing, so I'm just gonna end it here.
Links
nothing: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25902
#2LineReviews.
Links
nothing: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25902
#2LineReviews.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Battle Ball Brawl
oof...my head...
I want to like this game, I really do! It's faced paced, it's action-packed, the concept is clever enough...
Alas, I can't find myself recommending Battle Ball Brawl. The biggest problem it has is the control. Oh, God, the control. Anyone who's attempted playing a first person shooter on a Wii knows how frustrating it is that aiming your weapon also turns the camera. Those two functions just don't mix. In a game like Goldeneye 007, the player moves the camera but the weapon stays stiff as a board. That's fine, as is a control setup like that of any Call of Duty game where the camera and weapon are moved with different analog sticks. In Battle Ball Brawl, however, the mouse aims not only the weapon, but also the camera, making aiming very slippery and difficult to control. You're lucky to line up your crosshairs with your enemy for a fraction of a second, which doesn't help much when most of the weapons have insultingly low rates of fire.
Aside from the control, the game pretty much does everything right. It's a standard third-person shooter geared toward multiplayer, but also sporting AI for those who showed up to this party stag. The main gimmick is that you can leap onto different planets in a deep-space shooting environment. There's a lot of potential in this concept to create tense, fast-paced strategic battles like something out of Ender's Game where gravity must be manipulated to your advantage. However, the inaccuracy of the weapons and aforementioned sloppy controls make such scenarios impossible, and the best strategy instantly becomes "rush up to your nearest opponent, stand still and fire away." This kind of gameplay delivers no kind of flow and is just outright boring.
The sound direction is good. Nothing to complain about. In addition, the graphics are, while nothing to behold by modern standards, pleasing to look at.
This game reminds me a lot of Forsaken 64, which also tried to incorporate shooting in an augmented-gravity environment. I actually really liked Forsaken 64, despite the fact that it fell into the same pitfall as Battle Ball Brawl. It's controls were hard to grasp, and lining up your shots was a brain-numbing chore.
In conclusion, I would be a happy camper if this game were remade with a budget. The mechanic alone isn't revolutionary enough to sell a game to the AAA industry, so it would need a narrative. My suggestion would be to use the gravity-manipulation mechanic and outer-space aesthetic to create a video game adaptation of Ender's Game, or at a budget game based only around the interscholastic battles therein. What with the movie adaptation scheduled to come out in November of this year, it seems an opportune time to put this plan into action.
And so ends my spiel for today. I hope you enjoyed it.
Until next time, stay spacey.
Links
Literally Spaceballs: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=417
I want to like this game, I really do! It's faced paced, it's action-packed, the concept is clever enough...
Alas, I can't find myself recommending Battle Ball Brawl. The biggest problem it has is the control. Oh, God, the control. Anyone who's attempted playing a first person shooter on a Wii knows how frustrating it is that aiming your weapon also turns the camera. Those two functions just don't mix. In a game like Goldeneye 007, the player moves the camera but the weapon stays stiff as a board. That's fine, as is a control setup like that of any Call of Duty game where the camera and weapon are moved with different analog sticks. In Battle Ball Brawl, however, the mouse aims not only the weapon, but also the camera, making aiming very slippery and difficult to control. You're lucky to line up your crosshairs with your enemy for a fraction of a second, which doesn't help much when most of the weapons have insultingly low rates of fire.
Aside from the control, the game pretty much does everything right. It's a standard third-person shooter geared toward multiplayer, but also sporting AI for those who showed up to this party stag. The main gimmick is that you can leap onto different planets in a deep-space shooting environment. There's a lot of potential in this concept to create tense, fast-paced strategic battles like something out of Ender's Game where gravity must be manipulated to your advantage. However, the inaccuracy of the weapons and aforementioned sloppy controls make such scenarios impossible, and the best strategy instantly becomes "rush up to your nearest opponent, stand still and fire away." This kind of gameplay delivers no kind of flow and is just outright boring.
The sound direction is good. Nothing to complain about. In addition, the graphics are, while nothing to behold by modern standards, pleasing to look at.
This game reminds me a lot of Forsaken 64, which also tried to incorporate shooting in an augmented-gravity environment. I actually really liked Forsaken 64, despite the fact that it fell into the same pitfall as Battle Ball Brawl. It's controls were hard to grasp, and lining up your shots was a brain-numbing chore.
In conclusion, I would be a happy camper if this game were remade with a budget. The mechanic alone isn't revolutionary enough to sell a game to the AAA industry, so it would need a narrative. My suggestion would be to use the gravity-manipulation mechanic and outer-space aesthetic to create a video game adaptation of Ender's Game, or at a budget game based only around the interscholastic battles therein. What with the movie adaptation scheduled to come out in November of this year, it seems an opportune time to put this plan into action.
And so ends my spiel for today. I hope you enjoyed it.
Until next time, stay spacey.
Links
Literally Spaceballs: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=417
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Base Invaders
I don't mean to insult anyone in saying this, but as I'm playing more and more of these games, evidence is leading me to postulate that there are three different classes of games in this catalog:
1) Lines of code and design documents that were strewn about in an effort to scrounge together a passing grade (e.g. A Series of Tubes or Aether)
2) Games made with limited time and resources made for the same purpose as class 1 but with genuine attention to detail and care for video games as an artistic medium (e.g Astrobunny or Amaia)
Base Invaders belongs to the third class: Games with the same kind of spirit as those in class two but with the time and resources that come from being designed to win a prize or gain extracurricular prestige. In fact, Base Invaders took home the 2007 IGF Student Showcase award and was also a finalist in the Slamdance Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition of the same year.
Indeed, Base Invaders must have had a good amount of time spent on it for this kind of quality. Caveat: when I say "quality" I'm referring to the kind of polish that makes it seem like it was made by professionals rather than students. That does not necessarily make it a better game than other games without this polish. For example, I enjoyed playing Arc Angle much more than I enjoyed playing Starfox: Adventures, even though the latter is far more polished.
I've gone on the record saying I don't really like tower defense games, and Base Invaders is literally a tower defense game. I still found it to be really enjoyable, though. Why? Simply, it doesn't force you to sit by and watch your defenses fail. See, in most tower defense games (and really strategy games in general), either you're restricted from modifying your defenses once the battle begins or building up defenses costs money, leaving you defenseless once the green well dries out. Base Invaders fixes this problem by giving you a base attack which costs no money to utilize. You pick up and throw your enemies, much like in Defend Your Castle. This keeps gameplay fun and tense, as not only are your strategic skills tested, but your reflexes are too.
In addition, there are a wide variety of baddies to fling about, each with a particular ability, meaning each enemy must be disposed of uniquely. This adds many layers of depth to the game, which left me frantically clicking around and running a million calculations in my head after just level 3.
The graphics are pretty and stylized, showing off not only a good amount of aesthetic sense but also that much touted polish that I raved about mere paragraphs ago.
Sound direction is competent. The music is enjoyable and the high-pitched monster voices are more adorable than they are annoying, giving the game a cutesy kind of charm like a kitten with a little pink bow on its head.
I think what I like most about this game are the little things. Little things that let you know that the game cares about you. Like enabling a stage select from the get go but still including all the story/tutorial elements or the fact that the little monster guy on your team shouts "hey, where are you going?" when you exit the game.
And that's pretty much all there is to say about Base Invaders. I'll be honest, in my effort to play these games as swiftly as possible in order to meet my schedule, I didn't have time to play the whole game. However, the parts I experienced provide me with enough evidence to support a hearty recommendation. Enjoy.
Until next time, stay safe (use lasers).
Links
Invasive Base: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=441
1) Lines of code and design documents that were strewn about in an effort to scrounge together a passing grade (e.g. A Series of Tubes or Aether)
2) Games made with limited time and resources made for the same purpose as class 1 but with genuine attention to detail and care for video games as an artistic medium (e.g Astrobunny or Amaia)
Base Invaders belongs to the third class: Games with the same kind of spirit as those in class two but with the time and resources that come from being designed to win a prize or gain extracurricular prestige. In fact, Base Invaders took home the 2007 IGF Student Showcase award and was also a finalist in the Slamdance Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition of the same year.
Indeed, Base Invaders must have had a good amount of time spent on it for this kind of quality. Caveat: when I say "quality" I'm referring to the kind of polish that makes it seem like it was made by professionals rather than students. That does not necessarily make it a better game than other games without this polish. For example, I enjoyed playing Arc Angle much more than I enjoyed playing Starfox: Adventures, even though the latter is far more polished.
I've gone on the record saying I don't really like tower defense games, and Base Invaders is literally a tower defense game. I still found it to be really enjoyable, though. Why? Simply, it doesn't force you to sit by and watch your defenses fail. See, in most tower defense games (and really strategy games in general), either you're restricted from modifying your defenses once the battle begins or building up defenses costs money, leaving you defenseless once the green well dries out. Base Invaders fixes this problem by giving you a base attack which costs no money to utilize. You pick up and throw your enemies, much like in Defend Your Castle. This keeps gameplay fun and tense, as not only are your strategic skills tested, but your reflexes are too.
In addition, there are a wide variety of baddies to fling about, each with a particular ability, meaning each enemy must be disposed of uniquely. This adds many layers of depth to the game, which left me frantically clicking around and running a million calculations in my head after just level 3.
The graphics are pretty and stylized, showing off not only a good amount of aesthetic sense but also that much touted polish that I raved about mere paragraphs ago.
Sound direction is competent. The music is enjoyable and the high-pitched monster voices are more adorable than they are annoying, giving the game a cutesy kind of charm like a kitten with a little pink bow on its head.
I think what I like most about this game are the little things. Little things that let you know that the game cares about you. Like enabling a stage select from the get go but still including all the story/tutorial elements or the fact that the little monster guy on your team shouts "hey, where are you going?" when you exit the game.
And that's pretty much all there is to say about Base Invaders. I'll be honest, in my effort to play these games as swiftly as possible in order to meet my schedule, I didn't have time to play the whole game. However, the parts I experienced provide me with enough evidence to support a hearty recommendation. Enjoy.
Until next time, stay safe (use lasers).
Links
Invasive Base: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=441
Bang!
It's 9:33AM and already this day has left me dazed and confused.
The first time I started up "Bang!" or as it prefers to be called, "Exclamation Point: The Game," I experienced the most miserable crash in my entire career as a gamer. It brought me to some grey screen with a pulldown menu where I could select from 1pt to 6pt thickness on some kind of line. As I desperately fumbled with my keyboard, trying to regain control of my laptop, the music from Astrobunny started playing! I was convinced this was part of the glitch, so I restarted my computer and tried again.
