It's no secret that I'm not a fan of RTS games. I find them, for the most part, unengaging and unintuitive. There are exceptions, of course, but my problem is with the starting point. I don't like having other people do my dirty work for me. If I want a bunch of people dead, I want to have the pleasure of tossing their innards around myself, not just ordering a bunch of samurai to do it for me.
You know what kind of game understands this? The beat 'em up. Games like Double Dragon and Kingdom Hearts (that's right, it's not an RPG, despite what people want you to think) know that the best way to clear a room full of baddies is to bash 'em into the ground yourself. Don't get me wrong, those games have their flaws too, but they are rarely unengaging. That's because you tend to have complete control over your character, and, by extension, the events of a battle.
So now, here's Shade. A beat 'em up that renders everything I just said completely moot by being as engaging as an RTS.
I'll start this review, with complete disregard the for context of my intro, the way I always do when I'm afraid I'll be done blogging before a scroll bar even appears on my page: talking about the aesthetics. The game looks fine when it's not bugging out. The main problem is that your character(s) have a very strong love of walls, so good luck getting them to obey orders whenever you make the mistake of directing them within the same postal code of a building or lamppost.
And then of course there are the mechanics. This game can serve as a fine lesson in how not to make the player feel like he or she has control. Instead of just moving your minions around the screen, you use WASD to vaguely suggest where they should head off to, which only exaggerates the problem of wall hugging ghosties.
The biggest complaint I have, though, is that the only attack method you have is to mash the space bar. That's it. If you have enough ghosts following you around, you'll kill people. If you don't, you have to travel back to the middle of the map to get some and then you can kill people. It's about as dull, formulaic and uninteresting as a beat 'em up can get.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay repetitive repetitively.
Links
Ghouls on Parade: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25916
Sunday, August 25, 2013
SeigeBreaker
huh, now this sounds interesting. Let's go ahead and start this up an-
OH AHHNNNGGGGGHHH MY EYYEESSSSSS
Jeez! You know, there's a reason the people who made games for DOS never tried to do 3D effects. It hurts your brain to look at all those dull colors colliding with one another. Ah well. The splash art may have left me with a slight concussion, but how does the rest of the game hold up?
Well, I was thrilled as always to hear that this was a tower defense game. Oh boy, I love tower defense. Nothing more fun than watchin enemy troops slowly walk right through your defenses because you don't have enough money left to pay someone to go down there and bash them on the head with a rock, nor the moxie to do it yourself. You know what the world needs? A tower defense game where you play as God, so you can just smite the little bastards attacking your castle and erect an infinite number of walls instantaneously to halt their progress.
Well, turns out, Siege Breaker is just that, although the god you play as either has very limited control over how much fire and brimstone he sends to do his bidding or just doesn't really care one way or another whether the castle survives.
You play the game by swapping between two views: one of the entire territory and one of a selected area that you zoom into. You can only attack while zoomed, so you're going to have to be clever about where you place your walls and towers if you want to have any hope of surviving the first few waves. Before long, the screen will be flooded with attackers of all shapes and sizes.
Switching between the two views is quite hectic and fun. demands that you constantly be on your toes, spotting the highest concentration of attackers and smiting them all swiftly before moving onto the next bunch. You'll never have to wait for your arbitrary amount of money to increase to be able to throw more fireballs or build more walls. The only limited resources are the towers, which ostensibly do damage to oncoming attackers, but honestly I didn't notice them helping at all.
If I have any critique for the game, it's that the developers spent their time on some rather unwise things. There is a variety of maps, all of which had to have taken a nice amount of time to create, but you're going to spend so much time in zoomed attack mode and focusing so heavily on placing walls that really where you play doesn't matter. If the time taken to design the extra levels had instead been directed toward, say designing a tower that actually did something, I think this game would have benefited as a result.
Oh well. It's still a very fun game and I recommend it to anyone who likes to play God. There is no way to win, of course (unless you count surviving until the million objects on the screen cause the game to crash, which I like to interpret as God throwing a temper tantrum), so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who thought Missile Command was too hard. For me, however, this game gets my seal of approval.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay fortified.
Links
Sij Bricker: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18871
OH AHHNNNGGGGGHHH MY EYYEESSSSSS
Jeez! You know, there's a reason the people who made games for DOS never tried to do 3D effects. It hurts your brain to look at all those dull colors colliding with one another. Ah well. The splash art may have left me with a slight concussion, but how does the rest of the game hold up?
Well, I was thrilled as always to hear that this was a tower defense game. Oh boy, I love tower defense. Nothing more fun than watchin enemy troops slowly walk right through your defenses because you don't have enough money left to pay someone to go down there and bash them on the head with a rock, nor the moxie to do it yourself. You know what the world needs? A tower defense game where you play as God, so you can just smite the little bastards attacking your castle and erect an infinite number of walls instantaneously to halt their progress.
