Sunday, May 5, 2013
Hookshot
yeah it's broken. Can't get past the menu screen. Unfortunately I don't even think I'll be able to get a legitimate review out today, either. Sorry guys.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Hollowpoint
Hollowpoint betrays everything you've been taught since childhood. Get ready to have your mind blown: turtles run fast. It all makes sense now! That explains how that one pet turtle I had that one time escaped so quickly while my dad was cleaning his tank. Golly gee...
Well other than that, Hollowpoint plays by the rules. Guns are fun, so let's make a game with them. The guns run on time rather than ammo, so it's another blank-minded shootstravaganza.
Alright, let's not pretend it's something it's not. Let's just judge it based on what it is. In a game like this, the most important factor by far is game feel, and Hollowpoint pulls that off pretty well. The guns are satisfying to shoot and galloping around looking for health and gun upgrades is definitely appealing.
Difficulty is fine. The game derives its challenge from the typical bullet hell formula: just throw a bunch o' stuff at 'em and see what they can do. Yeah, the levels are designed pretty haphazardly, but it works in this context.
At first I really liked the visual style, but once I got over the feeling of "I am a turtle killing things with high-powered weapons" I realized that there wasn't much variety to anything.
This is a delightfully average sensory stimulation machine. If that sounds appealing to you, go for it. It's certainly enjoyable, so if you're bored and feel like going on a rampage, give it a shot.
That's all for now. Until next time, stay shelled
Links
Hello, point: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=402
Well other than that, Hollowpoint plays by the rules. Guns are fun, so let's make a game with them. The guns run on time rather than ammo, so it's another blank-minded shootstravaganza.
Alright, let's not pretend it's something it's not. Let's just judge it based on what it is. In a game like this, the most important factor by far is game feel, and Hollowpoint pulls that off pretty well. The guns are satisfying to shoot and galloping around looking for health and gun upgrades is definitely appealing.
Difficulty is fine. The game derives its challenge from the typical bullet hell formula: just throw a bunch o' stuff at 'em and see what they can do. Yeah, the levels are designed pretty haphazardly, but it works in this context.
At first I really liked the visual style, but once I got over the feeling of "I am a turtle killing things with high-powered weapons" I realized that there wasn't much variety to anything.
This is a delightfully average sensory stimulation machine. If that sounds appealing to you, go for it. It's certainly enjoyable, so if you're bored and feel like going on a rampage, give it a shot.
That's all for now. Until next time, stay shelled
Links
Hello, point: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=402
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Hexcentric
hehe yeah this game is a bit hexcentric if you know what I'm saaaayinnnnnnnn
*ahem*
okay so this is one of those puzzle game type things that I'm not really good at so maybe I'm not the most reliable of sources to go with on this one. What I can tell you is that, from a game design perspective, Hexcentric tried to be fun for all the family and succeeded...to an extent.
The difficulty is perfect. The game modes range from the pathetically simple to the "I have no idea what's happening." Each game mode, regardless of your starting point, has pretty much the same difficulty curve, which is rather effective at reeling you into the game. Now, the question is: is the game itself fun?
Well it's an entertaining little toy, but I can't see myself ever investing more than a few minutes to tinker around with it. Honestly, there's just only so much tile arranging I can do before I start to get bored.
Again, the game is designed beautifully and it makes you feel kinda smart for figuring out how to play it (unless you click "how to play" in which case your only reaction will be "oh...oh that's kinda smart I guess")
If you like casual puzzlers, this is for you. If not, it's not. It's lacking in polish and depth, but a game doesn't need those things to be a fun experience.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay hexagonal
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=444
*ahem*
okay so this is one of those puzzle game type things that I'm not really good at so maybe I'm not the most reliable of sources to go with on this one. What I can tell you is that, from a game design perspective, Hexcentric tried to be fun for all the family and succeeded...to an extent.
The difficulty is perfect. The game modes range from the pathetically simple to the "I have no idea what's happening." Each game mode, regardless of your starting point, has pretty much the same difficulty curve, which is rather effective at reeling you into the game. Now, the question is: is the game itself fun?
Well it's an entertaining little toy, but I can't see myself ever investing more than a few minutes to tinker around with it. Honestly, there's just only so much tile arranging I can do before I start to get bored.