Once I got Bang! to behave itself, I was treated to a beautiful menu screen. And by beautiful I mean holy hot damn, it's pretty. Couple that with the very pleasant and calming background track and...wait...this sounds familiar...oh no.
Much to my dismay, it actually wasn't a glitch that caused the music I so ardently praised in my Astrobunny review to be played. That's actually the menu music.
I felt quite betrayed having discovered this. Bang! was created the year before Astrobunny was, and the two games had different sound designers. I don't know what kind of plagiaristic game the folks at Digipen are playing, but I don't like it. It gives me a weird feeling that anything I praise or critique in these reviews might be rendered moot because the project I'm commenting on might just be a carbon copy of another one on this list.
Oh well, beyond that, Bang! is a very fun bullet hell shooter. The thing that bothers me most about it is that there's nothing new to it. It's just a bullet hell shooter. A rather minimalist one at that. The best you'll get in terms of power-ups, which are usually the trademark of bullet hells, is the ability to fire 4 shots at once instead of 1 in a perfect straight line. Not very impressive.
Unlike those in Aether, the projectiles in Bang! can actually harm you, giving a very tangible sense of threat when the screen fills up with enemy fire. Killing an enemy will immediately wipe all his bullets from the screen, which may seem like broken gameplay, but trust me, it's only there to keep the game fair in the later levels, and is a very necessary mechanic.
Graphically, the real game isn't as pretty as its menus, but is still pleasing to look at. I genuinely can't tell if the characters are 3D models or 2D sprites, but either way they are definitely the hardest things to look at in this game. They're just so minimalistic when compared to the backgrounds or power-up sparks.
There's not much else to say about this game. Try it out. It's worth your time.
Until next time, stay explosive.
Links
whoosh pow kabloosh: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18590
The first time I started up "Bang!" or as it prefers to be called, "Exclamation Point: The Game," I experienced the most miserable crash in my entire career as a gamer. It brought me to some grey screen with a pulldown menu where I could select from 1pt to 6pt thickness on some kind of line. As I desperately fumbled with my keyboard, trying to regain control of my laptop, the music from Astrobunny started playing! I was convinced this was part of the glitch, so I restarted my computer and tried again.
Once I got Bang! to behave itself, I was treated to a beautiful menu screen. And by beautiful I mean holy hot damn, it's pretty. Couple that with the very pleasant and calming background track and...wait...this sounds familiar...oh no.
Much to my dismay, it actually wasn't a glitch that caused the music I so ardently praised in my Astrobunny review to be played. That's actually the menu music.
I felt quite betrayed having discovered this. Bang! was created the year before Astrobunny was, and the two games had different sound designers. I don't know what kind of plagiaristic game the folks at Digipen are playing, but I don't like it. It gives me a weird feeling that anything I praise or critique in these reviews might be rendered moot because the project I'm commenting on might just be a carbon copy of another one on this list.
Oh well, beyond that, Bang! is a very fun bullet hell shooter. The thing that bothers me most about it is that there's nothing new to it. It's just a bullet hell shooter. A rather minimalist one at that. The best you'll get in terms of power-ups, which are usually the trademark of bullet hells, is the ability to fire 4 shots at once instead of 1 in a perfect straight line. Not very impressive.
Unlike those in Aether, the projectiles in Bang! can actually harm you, giving a very tangible sense of threat when the screen fills up with enemy fire. Killing an enemy will immediately wipe all his bullets from the screen, which may seem like broken gameplay, but trust me, it's only there to keep the game fair in the later levels, and is a very necessary mechanic.
Graphically, the real game isn't as pretty as its menus, but is still pleasing to look at. I genuinely can't tell if the characters are 3D models or 2D sprites, but either way they are definitely the hardest things to look at in this game. They're just so minimalistic when compared to the backgrounds or power-up sparks.
There's not much else to say about this game. Try it out. It's worth your time.
Until next time, stay explosive.
Links
whoosh pow kabloosh: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18590
Ballocks
Well this was...strange.
I think the best course of action here would be to just recount my play experience. The first thing I notice is that the game is only 7MB. Wary of this, I start up the game and am greeted to a wonderful background track and a demonstration of the stylized, cell-shaded 3D aesthetic to come. Suddenly, a crude pencil drawing of a panda emerging from a chicken egg appears to give me its salutations and then swiftly disappears into the night, never to be seen again.
Ignoring that, I click the play button and am brought immediately to a server menu. "Exciting!" Thought I, wondering which of the many servers to choose from. I could pick:
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
oh, here's a fun one: N/A
N/A
N/A
or N/A
Since none of these obviously functional servers responded to my click, I figured the best course of action would be to click "host" and hope the game was courteous enough to include some AI for me to whack about.
Sadly, no such thing happened, and I was left in an empty world rolling around merrily and zapping the occasional environmental block.
You know what's strange, though? I still kind of like this game. I definitely recommend it more highly than I would Bacon Pirates in Space or many other on this list. You won't get more than a minute or two of playtime out of it, sure. But bouncing, rolling and zapping my way through an empty, cell-shaded planet has and odd kind of appeal to it. It offers a much more low-key catharsis than Attack of the 50ft Robot, which I consider gold star-worthy.
I wish there was more to say, but nope. There's not. Maybe if I can convince a bunch of my friends to download it and come over to my house, we can get a LAN game going. Don't hold your breath, though. That's pretty low on my list of priorities.
Until next time. Stay bouncy.
Links
The game with the funny title: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=416
I think the best course of action here would be to just recount my play experience. The first thing I notice is that the game is only 7MB. Wary of this, I start up the game and am greeted to a wonderful background track and a demonstration of the stylized, cell-shaded 3D aesthetic to come. Suddenly, a crude pencil drawing of a panda emerging from a chicken egg appears to give me its salutations and then swiftly disappears into the night, never to be seen again.
Ignoring that, I click the play button and am brought immediately to a server menu. "Exciting!" Thought I, wondering which of the many servers to choose from. I could pick:
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
oh, here's a fun one: N/A
N/A
N/A
or N/A
Since none of these obviously functional servers responded to my click, I figured the best course of action would be to click "host" and hope the game was courteous enough to include some AI for me to whack about.
Sadly, no such thing happened, and I was left in an empty world rolling around merrily and zapping the occasional environmental block.
You know what's strange, though? I still kind of like this game. I definitely recommend it more highly than I would Bacon Pirates in Space or many other on this list. You won't get more than a minute or two of playtime out of it, sure. But bouncing, rolling and zapping my way through an empty, cell-shaded planet has and odd kind of appeal to it. It offers a much more low-key catharsis than Attack of the 50ft Robot, which I consider gold star-worthy.
I wish there was more to say, but nope. There's not. Maybe if I can convince a bunch of my friends to download it and come over to my house, we can get a LAN game going. Don't hold your breath, though. That's pretty low on my list of priorities.
Until next time. Stay bouncy.
Links
The game with the funny title: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=416
Friday, January 18, 2013
Bacon Pirates in Space
What's with all the bacon-themed games? One of them was a barely passable 3D destrocto-physics playset and the other straight up didnt work. Maybe this one will break the bacon trend and actually be a fun enough game to warrant such delicious theming.
nope.
It's definitely the most fun of the three bacon games I've "played" so far but that's not saying much. It's still frustrating and monotonous.
Pretty much all you do is fly around on a pig stabbing other pigs that fly much faster than you. Sounds revolutionary, eh?
The biggest problem this game has by far is the hit detection. It seems completely arbitrary. Whether I fly directly into an enemy pig from the perfect angle or I just happen to bump into someone while trying to adjust to the awkward control, the outcome seems to be the same: completely random. This turns what could have been a strategic game that makes your brain run a million calculations a second for an intense and faced-paced experience into bumper cars.
The graphical style is fine. Nothing to complain about. it's just a bunch of 2d sprites flying around on a screen.
The music...ugh the music. I'm fine with looping a track to infinity and beyond as long as it meets 2 criteria:
1) it has to be fun to listen to. Bacon Pirates in Space fails on this front.
2) it has to be more than 2 seconds long! The 2 second piece could be the most beautiful thing ever to grace humankind but that won't mean much if you get tired of it after 10 seconds of gameplay. Combine this with the fact that BPiS uses music loops that aren't even particularly good and you have one miserable experience.
As previously mentioned, the control is awkward as hell. Elevation is a key aspect of the game. How do you elevate yourself? Repeatedly tapping the space button. Trust me, it's nothing like controlling Kirby or Pit in Super Smash Bros. Those characters actually respond to one hit of a button. Your little flying piggy in BPiS on the other hand will only raise his fat behind off the ground after a straight second or two of vigorous button mashing. It's not visceral. it's not intuitive. It's annoying.
Another problem is that there are way too many enemies per screen. It's manageable when an enemy ship boards yours, but during what I assume are the main levels, you wont be able to progress until you've monotonously murdered multicolored pigs for about 15 minutes.
Don't bother with this game. Trust me, it's not worth your time. If you want to play it anyways, be my guest. Until next time. Stay smelly.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=485
PS - hey, at least it has a save feature
nope.
It's definitely the most fun of the three bacon games I've "played" so far but that's not saying much. It's still frustrating and monotonous.
Pretty much all you do is fly around on a pig stabbing other pigs that fly much faster than you. Sounds revolutionary, eh?
The biggest problem this game has by far is the hit detection. It seems completely arbitrary. Whether I fly directly into an enemy pig from the perfect angle or I just happen to bump into someone while trying to adjust to the awkward control, the outcome seems to be the same: completely random. This turns what could have been a strategic game that makes your brain run a million calculations a second for an intense and faced-paced experience into bumper cars.
The graphical style is fine. Nothing to complain about. it's just a bunch of 2d sprites flying around on a screen.
The music...ugh the music. I'm fine with looping a track to infinity and beyond as long as it meets 2 criteria:
1) it has to be fun to listen to. Bacon Pirates in Space fails on this front.
2) it has to be more than 2 seconds long! The 2 second piece could be the most beautiful thing ever to grace humankind but that won't mean much if you get tired of it after 10 seconds of gameplay. Combine this with the fact that BPiS uses music loops that aren't even particularly good and you have one miserable experience.
As previously mentioned, the control is awkward as hell. Elevation is a key aspect of the game. How do you elevate yourself? Repeatedly tapping the space button. Trust me, it's nothing like controlling Kirby or Pit in Super Smash Bros. Those characters actually respond to one hit of a button. Your little flying piggy in BPiS on the other hand will only raise his fat behind off the ground after a straight second or two of vigorous button mashing. It's not visceral. it's not intuitive. It's annoying.
