Y'know, I like my computer. I like it a lot, but nobody's perfect. Every computer has its flaws. My computer has a 700GB hard drive. That might seem like a lot, but games tend to be huge files, and I set out to play 500 of them, not counting the non-DigiPen titles I depend on to keep me sane. So now, we're not even 2/3 done with the year and I've only got 130GB left on my drive. Mercifully, the DigiPen games tend to be pretty small. The largest one I've encountered was Crazy Cross, and that wasn't even half a gig.
Enter Rapidfyre. Things were off to a bad start when I saw that the application file alone was 500MB, and the whole package was more than 800. After sighing and saying goodbye to another gigabyte of storage space, the game wouldn't start. "Oh no," I said, "I've sacrificed too much to declare this a broken game." I decided to do a bit of research; then I found out that Rapidfyre is a mod of the Alien Swarm SDK, meaning I had to go download Alien Swarm, a 2GB file, as well. So in total, that's 3 entire gigabytes of space. That could comfortably fit 6 Crazy Crosses!
So yes, I am a bit biased from the get-go, but come on, 3 gigabytes? The game isn't even that long. I got through it in less than 40 minutes. 40 minutes! Crazy Cross took me almost a week of casual play, and that game was entirely original.
Oh yeah, that's another point of bias for me. I absolutely loathe mods, remakes, or pretty much anything that can be construed as lazy. I've never modded a game before (unless you count texture swapping in GTA: Vice City), so I don't know how much effort went into making this game, but I can't give it credit for looking and feeling nice, because that was the work of the Alien Swarm guys.
And once you take that into consideration, there are really only 2 things to judge Rapidfyre for: the dual-color mechanic and the enemy design. Both of these things are pretty well done, but I can't help but wonder how many times the guys at DigiPen are going to try and sell me Ikaruga in a different package. I feel like that time I was like 8 years old and I told all my friends and family that I wanted a new video game for Christmas, and literally everyone who got me a present decided on Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg. It's a great game, as is Ikaruga, but I can only play a game so many times before I get bored.
The final boss is well constructed, as are the rest of the enemies, but hot damn they are easy to take down, especially when you're given th-th-thirty lives?!? What?! 5 lives would've been fine, 10 would have been generous, but 30?! How inept do the developers think we are at playing these games? A simple design flaw like that can really sap the tension and excitement away from what is otherwise a very tense and exciting final boss fight.
So yeah, final verdict: Rapidfyre was fun but mindless, a welcome departure from Alien Swarm's unforgiving difficulty, but the concept is unoriginal and the gameplay doesn't deserve a much better adjective than "solid." If you've got 3GB to spare and you were holding out until now for a truly polished game to waste time with, go nuts. Otherwise, don't bother.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay absorbent.
Links
liberal use of "y" does not make you cool: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24912
Monday, July 29, 2013
Saturday, July 27, 2013
PuzzlePusherParty and Qubie (sorta), as well as R-Chain
*sigh* today is a boring day.
PuzzlePusherParty is a multiplayer-only game, so there's not much I can say about it. Mercifully, the game allows you to use an xbox controller, rather than requiring it. One player can play with WASD while another plays with the arrow keys, for example. I've seen way too many games on this list forbid that simple privilege to the players, and it's nice to see a game designed with the players in mind.
From what I can tell, the game is fast-paced, fun and frantic. The mechanics are simple, everything is well-conveyed, the game looks, sounds and feels beautiful, and I genuinely have nothing to complain about...though that's probably because I didn't have anyone to play with.
Qubie didn't install correctly, so I tried it again. It didn't install correctly again. I restarted my computer and tried again. Didn't work, so I'm calling this one broken.
Finally, the only real review today (if you can even call it that), R-Chain.
I was worried about this game when I saw that it was a senior project. Lord knows I haven't had good luck with senior projects in the past. My spirits were lifted when I saw the splash art that said "powered by Unity." Of course, there are exceptions, but games that use Unity tend to look really good, and games that look really good tend to have been made with some bit of care. When a senior combines his experience at the school with genuine care, the product should be good as a result, right?
Well, in this case, yes. R-Chain is a good game. It's one of those games that analyzes music and generates the level accordingly. Instead of jumping over hurdles and gaps, like in ParChord, here you emit radial bursts that cause any bullets in their proximity to explode. Those explosions then trigger other explosions and then you go blind.
Yeah, I would say that's this game's major fault. Even when I played with placid background tracks, the screen was muddled up with so many colorful things that it was excruciatingly difficult to tell what the hell was going on. Still, this game certainly provides enough sensory stimulation to be fun, and exploding your musical tracks is an idea that simply cannot fail.
That's all I got for today. Until next time, stay bright
Links
misuse of the word "puzzle": https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24657
Qubie: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26629
R-bitraty and pretentious letter usage: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26770
PuzzlePusherParty is a multiplayer-only game, so there's not much I can say about it. Mercifully, the game allows you to use an xbox controller, rather than requiring it. One player can play with WASD while another plays with the arrow keys, for example. I've seen way too many games on this list forbid that simple privilege to the players, and it's nice to see a game designed with the players in mind.