Again, the game is designed beautifully and it makes you feel kinda smart for figuring out how to play it (unless you click "how to play" in which case your only reaction will be "oh...oh that's kinda smart I guess")
If you like casual puzzlers, this is for you. If not, it's not. It's lacking in polish and depth, but a game doesn't need those things to be a fun experience.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay hexagonal
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=444
Helvault
You wanna know how to tell if a game may be oversimplified? If it only uses one button.
But seriously, folks. If that doesn't capture how simplistic Helvault is, nothing will. The only thing you have the power to do is jump. This makes the game easy to play, if nothing else.
The visual style is one step further than that whole "retro-NES" style I talked about in my Haven review and goes for something of a "retro-Atari 2600" look. The animations are limited and the whole thing is very plain. Nothing to behold but nothing to scorn.
The game itself, despite having literally the most simple control scheme possible, can actually get pretty intense. It goes for an arcade feel, which shows through its difficulty. Yeah, this game is a token taker, alright. See, the way you power up is by collecting more teammates, so when those teammates die, you get substantially weaker. You enemies, which kill you just by touching you, do not. Thus, it becomes nigh impossible to survive once a few of your guys get taken out. This isn't a bad thing, mind. I appreciate how unforgiving the game is, and since the game takes no time at all to get moving, it makes for a fun and intense experience. Who knew timing jumps could be so fun?
The other thing that can make this game super chaotic is that your teammates can spread out. See, they form a line behind you as you collect them, and they all jump simultaneously when you press the jump button. This means that if you have a large team, you're likely going to end up with three separate rows of platforms all being covered by your guys. Keeping track of your characters under these conditions can be quite exhilarating.
Yeah, that's all I got. Simple concept, fun game. Until next time, stay prehistoric.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26008
But seriously, folks. If that doesn't capture how simplistic Helvault is, nothing will. The only thing you have the power to do is jump. This makes the game easy to play, if nothing else.
The visual style is one step further than that whole "retro-NES" style I talked about in my Haven review and goes for something of a "retro-Atari 2600" look. The animations are limited and the whole thing is very plain. Nothing to behold but nothing to scorn.
The game itself, despite having literally the most simple control scheme possible, can actually get pretty intense. It goes for an arcade feel, which shows through its difficulty. Yeah, this game is a token taker, alright. See, the way you power up is by collecting more teammates, so when those teammates die, you get substantially weaker. You enemies, which kill you just by touching you, do not. Thus, it becomes nigh impossible to survive once a few of your guys get taken out. This isn't a bad thing, mind. I appreciate how unforgiving the game is, and since the game takes no time at all to get moving, it makes for a fun and intense experience. Who knew timing jumps could be so fun?
The other thing that can make this game super chaotic is that your teammates can spread out. See, they form a line behind you as you collect them, and they all jump simultaneously when you press the jump button. This means that if you have a large team, you're likely going to end up with three separate rows of platforms all being covered by your guys. Keeping track of your characters under these conditions can be quite exhilarating.
Yeah, that's all I got. Simple concept, fun game. Until next time, stay prehistoric.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26008
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Helios
"We are Daedalus. We are Icarus. The barriers between us have fallen and we have become our own shadows. We can be more if we join with you."
Helios is a 3D, straightforward space shooter. Its most distinguishing feature, if you ask me, is that it's played exclusively with the mouse. It's altogether functional minus a few manageable flaws and, ultimately, it's a fun experience. Here's why:
First, let's talk about presentation, which is something this game absolutely nails. As soon as you start it up, the game greets you with a fun, active electronic tune, which is a sped up version of a song I remember hearing in other games, so either the guys who provide DigiPen with their music were out of ideas or someone on this game's team decided to leave an auditory mark on their project, which I can respect.
The sun in the background contrasts beautifully with the space atmosphere (or lack thereof...hehe) and the bright trail of your ship is a delight to behold...not that you'll have much time to behold it, because as soon as the 30-second tutorial wraps up, you're launched into an onslaught of enemies and obstacles, all well designed and fun to shoot at.