Another problem is that there are way too many enemies per screen. It's manageable when an enemy ship boards yours, but during what I assume are the main levels, you wont be able to progress until you've monotonously murdered multicolored pigs for about 15 minutes.
Don't bother with this game. Trust me, it's not worth your time. If you want to play it anyways, be my guest. Until next time. Stay smelly.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=485
PS - hey, at least it has a save feature
Thursday, January 17, 2013
B.A.C.O.N.B.E.A.R.S T.O.W.E.R.D.E.F.E.N.S.E
Remember a while back when I tried to review Army of TD but it just brought be to a 404 screen? well this game got a step further than that, at least, and found itself a nice little 50MB cranny in my hard drive before telling me it didn't feel like running. Apparently d3dx9d_42.dll is missing from my computer. Don't know what that measn? Neither do I. All i know is that not every component necessary was installed, so I'm calling this a broken link. Just like my other review, though, I'm considering this completely legitimate.
It's not a big deal, anyway. If the title tells me anything it's that this game probably involves tower defense, which, as covered in my Ancient Forest and Grumpy Monsters review, I'm not too fond of.
Speaking of the title, yay! We're in B territory now. That kinda sorta means we're 1/26th of the way done...hold on, folks. It's gonna be a long and bumpy ride.
I'll try and get an actual review out later tonight, but I can't make any promises.
Links:
why even bother: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26137
It's not a big deal, anyway. If the title tells me anything it's that this game probably involves tower defense, which, as covered in my Ancient Forest and Grumpy Monsters review, I'm not too fond of.
Speaking of the title, yay! We're in B territory now. That kinda sorta means we're 1/26th of the way done...hold on, folks. It's gonna be a long and bumpy ride.
I'll try and get an actual review out later tonight, but I can't make any promises.
Links:
why even bother: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26137
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Avenger
*grumbles*
Sorry guys, today is an off day. My interwubs are slow, drivers ed kept me away from me work for a million hours and, speaking of work...yeah. Not a fun time.
It's really a shame because I really want to give Avenger its due. It's not the best game on the list so far...not by a long shot...but it's still really fun and does a lot of things right. Alas, since it's already 9:16 and I have a mountain of work to get to, I'm just going to rattle off the pros and cons.
Pros:
- variety of gameplay styles from agile mech suit, land racer, and heavy mech suit. My favorite is the agile mech suit, which is good because 3 out of the 5 missions utilize it
- solid control with the agile mech suit and land racer. Even though the agile mech suit is a tad slippery and reacts to the mouse WAY too much, it's still controllable and can suck you right into the experience like you're marrow in the bones of a veal shank.
- graphics are appealing, though they kind of remind me of that fever dream I had that one time in sixth grade when my temperature broke 105...also, they made my computer (which was built with alien technology) heat up without lagging out, so at least it makes me feel like my purchase was justified.
- sound direction is competent. SFX clue the player in when appropriate and the music is fun to listen to and fits the mood.
- story is well done for a game of this length (~45 minutes). FATE reminds me of Icarus from Deus Ex, which is good because I think Icarus is the most well crafted character in the entirety of narrative media.
- not really a selling point but I think it's cool that this game had a team of only 2 people.
Cons:
- ugh dat voice acting. I have a deeper voice than the imposing military general and I'm a shrill, barely-pubescent high-schooler.
- as previously mentioned, the agile mech is slippery. Its long-range attack is just a lunging melee attack, but it acts like a spoiled toddler in that it only works when it wants to. In addition, the heavy mech is just downright boring. You're equipped with a nuke that wipes out any potential threats faster than you can say kapow. Then you just have to slllloooowwwwllllyyyy walk to your objective. Snore!
- some of the primary functions of the game can only be used by pressing the middle mouse button, meaning if you dont have a mouse, your gameplay experience will be affected greatly.
and that's pretty much it. Overall, Avenger is a good game with lots of potential. I bet if the guys who made this had some coin backing them up for a new project, they could turn out something great. I dare say this hypothetical product might even be revolutionary
Stay classy, internet.
Links
pretty colors: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=11754
Sorry guys, today is an off day. My interwubs are slow, drivers ed kept me away from me work for a million hours and, speaking of work...yeah. Not a fun time.
It's really a shame because I really want to give Avenger its due. It's not the best game on the list so far...not by a long shot...but it's still really fun and does a lot of things right. Alas, since it's already 9:16 and I have a mountain of work to get to, I'm just going to rattle off the pros and cons.
Pros:
- variety of gameplay styles from agile mech suit, land racer, and heavy mech suit. My favorite is the agile mech suit, which is good because 3 out of the 5 missions utilize it
- solid control with the agile mech suit and land racer. Even though the agile mech suit is a tad slippery and reacts to the mouse WAY too much, it's still controllable and can suck you right into the experience like you're marrow in the bones of a veal shank.
- graphics are appealing, though they kind of remind me of that fever dream I had that one time in sixth grade when my temperature broke 105...also, they made my computer (which was built with alien technology) heat up without lagging out, so at least it makes me feel like my purchase was justified.
- sound direction is competent. SFX clue the player in when appropriate and the music is fun to listen to and fits the mood.
- story is well done for a game of this length (~45 minutes). FATE reminds me of Icarus from Deus Ex, which is good because I think Icarus is the most well crafted character in the entirety of narrative media.
- not really a selling point but I think it's cool that this game had a team of only 2 people.
Cons:
- ugh dat voice acting. I have a deeper voice than the imposing military general and I'm a shrill, barely-pubescent high-schooler.
- as previously mentioned, the agile mech is slippery. Its long-range attack is just a lunging melee attack, but it acts like a spoiled toddler in that it only works when it wants to. In addition, the heavy mech is just downright boring. You're equipped with a nuke that wipes out any potential threats faster than you can say kapow. Then you just have to slllloooowwwwllllyyyy walk to your objective. Snore!
- some of the primary functions of the game can only be used by pressing the middle mouse button, meaning if you dont have a mouse, your gameplay experience will be affected greatly.
and that's pretty much it. Overall, Avenger is a good game with lots of potential. I bet if the guys who made this had some coin backing them up for a new project, they could turn out something great. I dare say this hypothetical product might even be revolutionary
Stay classy, internet.
Links
pretty colors: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=11754
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Autonomous
*disgruntled groan*
I'm running on empty here as it is, folks. The last thing I needed was something like this. There's literally nothing to say about it. I think all I can do is describe the mechanics because nothing about it is good and nothing about it is bad it's so painfully average.
I will say one thing, the game is awfully generous. After I spent 10 minutes plowing through it, it promptly informed me that I was in fact "the best player ever." Not that I disagree, but I don't think this game really had enough material to make such a judgement.
Anyway, all you do is go around picking up blocks and throwing them at other blocks. That's it. That's literally it. I have nothing else to say. The only thing that makes this experience palatable is that "another one bites the dust" and I'm one step closer to completing the catalog. That's not what a game should be about. A game should be about making me laugh and smile and forget about the miserable existence we all share (jk I totes love the world n stuff).
eh, that's all for now. Sorry this review wasn't very substantive...
Links
something: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26150
I'm running on empty here as it is, folks. The last thing I needed was something like this. There's literally nothing to say about it. I think all I can do is describe the mechanics because nothing about it is good and nothing about it is bad it's so painfully average.
I will say one thing, the game is awfully generous. After I spent 10 minutes plowing through it, it promptly informed me that I was in fact "the best player ever." Not that I disagree, but I don't think this game really had enough material to make such a judgement.
Anyway, all you do is go around picking up blocks and throwing them at other blocks. That's it. That's literally it. I have nothing else to say. The only thing that makes this experience palatable is that "another one bites the dust" and I'm one step closer to completing the catalog. That's not what a game should be about. A game should be about making me laugh and smile and forget about the miserable existence we all share (jk I totes love the world n stuff).
eh, that's all for now. Sorry this review wasn't very substantive...
Links
something: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26150
Audyssey
Please...a moment of silence.
A moment of silence for all the potential that was lost with this game...oh, the humanity. Oh, what woeful whereabouts be the world we wander.
I'm going to describe this game to you all, and I absolutely guarantee that you are going to want to play it. Audyssey is a puzzle-platformer in which you must traverse the levels by using your power to control sound. That means you get to jump around, collect stuff, and interact with the environment. The kicker is that every time you do any of those things, a unique sound is played. That's right, we may have finally married the concepts of puzzle games, platformers and rhythm games in beautiful polygamist harmony. If only the game didn't commit the mortal sin of all games. It pains me to have to say this again, especially after I've already noted how old it was getting, but why in the name of all that is good would there be
NO
DAMN
SAVE
FEATURE!!??!!?!?!!?
The game pulls of narrative really well. It's water-color slideshow opening reminds me of Braid in a very good way. It moves you. It makes you feel for the characters...gives you a purpose...only to have all your progress wiped the second you X out or the game crashes (which happens way more often than I'd like.
In addition, the music thing doesn't even work too well. They tried to implement a concept similar to that of Bit.Trip Flux (which is a terrific game to any who haven't played), but the reason it worked in Bit.Trip Flux is because it could guarantee that an action you performed to initiate a sound effect would always happen at a specific time, thus forming one cohesive song. In this game, however, the nature of platforming means that you could very well pick up a collectable or jump at the slightly wrong time and the entire song crumbles like a Jenga tower on a railroad track.
This game just makes me so angry! The controls are floaty, so you're bound to slip off a platform to your death every now and again. Gameplay this frustrating would be totally excusable if I was allowed to ragequit and come back to it later, but as I said before, there's NO GODDAMN SAVE FEATURE!
It's really a shame because I want very badly to see the resolution of this game. Unfortunately, it's just not worth it. The amount of frustration I'd have to bear and the time I'd have to waste to beat this game all in one go is just unreasonable. This game had everything! The graphics are nice, sound direction competent, controls passable, concept flooring...all it needed was this one teeny tiny thing and it would have been a fantastic game. That's right, I said it. Fantastic! The gap between utter crap and fantastic is as simple as a save feature.
*sigh* I'm done. I can't deal with this game anymore. I'm gonna go play some Attack of the 50ft Robot to cool down. I like that game because the infinitely spawning enemies means infinitely spawning toys in my sandbox of horror, so take that, Luis!
Now that I've left you all wondering who this Luis character who may or may not be responsible for potentiallymeaningful.blogspot.com, I'll bid you adieu.