From what I can tell, the game is fast-paced, fun and frantic. The mechanics are simple, everything is well-conveyed, the game looks, sounds and feels beautiful, and I genuinely have nothing to complain about...though that's probably because I didn't have anyone to play with.
Qubie didn't install correctly, so I tried it again. It didn't install correctly again. I restarted my computer and tried again. Didn't work, so I'm calling this one broken.
Finally, the only real review today (if you can even call it that), R-Chain.
I was worried about this game when I saw that it was a senior project. Lord knows I haven't had good luck with senior projects in the past. My spirits were lifted when I saw the splash art that said "powered by Unity." Of course, there are exceptions, but games that use Unity tend to look really good, and games that look really good tend to have been made with some bit of care. When a senior combines his experience at the school with genuine care, the product should be good as a result, right?
Well, in this case, yes. R-Chain is a good game. It's one of those games that analyzes music and generates the level accordingly. Instead of jumping over hurdles and gaps, like in ParChord, here you emit radial bursts that cause any bullets in their proximity to explode. Those explosions then trigger other explosions and then you go blind.
Yeah, I would say that's this game's major fault. Even when I played with placid background tracks, the screen was muddled up with so many colorful things that it was excruciatingly difficult to tell what the hell was going on. Still, this game certainly provides enough sensory stimulation to be fun, and exploding your musical tracks is an idea that simply cannot fail.
That's all I got for today. Until next time, stay bright
Links
misuse of the word "puzzle": https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24657
Qubie: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26629
R-bitraty and pretentious letter usage: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26770
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Puzbot
Ever notice how these blogs are getting shorter and shorter every day? You also ever wonder why I keep drawing attention to the face that I'm running out of things to say about these games? I do too. Let's get on with the review.
Let's talk aesthetic, first. The visual design is...erhm...interesting. It's got that kind of "alpha build" look to it where everything is rendereed really nice and everything but the textures don't really seem to mix well with one another. It looks fine, I guess...actually, no. It doesn't look "fine" or "okay." It strays away from mediocrity in every way. It somehow manages to look extremely appealing and offputting at the same time.
The sound direction is kind of the same way. Imagine blasting your favorite song through incredibly high quality speakers...underwater. That's basically the feel that this game replicates.
In terms of conveyance, there's not much to talk about here. Everything is explained to you through a little box at the bottom of the screen, which is perfectly easy to ignore if you'd rather have the game tell you what to do through the gameplay alone. It strikes a nice balance between pandering to those gamers with the attention spans of wet towels and appealing to more sophisticated players who like to get immersed in the game's mechanics. The arc that a block will take after you throw it is nicely outlined so there's no confusion as to what will happen once you take the action.
The thing that stuck with me most, however, was unfortunately the game's greatest flaw. There is a huge perspective problem with this game. I have no idea where I reside in relation to the map. I always manage to fall into gaps I didn't even know were there. Sometimes a block will seem out of reach, but when I inch nearer to it, I push it off the edge. Other times, a block will seem to be as close to me as possible, but I can't grab it. It's not impossible to get used to, but trust me when I say it gets really damn annoying really damn fast.
That's all I got for today. Until next time, stay puzzling.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26678
Let's talk aesthetic, first. The visual design is...erhm...interesting. It's got that kind of "alpha build" look to it where everything is rendereed really nice and everything but the textures don't really seem to mix well with one another. It looks fine, I guess...actually, no. It doesn't look "fine" or "okay." It strays away from mediocrity in every way. It somehow manages to look extremely appealing and offputting at the same time.
The sound direction is kind of the same way. Imagine blasting your favorite song through incredibly high quality speakers...underwater. That's basically the feel that this game replicates.
In terms of conveyance, there's not much to talk about here. Everything is explained to you through a little box at the bottom of the screen, which is perfectly easy to ignore if you'd rather have the game tell you what to do through the gameplay alone. It strikes a nice balance between pandering to those gamers with the attention spans of wet towels and appealing to more sophisticated players who like to get immersed in the game's mechanics. The arc that a block will take after you throw it is nicely outlined so there's no confusion as to what will happen once you take the action.
The thing that stuck with me most, however, was unfortunately the game's greatest flaw. There is a huge perspective problem with this game. I have no idea where I reside in relation to the map. I always manage to fall into gaps I didn't even know were there. Sometimes a block will seem out of reach, but when I inch nearer to it, I push it off the edge. Other times, a block will seem to be as close to me as possible, but I can't grab it. It's not impossible to get used to, but trust me when I say it gets really damn annoying really damn fast.
That's all I got for today. Until next time, stay puzzling.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26678
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Put Me Out!
And speaking of fun arcade-type games, here's another one.
The game gontrols from a top-down view, kind of similar to Hotline Miami and the early GTA games. Funnily enough, once you mow down a few pedestrians with your fire truck, you begin to almost think you're playing a GTA game, but I digress.