Alright, let's get into the problems with the game. Really, there are 3 big ones: a sound glitch, the enemy fire, and the obstacles.
Let's start with enemy fire. It's tiny and impossible to avoid. Mostly, this is because if an enemy situates itself right in front of you, your ship will prevent you from seeing the enemy projectiles. See, in Starfox 64, the camera is angled slightly downward so that you can see enemies that are directly in front of you. As a result, every hit you take feels like you deserved it. Here, almost every time you take damage seems like a cheap shot.
speaking of cheap shots, let's talk obstacles: All-in-all, this game controls quite well, even on my trackpad. However, dodging the giant obstacles is made artificially difficult by some sort of design flaw I might be able to point out if I were a design student. All I know as a player is that one second the opening to escape unharmed couldn't be clearer and the next you've just collided with a piece of 3-ton space debris. Not fun, not challenging, just frustrating.
Speaking of space debris, there's the sound glitch. The first song you blast away enemies to is catchy and immersive. Perfect for setting the mood. However, at some point, whether it's when you collide with space debris or when 2 pieces of space debris collide against each other, that music will stop and you will be catapulted out of the experience. Couple that with the fact that collision sound effects are way too loud and you've got yourself a real sound editing problem.
Other than all that, Helios is quite fun and definitely worth your time. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay inevitable.
Links
can't get away: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18573
Helios is a 3D, straightforward space shooter. Its most distinguishing feature, if you ask me, is that it's played exclusively with the mouse. It's altogether functional minus a few manageable flaws and, ultimately, it's a fun experience. Here's why:
First, let's talk about presentation, which is something this game absolutely nails. As soon as you start it up, the game greets you with a fun, active electronic tune, which is a sped up version of a song I remember hearing in other games, so either the guys who provide DigiPen with their music were out of ideas or someone on this game's team decided to leave an auditory mark on their project, which I can respect.
The sun in the background contrasts beautifully with the space atmosphere (or lack thereof...hehe) and the bright trail of your ship is a delight to behold...not that you'll have much time to behold it, because as soon as the 30-second tutorial wraps up, you're launched into an onslaught of enemies and obstacles, all well designed and fun to shoot at.
Alright, let's get into the problems with the game. Really, there are 3 big ones: a sound glitch, the enemy fire, and the obstacles.
Let's start with enemy fire. It's tiny and impossible to avoid. Mostly, this is because if an enemy situates itself right in front of you, your ship will prevent you from seeing the enemy projectiles. See, in Starfox 64, the camera is angled slightly downward so that you can see enemies that are directly in front of you. As a result, every hit you take feels like you deserved it. Here, almost every time you take damage seems like a cheap shot.
speaking of cheap shots, let's talk obstacles: All-in-all, this game controls quite well, even on my trackpad. However, dodging the giant obstacles is made artificially difficult by some sort of design flaw I might be able to point out if I were a design student. All I know as a player is that one second the opening to escape unharmed couldn't be clearer and the next you've just collided with a piece of 3-ton space debris. Not fun, not challenging, just frustrating.
Speaking of space debris, there's the sound glitch. The first song you blast away enemies to is catchy and immersive. Perfect for setting the mood. However, at some point, whether it's when you collide with space debris or when 2 pieces of space debris collide against each other, that music will stop and you will be catapulted out of the experience. Couple that with the fact that collision sound effects are way too loud and you've got yourself a real sound editing problem.
Other than all that, Helios is quite fun and definitely worth your time. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay inevitable.
Links
can't get away: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18573
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Haxsys 2.0
Despite having the most irritating title of any game on this list thus far, Haxsys 2.0 (grrr) has many qualities about it that make me smile. First and foremost, one of the ships you can choose from looks like an old-style Arwing, which made me squeal like a fangirl.
Other than that, though, the concept is a new spin on an old classic (domination). It's a delightful step forward in the process of evolving conflict in games to purely combat. It's tough to explain, so I'll just recommend that you give it a try so I can skip the summary of the mechanics.
I'm really at a loss for words with this game. Something about how it combines fast-paced action with Risk and Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing in a genuinely fun and engaging way just leaves me kind of awestruck.
You know what? I think I have to leave it there. I just can't say anything more about this game. Sorry for the weak review, but at least I'm making your job easier. Play this game. It's worth your time.