Links
a bigger disappointment than my physics grades: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24675
A moment of silence for all the potential that was lost with this game...oh, the humanity. Oh, what woeful whereabouts be the world we wander.
I'm going to describe this game to you all, and I absolutely guarantee that you are going to want to play it. Audyssey is a puzzle-platformer in which you must traverse the levels by using your power to control sound. That means you get to jump around, collect stuff, and interact with the environment. The kicker is that every time you do any of those things, a unique sound is played. That's right, we may have finally married the concepts of puzzle games, platformers and rhythm games in beautiful polygamist harmony. If only the game didn't commit the mortal sin of all games. It pains me to have to say this again, especially after I've already noted how old it was getting, but why in the name of all that is good would there be
NO
DAMN
SAVE
FEATURE!!??!!?!?!!?
The game pulls of narrative really well. It's water-color slideshow opening reminds me of Braid in a very good way. It moves you. It makes you feel for the characters...gives you a purpose...only to have all your progress wiped the second you X out or the game crashes (which happens way more often than I'd like.
In addition, the music thing doesn't even work too well. They tried to implement a concept similar to that of Bit.Trip Flux (which is a terrific game to any who haven't played), but the reason it worked in Bit.Trip Flux is because it could guarantee that an action you performed to initiate a sound effect would always happen at a specific time, thus forming one cohesive song. In this game, however, the nature of platforming means that you could very well pick up a collectable or jump at the slightly wrong time and the entire song crumbles like a Jenga tower on a railroad track.
This game just makes me so angry! The controls are floaty, so you're bound to slip off a platform to your death every now and again. Gameplay this frustrating would be totally excusable if I was allowed to ragequit and come back to it later, but as I said before, there's NO GODDAMN SAVE FEATURE!
It's really a shame because I want very badly to see the resolution of this game. Unfortunately, it's just not worth it. The amount of frustration I'd have to bear and the time I'd have to waste to beat this game all in one go is just unreasonable. This game had everything! The graphics are nice, sound direction competent, controls passable, concept flooring...all it needed was this one teeny tiny thing and it would have been a fantastic game. That's right, I said it. Fantastic! The gap between utter crap and fantastic is as simple as a save feature.
*sigh* I'm done. I can't deal with this game anymore. I'm gonna go play some Attack of the 50ft Robot to cool down. I like that game because the infinitely spawning enemies means infinitely spawning toys in my sandbox of horror, so take that, Luis!
Now that I've left you all wondering who this Luis character who may or may not be responsible for potentiallymeaningful.blogspot.com, I'll bid you adieu.
Links
a bigger disappointment than my physics grades: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24675
Monday, January 14, 2013
Attack of the 50ft Robot!
Holy Physics!
you know, sometimes after a long day of school, work, what have you, you just want to plop down on the couch and destroy things. That's exactly what Attack of the 50ft Robot lets you do.
The word of the day is catharsis, folks. Honestly, I could end the review right there. That's the one word to describe this game. It doesn't weigh you down with a plot or overly complicated hub world or anything. It knows that you just want to see buildings crumble at your feet; and with a wide variety of attacks that still maintains simplicity and ease of use, the gameplay is fresh and will certainly last you until you've calmed down and are ready to start studying for that Latin test tomorrow (gulp).
In terms of Graphics, there's nothing to complain about. Honestly, this is probably the prettiest game on the list so far in terms of 3D. I guess that if they had colored in all the textures this game might have run at the pace of Aporkalypse. Luckily (I guess), the whole game is presented in black and white (with the occasional red laser beam) with a mild film grain effect, which I assume was meant to pay homage to that movie from the 1950s with the remarkably similar name.
Sound is ok. The music just an orchestral loop of Toccata and Fugue that goes with the 1950s movie theme. Nothing to dance to but nothing too grating. SFX can get a bit annoying when repeated ad nauseam, but honestly it's nothing worth critiquing.
Control is solid. The robot does exactly what you want it to do pretty much all the time.
And that's really all I can say about this game. Honestly, if anyone out there is searching for the perfect game to ram through in 10 minutes after work or something to run in the background that you occasionally alt+tab into while your Youtube video is loading, look no further. This game is straight up fun and relaxing. I give it my seal of approval.
Links
catharsis: the game: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=8728
you know, sometimes after a long day of school, work, what have you, you just want to plop down on the couch and destroy things. That's exactly what Attack of the 50ft Robot lets you do.
The word of the day is catharsis, folks. Honestly, I could end the review right there. That's the one word to describe this game. It doesn't weigh you down with a plot or overly complicated hub world or anything. It knows that you just want to see buildings crumble at your feet; and with a wide variety of attacks that still maintains simplicity and ease of use, the gameplay is fresh and will certainly last you until you've calmed down and are ready to start studying for that Latin test tomorrow (gulp).
In terms of Graphics, there's nothing to complain about. Honestly, this is probably the prettiest game on the list so far in terms of 3D. I guess that if they had colored in all the textures this game might have run at the pace of Aporkalypse. Luckily (I guess), the whole game is presented in black and white (with the occasional red laser beam) with a mild film grain effect, which I assume was meant to pay homage to that movie from the 1950s with the remarkably similar name.
Sound is ok. The music just an orchestral loop of Toccata and Fugue that goes with the 1950s movie theme. Nothing to dance to but nothing too grating. SFX can get a bit annoying when repeated ad nauseam, but honestly it's nothing worth critiquing.
Control is solid. The robot does exactly what you want it to do pretty much all the time.
And that's really all I can say about this game. Honestly, if anyone out there is searching for the perfect game to ram through in 10 minutes after work or something to run in the background that you occasionally alt+tab into while your Youtube video is loading, look no further. This game is straight up fun and relaxing. I give it my seal of approval.
Links
catharsis: the game: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=8728
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Atmosphere
Back in my A Flipping Good Time review I noted that the game's title sounded a bit hubristic but this game took the liberty to name itself after one of the most important aspects of game design. With a name like that, this game better damn nigh drown me in its immersion. It's a good thing they didn't call this Conveyance: The Game because starting the game up was one of the most confusing experiences of my life.
For a game made in the 2004-2005 academic year, the graphics are quite pretty and stylized. The lack of shading does make the game as a whole look very loud, but oh well. That's just a nit-pick.
One thing that really kills me is the sound direction. As far as I can tell, there's only one track that plays throughout the whole game, which I wouldn't mind if it was actually pleasing to listen to. Unfortunately, it's just an obnoxious chord progression on an overly distorted electric guitar.
The main concept of this game is that you must blend three elements together to create an entirely new element (because that's how chemistry works) with attention to magnetism, weight and radioactivity, which all help you race the newly created element. The tracks themselves are lackluster except for the two main gimmicks that give the game its challenge.
The first of these gimmicks are branching paths, each to be handled by elements exhibiting certain properties. For example, one path may be a narrow metal bar that magnetic elements can cross with ease while another may be a dark area that radioactive elements can shine their way through. My gripe with this concept is that when creating your element, you are pretty much limited to emphasizing one property (maybe 2 if you only fill the bars midway), so this isn't really choice to freely explore the levels as much as a linear path and two dead zones. If that sounded a bit confusing, just play the game and see for yourself. It's tough to put it into words.
The levels are also littered with powerups, which are amplified by how many of each type you collect etc etc. It's a very simple powerup system that any gamer is very familiar with by now.
Overall, the game is fun if a bit frustrating. It definitely has replayability, at least until you figure out that magnetism is the only property worth investing in and are able to zoom into 1st place every time. However, it just doesn't bring anything new to the table. being able to customize your vehicle in order to adapt to the tracks is a very basic concept in racing games.
TL:DR- nothing special but nothing horrible. Just another racing game.
Links
it- https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=487
PS - no, the atmosphere is not done very well in this game but really who cares about a game's title? (I do).
For a game made in the 2004-2005 academic year, the graphics are quite pretty and stylized. The lack of shading does make the game as a whole look very loud, but oh well. That's just a nit-pick.
One thing that really kills me is the sound direction. As far as I can tell, there's only one track that plays throughout the whole game, which I wouldn't mind if it was actually pleasing to listen to. Unfortunately, it's just an obnoxious chord progression on an overly distorted electric guitar.
The main concept of this game is that you must blend three elements together to create an entirely new element (because that's how chemistry works) with attention to magnetism, weight and radioactivity, which all help you race the newly created element. The tracks themselves are lackluster except for the two main gimmicks that give the game its challenge.
The first of these gimmicks are branching paths, each to be handled by elements exhibiting certain properties. For example, one path may be a narrow metal bar that magnetic elements can cross with ease while another may be a dark area that radioactive elements can shine their way through. My gripe with this concept is that when creating your element, you are pretty much limited to emphasizing one property (maybe 2 if you only fill the bars midway), so this isn't really choice to freely explore the levels as much as a linear path and two dead zones. If that sounded a bit confusing, just play the game and see for yourself. It's tough to put it into words.
The levels are also littered with powerups, which are amplified by how many of each type you collect etc etc. It's a very simple powerup system that any gamer is very familiar with by now.
Overall, the game is fun if a bit frustrating. It definitely has replayability, at least until you figure out that magnetism is the only property worth investing in and are able to zoom into 1st place every time. However, it just doesn't bring anything new to the table. being able to customize your vehicle in order to adapt to the tracks is a very basic concept in racing games.
TL:DR- nothing special but nothing horrible. Just another racing game.
Links
it- https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=487
PS - no, the atmosphere is not done very well in this game but really who cares about a game's title? (I do).
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Astrobunny
Oh boy oh boy was it ever a hectic weekend for me. Sorry for the brief hiatus. I'll try to resume as close to a regular schedule as humanly possible.
So, today's game was called Astrobunny. I'll be honest, I didnt get a whole lot of time to play it, so I didn't experience all the levels, but I think I played enough of it to get the basic grasp of the levels.
This game is all about the principle of circular motion. You know, that thing that you thought you knew in physics class until you take the midterm and immediately feel the desire to abandon all hope? Or maybe that was just me...Anyway, you play as a wonderfully stylized space rabbit navigating your way around planets, using their gravitational fields to propel you from point A to point B. It's a quite fun arcadey title and the first one on this list that was actually able to bring a genuine smile to my face. I definitely recommend giving it a shot.
The gameplay is solid, the aesthetic is fluid and the controls are easy to understand. I have to say, what really sold me on this game was the music. The track that's played while storming through the main levels is really just a joy to listen to and certainly makes the experience that much better.