Put Me Out is the journey of a fireman who wants to put out fires. That's it. You run around the overworld, following your compass to find the nearest burning building, and then use a variety of water-spraying methods, from water balloons to super soakers, to put out the fire.
The main problem I had with this game was the conveyance. Yes, we're going back here again. It's only really a problem in the first minute of the game, but many would argue that the first minute is the most important minute. Every 13 nanoseconds, you're stopped in your tracks to have the (relatively intuitive) controls explained to you by a librarian-looking woman. The problem is: they're xbox controls. All of them. If you're going to go to the trouble of incorporating an unnecessarily obtrusive tutorial, you can at least let the people who play on computers (you know, your primary demographic) understand what you're talking about.
Anyways, other than that, this game is a riot and I don't have much else to say about it. Every design choice seems to revolve around the central feeling of having a rip-roaring good time, and I can appreciate that in a game. It just means there's probably not a whole lot to analyze.
Upon the end of your time limit, you're shown an invoice that tells you how much you earned for your services, much like in the end of Starfox 64, and any game that reminds me of Starfox 64 is a good one in my book. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay dry.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18539
The game gontrols from a top-down view, kind of similar to Hotline Miami and the early GTA games. Funnily enough, once you mow down a few pedestrians with your fire truck, you begin to almost think you're playing a GTA game, but I digress.
Put Me Out is the journey of a fireman who wants to put out fires. That's it. You run around the overworld, following your compass to find the nearest burning building, and then use a variety of water-spraying methods, from water balloons to super soakers, to put out the fire.
The main problem I had with this game was the conveyance. Yes, we're going back here again. It's only really a problem in the first minute of the game, but many would argue that the first minute is the most important minute. Every 13 nanoseconds, you're stopped in your tracks to have the (relatively intuitive) controls explained to you by a librarian-looking woman. The problem is: they're xbox controls. All of them. If you're going to go to the trouble of incorporating an unnecessarily obtrusive tutorial, you can at least let the people who play on computers (you know, your primary demographic) understand what you're talking about.
Anyways, other than that, this game is a riot and I don't have much else to say about it. Every design choice seems to revolve around the central feeling of having a rip-roaring good time, and I can appreciate that in a game. It just means there's probably not a whole lot to analyze.
Upon the end of your time limit, you're shown an invoice that tells you how much you earned for your services, much like in the end of Starfox 64, and any game that reminds me of Starfox 64 is a good one in my book. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay dry.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18539
Purge
It's funny how prevalent certain things become after you start noticing them, isn't it? For 16 and a half of the 17 years of my existence, I had no idea that the British word for "flashlight" is "torch," but now that I learned that, for example, I see it everywhere.
The reason I bring this up is that, not too long ago, I compared a game I was reviewing to Bossinabox and Claustrophere. As it turns out, Purge feels exactly like a combination of those two games.
From Bossinabox, Purge gets its fixed-rail movement system, and from Claustrophere, it gets its crowded and hectic feel.
The two elements work together really well. Other than aesthetic things, such as the music sounding like something your little cousin would throw together in MadTracker2 before learning what VST plugins are, there's not a whole lot to complain about. It's a simple, straightforward arcade-type game. You like making things go boom? Purge is for you.
Actually, there is one fatal flaw. Again, it's not really the programmers' fault, but it just breaks the experience so much. Certain button combinations don't work together. For example, I don't believe you can move right and shoot diagonally down and to the left at the same time. This is because the arrow keys, those finicky little bastards, control your gun. It would have been nice to have the option to use the mouse, or even other keys such as "I,J,K and L."
Oh well. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay cleansed.
Links
Bulimia Joke: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1642
The reason I bring this up is that, not too long ago, I compared a game I was reviewing to Bossinabox and Claustrophere. As it turns out, Purge feels exactly like a combination of those two games.
From Bossinabox, Purge gets its fixed-rail movement system, and from Claustrophere, it gets its crowded and hectic feel.
The two elements work together really well. Other than aesthetic things, such as the music sounding like something your little cousin would throw together in MadTracker2 before learning what VST plugins are, there's not a whole lot to complain about. It's a simple, straightforward arcade-type game. You like making things go boom? Purge is for you.
Actually, there is one fatal flaw. Again, it's not really the programmers' fault, but it just breaks the experience so much. Certain button combinations don't work together. For example, I don't believe you can move right and shoot diagonally down and to the left at the same time. This is because the arrow keys, those finicky little bastards, control your gun. It would have been nice to have the option to use the mouse, or even other keys such as "I,J,K and L."
Oh well. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay cleansed.
Links
Bulimia Joke: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1642
Pudding Panic
yeah, this one didn't work either. All I could get to run was a level editor that I didn't bother looking into too much. Don't worry, though, I won't leave you hanging for 2 days in a row. I'll be back later with more review goodness.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1547
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1547
Monday, July 22, 2013
Psyched
It's a not real exe, but I found a demo reel on Vimeo that looks pretty cool. Kinda like a gravity gun-only game of Half Life 2: Deathmatch.
Links
http://vimeo.com/3478295
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1655
Links
http://vimeo.com/3478295
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1655
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