Sometimes you forget to blog...When you forget to blog, it's usually because some other things in your life are driving you crazy. Don't worry, I'm not going to fish for sympathy. I'm in the same position as every other high scholar out there, I get it. Just do try and understand that the mood I'm in as of late is definitely not conducive to writing, so I'm just going to give you the bare essentials of these three games today.
Tradewind is probably the best example on this entire list of "good foundation, poor execution." The entire game is built around the movement mechanics; basically, you hold the left mouse button down to rocket in the direction you're pointing. When you get it down, it's insanely fun to zip around this Bioshock Infinite-esque world like a peregrine falcon on speed.
The way the game chooses to put those mechanics to use, however, is lackluster. To be fair, the game does its best to keep the segments varied, but pretty much only the last mission doesn't seem out of place. Otherwise, you're pushing cabbages, fetching sandwiches, or literally rescuing cats from trees. Maybe that was a deliberate attempt to say "yeah, these missions are about as dull as you can get, but you're still having fun, so that must say a lot about the mechanics, eh?"
In short, this is a game I would love to see expanded on, because I think I could have had a lot more fun with it if I had any more motivation than "well this is fun" to keep playing. Maybe that sounds nonsensical, but still. Play the game for yourself. You'll see what I mean; it's very well crafted but shows a lot of potential for expansion. Not improvement, so much...expansion.
Short note on Tribe Tactics before I begin actually reviewing it: this game is very similar to Steamalot: Epoch's Journey, a game made by Indie developer Risen Phoenix Studios, who you should all totally check out on the facebooks. I was planning on reviewing Steamalot once it game out (I had the privilege of playing an early build at New York Comic Con last month), as well as their debut title Go Go Galago, but they're not DigiPen games, so I'll probably have to get around to them sometime in early 2014. Before you accuse, no I was not paid by Risen Phoenix to say this. I simply saw them at Comic Con and think they deserve lots more attention, and reviewing such a similar game to the one they're working on now presented me an ideal opportunity to help that happen.
Anyway, onto the review...
Tribe Tactics is a multiplayer card-based digital board game. Whoa...wrap your head around that one for a second. The way you win is by either killing you opponent's general or by taking out his/her two stationery crystals. The general can spawn warriors as well as effect cards and if I explain it any further it's going to get really confusing really fast. This is the hallmark of a well designed game, I think; the mechanics are confusing enough to be difficult to explain in words, but if you just play the game, you'll know exactly how to play it.
Since this is a multiplayer game, I was only able to pit myself against my own wit, which doesn't make for a very interesting battle. I can only assume that playing against someone else is fun. It seems like it would be, though. The game looks good, sounds good, and feels good, so what could go wrong? Check this out if you need some way to entertain both you and a friend at your next debate tournament or similar event.
Finally, Trick Shot Golf. All I can really say about it is...it's golf. You've got your standard holes: the straight shot, the troll curve, the sadistic ocean with patches of dry land...The game plays like any other golf game you'd find in the shadiest corner of your local pool hall. I assume the main uniqueness of the game stems from "fantasy mode," but my game crashed whenever I tried to load it.
I do have one major criticism of this game, though: the music. One question: Who on god's green earth thought it would be a good idea to put THIS much base in a soundtrack. It hurts! I mean that literally. This game is physically painful to play because of the ridiculous amount of base in the background. I feel like my intestines are being dissolved or something...
All-in-all, we've got three strong titles today. Maybe I'm only being lenient because I recently started programming again (This time in C++), so I have a whole new appreciation for how hellish getting a game to work can be, but I had fun with these games, especially the first two, since they didn't make my ears bleed. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay resonant.
Links:
My Cabbages!!!: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25893
Chess without the Chess: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26911
Golf: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=536