This game is great. I don't think anyone would deny that. However, as I mentioned in earlier reviews, the reason I wanted to play through the Digipen catalog is because I felt there would be no better way to really explore the use of games as an artistic medium. As much as I love Astrobunny as a fun time waster, I think I can actually say it's contributed something great to the value of games as a whole. Maybe just being a really fun game is all it needs. Maybe it doesn't need a narrative. Maybe I expect too much from a school project that was probably only made to get a good grade in some class.
The one thing this game did make me think of is the whole idea of gamifying education. Check out the Extra Credit on that if you haven't already. Really interesting stuff. I'll include the links below. Anyhow, it teaches a basic principle of circular motion (that of tangential movement in absence of a centripetal force) in a way that doesn't feel like school. It feels like playing a game. Personally, I think I'm going to show this game to my physics teacher and get his take on its use as a teaching tool. There could be a lot to learn from a game like Astrobunny. These kinds of things are what make me love games as a medium in the first place. If we can use this arcade-style school project to teach even a portion of physics at the 11th grade level in a way that is both fun and effective for students, the possibilities of contributions from games to society really do seem endless.
Wow, that rant was quite tangential, if you'll forgive the pun. I'm going to sign off now before I start talking about the place of philosophy in level design or something. I hope what I've said has made you curious enough to check out this game. I genuinely do think it provides something to think about. And if not, it's just a really fun time. This game gets my seal of approval.
Stay beautiful and tell your cousin I say hi.
Links
the game: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26066
Extra Credits on Gamifying Education.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuDLw1zIc94
So, today's game was called Astrobunny. I'll be honest, I didnt get a whole lot of time to play it, so I didn't experience all the levels, but I think I played enough of it to get the basic grasp of the levels.
This game is all about the principle of circular motion. You know, that thing that you thought you knew in physics class until you take the midterm and immediately feel the desire to abandon all hope? Or maybe that was just me...Anyway, you play as a wonderfully stylized space rabbit navigating your way around planets, using their gravitational fields to propel you from point A to point B. It's a quite fun arcadey title and the first one on this list that was actually able to bring a genuine smile to my face. I definitely recommend giving it a shot.
The gameplay is solid, the aesthetic is fluid and the controls are easy to understand. I have to say, what really sold me on this game was the music. The track that's played while storming through the main levels is really just a joy to listen to and certainly makes the experience that much better.
This game is great. I don't think anyone would deny that. However, as I mentioned in earlier reviews, the reason I wanted to play through the Digipen catalog is because I felt there would be no better way to really explore the use of games as an artistic medium. As much as I love Astrobunny as a fun time waster, I think I can actually say it's contributed something great to the value of games as a whole. Maybe just being a really fun game is all it needs. Maybe it doesn't need a narrative. Maybe I expect too much from a school project that was probably only made to get a good grade in some class.
The one thing this game did make me think of is the whole idea of gamifying education. Check out the Extra Credit on that if you haven't already. Really interesting stuff. I'll include the links below. Anyhow, it teaches a basic principle of circular motion (that of tangential movement in absence of a centripetal force) in a way that doesn't feel like school. It feels like playing a game. Personally, I think I'm going to show this game to my physics teacher and get his take on its use as a teaching tool. There could be a lot to learn from a game like Astrobunny. These kinds of things are what make me love games as a medium in the first place. If we can use this arcade-style school project to teach even a portion of physics at the 11th grade level in a way that is both fun and effective for students, the possibilities of contributions from games to society really do seem endless.
Wow, that rant was quite tangential, if you'll forgive the pun. I'm going to sign off now before I start talking about the place of philosophy in level design or something. I hope what I've said has made you curious enough to check out this game. I genuinely do think it provides something to think about. And if not, it's just a really fun time. This game gets my seal of approval.
Stay beautiful and tell your cousin I say hi.
Links
the game: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26066
Extra Credits on Gamifying Education.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuDLw1zIc94
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Ascension
Alright, alright. As busy as I've been lately, I wouldn't feel right leaving my nonexistent audience with only that last cop out review for the entire day. The next game on my list is self-advertised as a "battle platformer." This alone made me want to play it, as images of merilly bouncing off opponents' heads in one of those co-op Mario games immediately filled my mind. Combine that premise with the soulful originality stereotypically associated with indie games and I'm sold. Much to my delight, the game handles very similarly to Super Meat Boy. In fact, the characters look similar to Meatboy as well, so the best way to think of this game is "Super Meat Boy with no budget."
Really my only gripe with the game is that there's no singleplayer mode. Go multiplayer or go home, apparently. Problem is, once I go home, I'll need a game to keep me company; and this game could have made great fun all by my lonesome. Oh well, I won't fault the game for lost potential because it might also mean lost pretension. Maybe the game just wouldn't have worked as a singleplayer game or maybe the designers only wanted to deliver a fun friend v. friend experience. If that's the case, they succeeded. Give this game a go. I'm pretty sure you won't be disappoint. It's still nowhere near the Nitronic Rush level of game that made me want to do this list in the first place, but it's a fun time-waster.
Links
Ascension: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24637
Really my only gripe with the game is that there's no singleplayer mode. Go multiplayer or go home, apparently. Problem is, once I go home, I'll need a game to keep me company; and this game could have made great fun all by my lonesome. Oh well, I won't fault the game for lost potential because it might also mean lost pretension. Maybe the game just wouldn't have worked as a singleplayer game or maybe the designers only wanted to deliver a fun friend v. friend experience. If that's the case, they succeeded. Give this game a go. I'm pretty sure you won't be disappoint. It's still nowhere near the Nitronic Rush level of game that made me want to do this list in the first place, but it's a fun time-waster.
Links
Ascension: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24637
Army of TD
well this will be the easiest review I've ever written because I don't even have to say anything. This game's download page brought be to a 404 page, so as far as I'm concerned, this game just doesn't exist, which is a shame because the title got me kind of curious. What the hell is TD and why does it need an army? Oh well, I'm still considering this a totally legitimate review. Why? Because screw you, that's why.
Have a nice day :)
Links:
maybe it'll work for you: https://download0.digipen.edu/GameGallery/gamedownloads/8170001477/Army%20of%20TD_Setup.exe
Have a nice day :)
Links:
maybe it'll work for you: https://download0.digipen.edu/GameGallery/gamedownloads/8170001477/Army%20of%20TD_Setup.exe
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Armored Aggression
Oh boy oh boy, do I have a lot of shit to do today. This is definitely going to end up being my only review today, and I wouldn't expect professional quality if I were you. I'm going to be very busy preparing for a debate tournament this weekend during which I likely wont be able to post anything. Who knows...
Right, Armored Aggression. First thing I noticed was the option to "join" or "host" a game, suggesting that this game was supposed to have online support but shared the same fate as the online in A Series of Tubes. It's not unexpected for an indie game like this to not have online support. Servers are expensive, yo. Still, I bet with enough tweaking I could get a LAN game going on or something...but that's for another time. Let's jump into the "practice" mode seeing as it's our only other option.
Upon starting the practice mode, I was greeted by a sprite that wouldn't move no matter what buttons I pressed and a bad electronic music loop. I wanted to go back to the options menu to access the controls interface, so I pressed escape. Unfortunately, this closed the game.
At this point, I was just about ready to declare the game broken and move on with my life, but I couldn't disrespect my nonexistent fans like that. No, I must press on.
So after fiddling with the controls for a while I finally had a passable keymap. Unfortunately, that didn't help the unbearably floaty controls. You know how in some games there will be an oil barrel or something that handicaps the player by making the controls a bit more slippery? Multiply that effect by a thousand and you have the basic feel of this game. I couldn't play it for more than 3 minutes because between the preposterous movement and vomit-inducing background textures, it started to make me sick.
So I guess that's all for today. What a shame. See ya next time.
Links
that one thing I talked about that one time: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=475
Right, Armored Aggression. First thing I noticed was the option to "join" or "host" a game, suggesting that this game was supposed to have online support but shared the same fate as the online in A Series of Tubes. It's not unexpected for an indie game like this to not have online support. Servers are expensive, yo. Still, I bet with enough tweaking I could get a LAN game going on or something...but that's for another time. Let's jump into the "practice" mode seeing as it's our only other option.
Upon starting the practice mode, I was greeted by a sprite that wouldn't move no matter what buttons I pressed and a bad electronic music loop. I wanted to go back to the options menu to access the controls interface, so I pressed escape. Unfortunately, this closed the game.
At this point, I was just about ready to declare the game broken and move on with my life, but I couldn't disrespect my nonexistent fans like that. No, I must press on.
So after fiddling with the controls for a while I finally had a passable keymap. Unfortunately, that didn't help the unbearably floaty controls. You know how in some games there will be an oil barrel or something that handicaps the player by making the controls a bit more slippery? Multiply that effect by a thousand and you have the basic feel of this game. I couldn't play it for more than 3 minutes because between the preposterous movement and vomit-inducing background textures, it started to make me sick.
So I guess that's all for today. What a shame. See ya next time.
Links
that one thing I talked about that one time: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=475
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Arc Angle
Welp, I knew this would happen eventually.
I've told you guys before about my preposterous schedule, yet somehow I've always managed to gather enough material in a day for a review for each game I play. This is not the case with Arc Angle. This game is going to take me a few days, if not weeks, to substantially rip through. I'll see if I can update this post unti lit's done, but for now you'll have to deal with a first impressions sort of thing.
First impressions = fantastic. Unique gameplay does honor to the name "project fun." What blows me away even more is that this game only had 3 people working on it. Add onto the fun, frantic gameplay a very wel executed aesthetic and competent sound direction and you've got yourself a winner. This game gets a preliminary gold star.
Unfortunately that's all I have for now. Stay pretty.
Links
this: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25985
I've told you guys before about my preposterous schedule, yet somehow I've always managed to gather enough material in a day for a review for each game I play. This is not the case with Arc Angle. This game is going to take me a few days, if not weeks, to substantially rip through. I'll see if I can update this post unti lit's done, but for now you'll have to deal with a first impressions sort of thing.
First impressions = fantastic. Unique gameplay does honor to the name "project fun." What blows me away even more is that this game only had 3 people working on it. Add onto the fun, frantic gameplay a very wel executed aesthetic and competent sound direction and you've got yourself a winner. This game gets a preliminary gold star.
Unfortunately that's all I have for now. Stay pretty.