Until next time, stay polygonal.
Links
Accualy f33l liek Hax0rz: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1433
Other than that, though, the concept is a new spin on an old classic (domination). It's a delightful step forward in the process of evolving conflict in games to purely combat. It's tough to explain, so I'll just recommend that you give it a try so I can skip the summary of the mechanics.
I'm really at a loss for words with this game. Something about how it combines fast-paced action with Risk and Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing in a genuinely fun and engaging way just leaves me kind of awestruck.
You know what? I think I have to leave it there. I just can't say anything more about this game. Sorry for the weak review, but at least I'm making your job easier. Play this game. It's worth your time.
Until next time, stay polygonal.
Links
Accualy f33l liek Hax0rz: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1433
Monday, April 29, 2013
HAVEN
In a world where games like Realm of the Mad God and Shovel Knight get substantial praise, I find myself wondering if calling back to the days of pixel art increases or decreases a games's favorability. Don't get me wrong, I love Realm (though I've never played Shovel Knight), but, as I sort of alluded to in my Dig-n-Rig review, I find that style kind of pretentious. I'm a firm believer that limitations breed creativity, but artificial limitations just rub me the wrong way. Don't get me wrong, not everyone has to go the Deus Ex: Human Revolution route and try to pack the game with as much glorious HD goodness as it can while still maintaining a good aesthetic, but my logic is that if NES games didn't exist, or if the current technology were the starting point, nobody would even think of designing a game in that style. All it really does is call back to a time everyone views favorably as if to say "See guys? We can totally be this good!"
Jeez, what will this guy rant about next? Next he'll spend 2 pages talking about how much he hates HD remakes (don't worry, I'm sure that time will come soon).
Anyway, let's talk about HAVEN from a non-graphical perspective. The game builds itself around combat, as so many games do, and it does so quite well. The blocking and attacking mechanics all flow really nicely into one another. Every enemy has a pattern that you have to figure out and counter. There are not so many enemies that this gets stale and before you know it, the game has taught you how to fight well enough that you can take on the final boss.
It seems like the designers really put thought into every aspect of this game (or just had a series of really luck guesses) because everything sort of acts as a tutorial for what happens next. That's the hallmark of a really well designed game in my opinion.
The final boss fight is challenging enough without being too repetitive. Although, it does come rather close because, since there's no consequence for dying other than having to guide your ghost back to your body, there's no real way to fail at killing the boss, so the fight should be over as soon as the player figures out the pattern. This in mind, the boss's health meter should have been about half as long. Not a dealbreaker, but something to be cautious of.
So yeah. Haven is a neatly wrapped, adrenaline-fueled, fun, pixelated romp that earns my seal of approval. Check it out, it's worth your time, especially considering it's only about 10 minutes long (if even that).
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay retro
Links
hacky slashy 80s callback: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26142
Jeez, what will this guy rant about next? Next he'll spend 2 pages talking about how much he hates HD remakes (don't worry, I'm sure that time will come soon).
Anyway, let's talk about HAVEN from a non-graphical perspective. The game builds itself around combat, as so many games do, and it does so quite well. The blocking and attacking mechanics all flow really nicely into one another. Every enemy has a pattern that you have to figure out and counter. There are not so many enemies that this gets stale and before you know it, the game has taught you how to fight well enough that you can take on the final boss.
It seems like the designers really put thought into every aspect of this game (or just had a series of really luck guesses) because everything sort of acts as a tutorial for what happens next. That's the hallmark of a really well designed game in my opinion.
The final boss fight is challenging enough without being too repetitive. Although, it does come rather close because, since there's no consequence for dying other than having to guide your ghost back to your body, there's no real way to fail at killing the boss, so the fight should be over as soon as the player figures out the pattern. This in mind, the boss's health meter should have been about half as long. Not a dealbreaker, but something to be cautious of.
So yeah. Haven is a neatly wrapped, adrenaline-fueled, fun, pixelated romp that earns my seal of approval. Check it out, it's worth your time, especially considering it's only about 10 minutes long (if even that).
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay retro
Links
hacky slashy 80s callback: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26142
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