Links
this: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25985
Aporkalypse
This review is going to be the antithesis of Aporkalypse in that you will hopefully be able to read through it quickly and without distraction. If you would like an experience more similar to that of Aporkalypse, please copy this blog into a word document, make the font size 72 and the line spacing 3, and every time you read one line, close your eyes and breathe for 5 seconds.
Yes, the main criticism for Aporkalypse is that it's sluggish. Very sluggish. I'd like to say it's just poor optimization and that playing it on a futuristic space computer would fix this problem, but the framerate actually isnt that piss poor and some enemies move quite swiftly. I know the sobriquets "big" and "bad" don't exactly inspire images of zipping around forests at the speed of sound, but I'm supposed to be playing as a wolf, not a snail.
The gameplay mechanics work decently enough. There's not much challenge to the game since every enemy you kill spawns unreasonably generous health pickups, but the dual use of the huff and puff as an attack and platforming aid is interesting enough to hold the player's attention. At least it would be if the game operated at any speed greater than that achieved by using your breath to boil a pot of water.
I've got nothing more to say about this game. As one of the first 3D installments I've played and pretty much the only one to function properly, I suppose it should earn a medal of some sort. The only problem is this: Aporkalypse just wasn't an enjoyable experience for me. One of the reasons I decided to play through the Digipen catalog is that i thought a college for game design would be a hotbed of new ideas and mechanics that the AAA wold has yet to see. Oh well.
Links
Aporkalypse: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24652
Oh yeah, there's no save feature either, but honestly after the disappointment of Apoch I don't even care anymore. insert sadface here.
Oh yeah, there's no save feature either, but honestly after the disappointment of Apoch I don't even care anymore. insert sadface here.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Apoch
January 7th, 2013...it is half past the 18th hour as I write this. The physics midyear rises in the distance like the sun behind a mountain range. To gaze upon it now...to see it in its monstrous, omnipotent splendor...to think it was here the whole time...and only now am I beginning to acknowledge its presence...
Earlier today, I stumbled upon a game called Apoch. A simple top down 2D shooter. as the grey, hopeless menu screen enveloped my visage...my very soul...I knew what I had to do. I had limited time and willpower...I have even less now...but still, my path was clear. I had to play this game, and I had to review it for the world to see.
My heart filled with resentful joy, I set out on my journey. The first thing that caught my eye illuminated my soul with such a bright pleasure, I felt like I might survive the night after all. Could it be? After all these games...one after another committing the cardinal sin of game design...I finally saw it. So simplistic in its rectangular shape but so heartwarming in its message. A button...written in it the words "Load Game."
This is it, I thought. I've finally found it. I've finally found a true, honest-to-God save feature in a Digipen game. I fought back the pristine and salty river overflowing in my eyes. The tears would blur my vision, and I wanted to gaze upon the beauty in front of me without obstruction.
Reluctantly I pulled my cursor away from the "Load Game" button. This was the first time I had played this game, so there was nowhere to start but "New Game."
Once I clicked the mouse button I began my journey through the maze-like level, mowing down the undead sprites that stood in my way. I couldn't tell what the .png monsters represented...it looked to all the world like one of them was pissing crystalized shards of urine at me, but I didn't care. I had the freedom to quit the game and come back to it...that was all I could ask for. How naive of me...
I didn't even care that the movement speed was something akin to a turtle in a tar pit and that since the goal of the game is to exterminate all the monsters in a level, missing one early on would have me slowly trekking back to the beginning of the stage to pop some lead in my targets.
I didn't care that the game has some kind of deep-seated phobia that the player will run out of ammo such that bullet cases are haphazardly strewn about the labyrinths so frequently that any strategy other than emitting a stream of hot metal from both barrels is inefficient, negating any challenge the game might have had as well as rendering the tertiary bullet system obsolete.
I enjoyed the terribly designed game for a while before hitting the quicksave button and exiting. It was nary half an hour later that I decided to boot it up again, once more gazing upon the glory of the save feature. I clicked the "Load Game" button...then it happened.
A white box appeared before me, delivering a message that drilled into my very being, making me sick to my stomach. "Apoch.exe has stopped working" it read. Before my very eyes, the window that held the game retreated into the unreachable depths of my start menu. It was gone...the hope I had in the future of game design...in humanity...escaped me.
It is now approaching the 19th hour...my future looks dim.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26136
Earlier today, I stumbled upon a game called Apoch. A simple top down 2D shooter. as the grey, hopeless menu screen enveloped my visage...my very soul...I knew what I had to do. I had limited time and willpower...I have even less now...but still, my path was clear. I had to play this game, and I had to review it for the world to see.
My heart filled with resentful joy, I set out on my journey. The first thing that caught my eye illuminated my soul with such a bright pleasure, I felt like I might survive the night after all. Could it be? After all these games...one after another committing the cardinal sin of game design...I finally saw it. So simplistic in its rectangular shape but so heartwarming in its message. A button...written in it the words "Load Game."
This is it, I thought. I've finally found it. I've finally found a true, honest-to-God save feature in a Digipen game. I fought back the pristine and salty river overflowing in my eyes. The tears would blur my vision, and I wanted to gaze upon the beauty in front of me without obstruction.
Reluctantly I pulled my cursor away from the "Load Game" button. This was the first time I had played this game, so there was nowhere to start but "New Game."
Once I clicked the mouse button I began my journey through the maze-like level, mowing down the undead sprites that stood in my way. I couldn't tell what the .png monsters represented...it looked to all the world like one of them was pissing crystalized shards of urine at me, but I didn't care. I had the freedom to quit the game and come back to it...that was all I could ask for. How naive of me...
I didn't even care that the movement speed was something akin to a turtle in a tar pit and that since the goal of the game is to exterminate all the monsters in a level, missing one early on would have me slowly trekking back to the beginning of the stage to pop some lead in my targets.
I didn't care that the game has some kind of deep-seated phobia that the player will run out of ammo such that bullet cases are haphazardly strewn about the labyrinths so frequently that any strategy other than emitting a stream of hot metal from both barrels is inefficient, negating any challenge the game might have had as well as rendering the tertiary bullet system obsolete.
I enjoyed the terribly designed game for a while before hitting the quicksave button and exiting. It was nary half an hour later that I decided to boot it up again, once more gazing upon the glory of the save feature. I clicked the "Load Game" button...then it happened.
A white box appeared before me, delivering a message that drilled into my very being, making me sick to my stomach. "Apoch.exe has stopped working" it read. Before my very eyes, the window that held the game retreated into the unreachable depths of my start menu. It was gone...the hope I had in the future of game design...in humanity...escaped me.
It is now approaching the 19th hour...my future looks dim.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26136
Aphotic Ascent
Well, I suppose can thank this game's title for making me think for a fleeting moment that 9th Grade Ecology actually wasn't pointless.
Unfortunately, that's about all I can thank this game for. It's not a fundamentally broken game like A Series of Tubes or AEther, but rather it's a functional string of design flaws, one after another.
The most obvious of which is that this game literally requires a mouse to play. See, I play all my games on a laptop, so if I didn't happen to have a mouse on me, I'd be SOL. Wouldn't one of the primary purposes of having a free Game Library be to make your projects accessible to all who wish to experience them?
The controls are floaty as root beer on the Fourth of July. Sometimes the jump carries the character no higher than a few feet and other times he rockets into orbit at the slightest touch of the "space" key. The inertia is way too high, making you feel like this dark, ostensibly rocky terrain is actually an ice rink that's been covered in oil.
The graphical style is fine. In fact it looks like something you'd by in the indie section of Steam or the XBLA (which might not sound like a compliment but when its competition is Animalien it's like a gold medal).
The music is very atmospheric and immersive but quickly becomes annoying, probably because it's accompanied by what I'm about to mention next.
And of course, we get to the biggest design flaw of all. I wonder if I'm boring people at this point (if I had an audience to bore, that is...har har). Yes, it's that old game design favorite of mine...everyone sing along...
There's no. Damn. Save. Feature.
You know what? I can accept that in a game like Animalien because that game is more about the challenge and mastery of the controls, so you can use the argument that it's supposed to be a gauntlet to be conquered in one go...kinda like Contra or any of those other old arcadey titles. Aphotic Ascent on the other hand seems to build itself around the story with it's Limbo-esque graphical style and "slow revelation" narrative format. It is simply impossible to be immersed in a story if you have to start from the beginning every time you put it down. Anyone remember that one scene in The Catcher in the Rye where Holden has to keep reading the same sentence over and over because his douchenugget friend keeps distracting him? Well, the lack of a save feature is basically the equivalent of that friend.
Maybe this game is short enough to justify the whole "one go" mentality but the length of a game has to take back seat to the overall feel. Even if the game is only 15 minutes long, the irresponsible level design makes it frustrating; and nobody wants to put up with a frustrating game. When I fall down 500 stories, watching helplessly as my progress unfolds around me, I want the security of knowing I can ragequit and return to it later.
Alright, I think I'm all out of rage for now. Tune in next time and keep your hands off my cookies.
Links
not Limbo: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25899
Unfortunately, that's about all I can thank this game for. It's not a fundamentally broken game like A Series of Tubes or AEther, but rather it's a functional string of design flaws, one after another.
The most obvious of which is that this game literally requires a mouse to play. See, I play all my games on a laptop, so if I didn't happen to have a mouse on me, I'd be SOL. Wouldn't one of the primary purposes of having a free Game Library be to make your projects accessible to all who wish to experience them?
The controls are floaty as root beer on the Fourth of July. Sometimes the jump carries the character no higher than a few feet and other times he rockets into orbit at the slightest touch of the "space" key. The inertia is way too high, making you feel like this dark, ostensibly rocky terrain is actually an ice rink that's been covered in oil.
The graphical style is fine. In fact it looks like something you'd by in the indie section of Steam or the XBLA (which might not sound like a compliment but when its competition is Animalien it's like a gold medal).
The music is very atmospheric and immersive but quickly becomes annoying, probably because it's accompanied by what I'm about to mention next.
And of course, we get to the biggest design flaw of all. I wonder if I'm boring people at this point (if I had an audience to bore, that is...har har). Yes, it's that old game design favorite of mine...everyone sing along...
There's no. Damn. Save. Feature.
You know what? I can accept that in a game like Animalien because that game is more about the challenge and mastery of the controls, so you can use the argument that it's supposed to be a gauntlet to be conquered in one go...kinda like Contra or any of those other old arcadey titles. Aphotic Ascent on the other hand seems to build itself around the story with it's Limbo-esque graphical style and "slow revelation" narrative format. It is simply impossible to be immersed in a story if you have to start from the beginning every time you put it down. Anyone remember that one scene in The Catcher in the Rye where Holden has to keep reading the same sentence over and over because his douchenugget friend keeps distracting him? Well, the lack of a save feature is basically the equivalent of that friend.
Maybe this game is short enough to justify the whole "one go" mentality but the length of a game has to take back seat to the overall feel. Even if the game is only 15 minutes long, the irresponsible level design makes it frustrating; and nobody wants to put up with a frustrating game. When I fall down 500 stories, watching helplessly as my progress unfolds around me, I want the security of knowing I can ragequit and return to it later.
Alright, I think I'm all out of rage for now. Tune in next time and keep your hands off my cookies.
Links
not Limbo: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25899
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Animalien
Ooh, look! Wordplay! I like this game already. The installer was also kind enough to remind me that I am in fact playing the GOLD version of this game. Fancy shmancy.
This 2D platformer was made back in the 2004-2005 academic year, which may explain some rather egregious technical issues such as the game closing every time I alt+tab out to write something about it.
The Sophomores who made this game were clearly paying attention during their classes on conveyance, because once again this game pulls off the ol' difficulty curve quite nicely. The game starts simple enough by plopping you into a simplistic world of animals and aliens with the simple objective of going right. Finally, a game didn't feel the need to explain anything to me with anything other than its mechanics. I was on my own to figure out the controls and you know what? I like it that way. I didn't figure out how to shoot until I was halfway through the first level and that's a good thing because not knowing how to shoot forced me to explore alternate methods of dispatching my enemies. Before long you're merrily gliding through the game pressing buttons you didn't even know existed. Keep in mind that nary a tutorial was ever given to achieve this sense of flow, and the game is better off for it. And yes, I know there's an options screen that displays the functions of all the buttons on the menu screen, but nobody forces you to click on that and it's nice to have the option to remap your controls.
The graphics are as good as one can expect from sprites drawn in what I assume to be a primitive version of MS Paint. Once again, they are hardly a selling point.
The sound is fine, but heaven have mercy on the poor soul who doesn't immediately go to the options menu and turn the SFX volume down.
I assume the multiplayer works well. I say assume because I'm a bit of a shut-in this weekend and didn't get a chance to check it out. Let's just call this section of the review an I.O.U.
and now for the bad bits...
Once again, this game has no save feature. I'm just as angry about it as I was with previous titles, but I'm kind of growing to accept it. What makes matters even worse is that this game closes the second you alt+tab away from it, as I mentioned earlier. I didn't get the chance to complete the whole game because of this, so for all I know, something could happen later in the game that completely negates everything I've said so far.
In addition, the game can get very monotonous at times, especially during the first boss segment and the parts immediately thereafter.
Oh well, it's still an amusing little sidescroller despite its many design flaws and I'm glad to have it on my hard drive. It will be a useful tool during a debate tournament or something when a buddy and I will have nothing to do for half an hour.
That's all for now, folks. Insert witty sign off here. (damn, I was saving that one for a rainy day.)
Links
meh: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=478
This 2D platformer was made back in the 2004-2005 academic year, which may explain some rather egregious technical issues such as the game closing every time I alt+tab out to write something about it.
The Sophomores who made this game were clearly paying attention during their classes on conveyance, because once again this game pulls off the ol' difficulty curve quite nicely. The game starts simple enough by plopping you into a simplistic world of animals and aliens with the simple objective of going right. Finally, a game didn't feel the need to explain anything to me with anything other than its mechanics. I was on my own to figure out the controls and you know what? I like it that way. I didn't figure out how to shoot until I was halfway through the first level and that's a good thing because not knowing how to shoot forced me to explore alternate methods of dispatching my enemies. Before long you're merrily gliding through the game pressing buttons you didn't even know existed. Keep in mind that nary a tutorial was ever given to achieve this sense of flow, and the game is better off for it. And yes, I know there's an options screen that displays the functions of all the buttons on the menu screen, but nobody forces you to click on that and it's nice to have the option to remap your controls.
The graphics are as good as one can expect from sprites drawn in what I assume to be a primitive version of MS Paint. Once again, they are hardly a selling point.
The sound is fine, but heaven have mercy on the poor soul who doesn't immediately go to the options menu and turn the SFX volume down.
I assume the multiplayer works well. I say assume because I'm a bit of a shut-in this weekend and didn't get a chance to check it out. Let's just call this section of the review an I.O.U.
and now for the bad bits...
Once again, this game has no save feature. I'm just as angry about it as I was with previous titles, but I'm kind of growing to accept it. What makes matters even worse is that this game closes the second you alt+tab away from it, as I mentioned earlier. I didn't get the chance to complete the whole game because of this, so for all I know, something could happen later in the game that completely negates everything I've said so far.
In addition, the game can get very monotonous at times, especially during the first boss segment and the parts immediately thereafter.
Oh well, it's still an amusing little sidescroller despite its many design flaws and I'm glad to have it on my hard drive. It will be a useful tool during a debate tournament or something when a buddy and I will have nothing to do for half an hour.
That's all for now, folks. Insert witty sign off here. (damn, I was saving that one for a rainy day.)
Links
meh: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=478
Ancient Forest and Grumpy Monsters
*sigh* I knew this day would come. The day where I have to sacrifice my already minimal credibility as a reviewer and admit that there are just certain genres that I don't care for. One of those genres is strategy, in particular, tower defense.
My prejudices aside, Ancient Forest and Grumpy Monsters is a very functional tower defense game. The first level is very simple, allowing the player to figure out the functions of the game (although I would have preferred if I wasn't told exactly what to do by giant text screens that aren't even grammatically sound interrupting the flow of the game every five minutes). Each of the 19 levels introduces something new, creating a nice difficulty curve. I feel like I'd really like this game if it wasn't a genre that I didn't particularly like. Oh well.
Alright, that's all I got for this one. Sorry for the anemic post today but hey, that means less reading for you internet trolls and more time looking up videos of cats jumping from high places.
Until next time. Stay beautiful.
links
this: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25873
My prejudices aside, Ancient Forest and Grumpy Monsters is a very functional tower defense game. The first level is very simple, allowing the player to figure out the functions of the game (although I would have preferred if I wasn't told exactly what to do by giant text screens that aren't even grammatically sound interrupting the flow of the game every five minutes). Each of the 19 levels introduces something new, creating a nice difficulty curve. I feel like I'd really like this game if it wasn't a genre that I didn't particularly like. Oh well.
Alright, that's all I got for this one. Sorry for the anemic post today but hey, that means less reading for you internet trolls and more time looking up videos of cats jumping from high places.
Until next time. Stay beautiful.
links
this: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25873
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Amoeba Evolution
Unfortunately it's going to be a short review today. Like really short. It's been a long (but fun) day, and I've got many other things to attend to. There's not much to say about Amoeba Evolution anyway. It's a top-down 2D shooter where you shoot things that aren't like you.
You are a red circle being shot at by triangles and other shapes of varying hues. The controls are solid and the game feel is wonderful, providing a fun, challenging and somewhat hectic experience for all involved.
All involved...interesting choice of words, you may say, because it implies that more than one person can be involved at this game. Wait...can it be...it can! This game has multiplayer support! *angelic chorus sings*
In fact, one of the only reasons this review is coming out so late is because I wanted to test that multiplayer support with a friend, but unfortunately my schedule didn't allow for that today. Oh well. If I find the time and willpower to edit this document in the future, I'll fill you all in as to how the multiplayer works.
Alright, since I'm quickly running out of motivation to keep writing this review, it's time for a lightning round.
graphics - appealing but nothing even close to a selling point. Nothing to see here
sound - no music, which is fine, and the sound effects are all generated by some dude's mouth, which is funny to listen to and has a kind of organic charm to it.
gameplay/feel - fast-paced, hectic (in a good way) and most importantly, fun. This game probably stimulated my fun gland more than any other on this list so far. Caveat: that does not make it the best game in my opinion. Amaia still takes that prize for now.
mechanics - the powerups are the icing on the cake, only in this case the cake is made out of unflavored bread and the icing is made from rainbows and the laughter of children. Without them, the game would be a monotonous shoot-em up. With them, however, the player is forced to calculate several variables at once, making for a very stimulating experience. It probably has the best powerup system I've ever seen in any game I've played. Ever. I know that's a bold statement, but being able to use powerups as bombs while trying to make a perfect combination of 3 powerups, which is all your inventory can hold, is a simple detail which makes the game exponentially more fun to play. And that's really the best way to describe this game. Straight up fun.
Hmm, guess this review turned out longer than I thought. *shrugs* I might have to take a break tomorrow and/or the next day due to my physics midyear which is coming up, leaving me with very little game time. Don't fret, though. There are still 360 days left in the year. I have every intention of finishing this project.
That's all for now, folks. Until next time, stay shiny and hey, I like the way you did your hair today. It frames your face really well.
links
the smiles device: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1419
You are a red circle being shot at by triangles and other shapes of varying hues. The controls are solid and the game feel is wonderful, providing a fun, challenging and somewhat hectic experience for all involved.
All involved...interesting choice of words, you may say, because it implies that more than one person can be involved at this game. Wait...can it be...it can! This game has multiplayer support! *angelic chorus sings*
In fact, one of the only reasons this review is coming out so late is because I wanted to test that multiplayer support with a friend, but unfortunately my schedule didn't allow for that today. Oh well. If I find the time and willpower to edit this document in the future, I'll fill you all in as to how the multiplayer works.
Alright, since I'm quickly running out of motivation to keep writing this review, it's time for a lightning round.
graphics - appealing but nothing even close to a selling point. Nothing to see here
sound - no music, which is fine, and the sound effects are all generated by some dude's mouth, which is funny to listen to and has a kind of organic charm to it.
gameplay/feel - fast-paced, hectic (in a good way) and most importantly, fun. This game probably stimulated my fun gland more than any other on this list so far. Caveat: that does not make it the best game in my opinion. Amaia still takes that prize for now.
mechanics - the powerups are the icing on the cake, only in this case the cake is made out of unflavored bread and the icing is made from rainbows and the laughter of children. Without them, the game would be a monotonous shoot-em up. With them, however, the player is forced to calculate several variables at once, making for a very stimulating experience. It probably has the best powerup system I've ever seen in any game I've played. Ever. I know that's a bold statement, but being able to use powerups as bombs while trying to make a perfect combination of 3 powerups, which is all your inventory can hold, is a simple detail which makes the game exponentially more fun to play. And that's really the best way to describe this game. Straight up fun.
Hmm, guess this review turned out longer than I thought. *shrugs* I might have to take a break tomorrow and/or the next day due to my physics midyear which is coming up, leaving me with very little game time. Don't fret, though. There are still 360 days left in the year. I have every intention of finishing this project.
That's all for now, folks. Until next time, stay shiny and hey, I like the way you did your hair today. It frames your face really well.
links
the smiles device: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1419
Friday, January 4, 2013
Amaia
Hello again!
You may be thankful to hear that this game is the exact opposite of Aether in that while the graphics might be minimalistic, the gameplay not only exists but functions nigh-perfectly.
Amaia is certainly the most relaxing game I've played on this list so far. The pleasing visual style and soothing musical score makes it a game one can play to get away from one's troubles. It reminds me of Braid in a lot of ways, provided you replace the deep, perplexing narrative with a basic storyline held together with a string of references to other games, films and internet culture. I'd be surprised if someone catches all of them without using the google machine. I personally was sent on an amusing trek through youtube because I looked up something written on a signpost in level 2 (hooray for tangential learning. The folks at Extra Credits would be proud).
The gameplay is simple. It's a top-down puzzle game that commits the gaming venial sin of explaining how to solve the puzzles through the medium of rock carvings in the foreground, but gets away with it because it still allows a good amount of room for thought and doesn't tell you how exactly you accomplish the feats prophesied on the stones of fate.
This game does a great job of challenging the player's mind as well as his or her reflexes. It left me with a smile, and thus gets a much coveted gold star.
Any of you who have played this game and read my previous posts will no doubt be wondering why I haven't brought up the fact that this game has no save feature yet. It may be true that I find this to be among the most offensive of game design flaws, but this game gets away with it for including a level selector that has all four levels unlocked at the start. 0xCELERATOR and AEscher could learn a thing or two from that. Granted, using the level select means you won't get to read the little block of text before a level, but trust me, you aren't missing much. It certainly provides an incentive to plow through the story mode, but isn't enough of a punishment to be frustrating.
On the topic of punishment, your sprite's death animation takes no more than a second. In addition, it is kind of amusing to see your character do that adorable little faceplant into the spiked ground. Nice touch.
Something that makes this game even more impressive is that it was a Freshman project. If nothing else, it certainly makes one look back and shake his or her head at A Series of Tubes, a senior-made game more broken than a copy of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that's been put in a dishwasher.
Do yourself a favor, o precious reader. Play this game. I won't lie, though it's not the longest of games, it's not a quick, five minute popcorn game like the others I've reviewed so far. Trust me, though, it's worth your time, especially since it's free.
Links
Amaia: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26135
A trailer for the game (warning: contains the answers to some puzzles. Kind of a spoiler):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eiLZSoFh-M
You may be thankful to hear that this game is the exact opposite of Aether in that while the graphics might be minimalistic, the gameplay not only exists but functions nigh-perfectly.
Amaia is certainly the most relaxing game I've played on this list so far. The pleasing visual style and soothing musical score makes it a game one can play to get away from one's troubles. It reminds me of Braid in a lot of ways, provided you replace the deep, perplexing narrative with a basic storyline held together with a string of references to other games, films and internet culture. I'd be surprised if someone catches all of them without using the google machine. I personally was sent on an amusing trek through youtube because I looked up something written on a signpost in level 2 (hooray for tangential learning. The folks at Extra Credits would be proud).
The gameplay is simple. It's a top-down puzzle game that commits the gaming venial sin of explaining how to solve the puzzles through the medium of rock carvings in the foreground, but gets away with it because it still allows a good amount of room for thought and doesn't tell you how exactly you accomplish the feats prophesied on the stones of fate.
This game does a great job of challenging the player's mind as well as his or her reflexes. It left me with a smile, and thus gets a much coveted gold star.
Any of you who have played this game and read my previous posts will no doubt be wondering why I haven't brought up the fact that this game has no save feature yet. It may be true that I find this to be among the most offensive of game design flaws, but this game gets away with it for including a level selector that has all four levels unlocked at the start. 0xCELERATOR and AEscher could learn a thing or two from that. Granted, using the level select means you won't get to read the little block of text before a level, but trust me, you aren't missing much. It certainly provides an incentive to plow through the story mode, but isn't enough of a punishment to be frustrating.
On the topic of punishment, your sprite's death animation takes no more than a second. In addition, it is kind of amusing to see your character do that adorable little faceplant into the spiked ground. Nice touch.
Something that makes this game even more impressive is that it was a Freshman project. If nothing else, it certainly makes one look back and shake his or her head at A Series of Tubes, a senior-made game more broken than a copy of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that's been put in a dishwasher.
Do yourself a favor, o precious reader. Play this game. I won't lie, though it's not the longest of games, it's not a quick, five minute popcorn game like the others I've reviewed so far. Trust me, though, it's worth your time, especially since it's free.
Links
Amaia: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26135
A trailer for the game (warning: contains the answers to some puzzles. Kind of a spoiler):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eiLZSoFh-M
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Aether
*disgruntled groan*
This game...has no gameplay. It simply has no gameplay. It's impossible to die, there are literally no sound effects, the music stops after about 30 seconds of play, and the HUD makes no sense. Not even the graphics are passable. The enemy is just a green, polygonal ape with no features whatsoever. The fighting polygons form Super Smash Bros were more detailed. In fairness, the background is almost impressive given the five-person team that created this game. But then I consider that three of those five were artists and a slightly impressive, moving, 3D background starts to lose its charm.
Technically, this game is a bullet hell shooter, but that would imply that there is some kind of danger or challenge to be conquered. As I mentioned before, however, it's impossible to die. Literally impossible. You can just stroll right up to the enemy and hold "fire" until you win. A more accurate term would be bullet-purgatory. As far as I can tell, all the modes are the same game.
If you'll permit brief rudeness, the only button worth pressing in this game is "esc" which closes the game instantly without so much as a "quit game?" screen.
That's all for now, folks. I have to go study physics (an ostensibly alien term to the team behind Aether).
links
the creation that I hesitate to call a game: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=566
This game...has no gameplay. It simply has no gameplay. It's impossible to die, there are literally no sound effects, the music stops after about 30 seconds of play, and the HUD makes no sense. Not even the graphics are passable. The enemy is just a green, polygonal ape with no features whatsoever. The fighting polygons form Super Smash Bros were more detailed. In fairness, the background is almost impressive given the five-person team that created this game. But then I consider that three of those five were artists and a slightly impressive, moving, 3D background starts to lose its charm.
Technically, this game is a bullet hell shooter, but that would imply that there is some kind of danger or challenge to be conquered. As I mentioned before, however, it's impossible to die. Literally impossible. You can just stroll right up to the enemy and hold "fire" until you win. A more accurate term would be bullet-purgatory. As far as I can tell, all the modes are the same game.
If you'll permit brief rudeness, the only button worth pressing in this game is "esc" which closes the game instantly without so much as a "quit game?" screen.
That's all for now, folks. I have to go study physics (an ostensibly alien term to the team behind Aether).
links
the creation that I hesitate to call a game: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=566
AEscher
*relieved sigh*
I needed this. That last game left me in a semi-comatose state, but this one was nice and relaxing.
Sorry again for the brief review of A Series of Tubes, but I was still twitching from having played that madness for five seconds. Not only that, but as I said before, Time is something I do not have much of. Sorry to say, but most of my reviews are going to be short streams of consciousness because of this.
Speaking of having no time to do anything ever, school's starting up again! yay! Forgive the pun, but let the games begin.
Okay enough beating around the bush...Let's talk about AEscher.
AEscher is a fun 3D platformer where you control one of those practice baseballs that are designed to make crazy bounces. You know, one of these monstrosities:
I needed this. That last game left me in a semi-comatose state, but this one was nice and relaxing.
Sorry again for the brief review of A Series of Tubes, but I was still twitching from having played that madness for five seconds. Not only that, but as I said before, Time is something I do not have much of. Sorry to say, but most of my reviews are going to be short streams of consciousness because of this.
Speaking of having no time to do anything ever, school's starting up again! yay! Forgive the pun, but let the games begin.
Okay enough beating around the bush...Let's talk about AEscher.
AEscher is a fun 3D platformer where you control one of those practice baseballs that are designed to make crazy bounces. You know, one of these monstrosities:
Despite your character's design, the controls are anything but unpredictable. WASD to move, mouse to look, and space to jump creates a simple formula that, when combined with decent physics, delivers an enjoyable sense of flow. One feature that really caught my eye was that the double-jump is powerful enough to get you back on a platform after falling off it, but only if you time it right. This really makes every death feel like your fault, which makes it all the more gratifying to reach that best time for a level.
The graphics, I'll admit, are sloppy. It looks like this game was created using one of those budget game-maker programs that throws a bunch of models into a grab-bag to be placed around a level editor with no sense of aesthetic continuity. The platforms are grey and dull whereas the objective points are red and shiny. In short, let's say Egoraptor would probably not be impressed.
The music is okay. Nothing to complain about, but nothing to hail. Like pretty much all of the previous games, it's a short synthesizer loop that plays over and over. It certainly matches the tone of the game and is not unenjoyable, but it's hardly the game's selling point.
Finally, there's the big flaw with this game. The one that made me want to tear my hair out and storm angrily from New York to Digipen in Washington just to post fliers all over the walls warning people to avoid this fatal flaw. Anyone who read my 0xCELERATOR review knows exactly what I'm talking about. Say it with me now...
There's no save feature.
Why? Is it really so hard to program something like that into your game? Let me answer that for you, NO!
I get that AEscher was probably a few students' attempt to get a good grade and was created with the intention of being played by a professor once, graded, turned off and never heard from again, but still! This game was put on the internet for all to see and the Digipen Game Gallery serves as at least some kind of advertisement for the school. Games that require me to beat them in one go will NOT sell me on this institution.
Oh well. All things considered, AEscher is still fun. It definitely does what I think it set out to do, which is demonstrate expertly programmed controls in a simplistic but still thought-provoking environment. This is really all I ask for in a game on this list (provided it has the damn courtesy to include a save feature). I'm not looking for shiny graphics or immersiveness to rival that of Skyrim. Just a competently made game with functional gameplay will earn my seal of approval. And this game certainly meets those criteria.
Personally, playing this left me in good spirits. I'm looking forward to seeing what the next game can bring to the table. Until next time.
Links
a random let's play I found of this game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxy9ZDBJxQE (fair warning: the video lags and therefore does not reflect the actual pace of the game. Also it's spoken in what I assume is German. It's hard to tell because the guy's voice is very soft.)
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