Well, turns out, Siege Breaker is just that, although the god you play as either has very limited control over how much fire and brimstone he sends to do his bidding or just doesn't really care one way or another whether the castle survives.
You play the game by swapping between two views: one of the entire territory and one of a selected area that you zoom into. You can only attack while zoomed, so you're going to have to be clever about where you place your walls and towers if you want to have any hope of surviving the first few waves. Before long, the screen will be flooded with attackers of all shapes and sizes.
Switching between the two views is quite hectic and fun. demands that you constantly be on your toes, spotting the highest concentration of attackers and smiting them all swiftly before moving onto the next bunch. You'll never have to wait for your arbitrary amount of money to increase to be able to throw more fireballs or build more walls. The only limited resources are the towers, which ostensibly do damage to oncoming attackers, but honestly I didn't notice them helping at all.
If I have any critique for the game, it's that the developers spent their time on some rather unwise things. There is a variety of maps, all of which had to have taken a nice amount of time to create, but you're going to spend so much time in zoomed attack mode and focusing so heavily on placing walls that really where you play doesn't matter. If the time taken to design the extra levels had instead been directed toward, say designing a tower that actually did something, I think this game would have benefited as a result.
Oh well. It's still a very fun game and I recommend it to anyone who likes to play God. There is no way to win, of course (unless you count surviving until the million objects on the screen cause the game to crash, which I like to interpret as God throwing a temper tantrum), so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who thought Missile Command was too hard. For me, however, this game gets my seal of approval.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay fortified.
Links
Sij Bricker: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18871
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Scribble Wars
My experience with Scribble Wars was a brief one indeed. It's a 2-player splitscreen game, so I went as fat as I could in the tutorial controlling both screens, but eventually some commands were introduced that I wasn't able to pull off because I don't have a full keyboard with those calculator-style number pads. I just have that half-ass laptop keyboard.
I've gathered that when the devs-to-be over at DigiPen don't quite have the energy to rip off Ikaruga, they just rip remove some of the more proprietary elements and rip off Asteroids instead, so this game is basically two of those. You are two thirds of a triangle, there are enemies on your screen and it's your job to murder till you just can't murder no more. Not that this game is all about destruction, though, because you also have the ability to create life! In addition to 4-way shots and shields, you have the option, once you kill enough enemies, to spawn an enemy on your opponent's screen. The more enemies you've killed, the stronger your minion will be.
I assume this game has the potential to be the same kind of friendship-decimating fun as demonstrated in games like Pac Attack, but since I'm a loner with neither the people nor the equipment to play a game built like this, the assumption is all I have, and you know what happens when we assume.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay a'scribblin.
Links
Scribby Dabby Do: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24362
I've gathered that when the devs-to-be over at DigiPen don't quite have the energy to rip off Ikaruga, they just rip remove some of the more proprietary elements and rip off Asteroids instead, so this game is basically two of those. You are two thirds of a triangle, there are enemies on your screen and it's your job to murder till you just can't murder no more. Not that this game is all about destruction, though, because you also have the ability to create life! In addition to 4-way shots and shields, you have the option, once you kill enough enemies, to spawn an enemy on your opponent's screen. The more enemies you've killed, the stronger your minion will be.
I assume this game has the potential to be the same kind of friendship-decimating fun as demonstrated in games like Pac Attack, but since I'm a loner with neither the people nor the equipment to play a game built like this, the assumption is all I have, and you know what happens when we assume.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay a'scribblin.
Links
Scribby Dabby Do: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24362
Friday, August 23, 2013
Scrapped
oh dear oh dear...where to begin here...
Alright, well I guess I'll start with an overview of the aesthetics. Scrapped is a side-scrolling battle arena wherein you play as one of 5 (and no more than 5, despite what the description would have you believe) robots, each with their own unique ability. The game's visual style has that organic "MS Paint" feel, but is certainly no eyesore. The characters move fluidly and the bells and whistles (like screen distortion, my fave) keep the game from ever looking bland.
The game has three play modes: Tutorial, Scurrybot and Battle. Naturally, I played the tutorial first and found myself quite impressed. The robots' abilities are varied enough to keep gameplay constantly interesting. There's cloak, rope swing, machine gun, rocket, and gravity-reversal.
Now, the tutorial was fairly straightforward, ending with me killing a quite challenging opponent with my own arsenal of 3 out of a multitude of weapons. I had high hopes for this game. I thought it was going to be a platformer wherein you solve different problems with the different robots. Swing across a fire pit, change into a ninjabot to cloak behind a big baddie and change into machinegun bot to kill it swiftly, etc. Like Megaman, but with an emphasis on the numbered platform-centric powers. Bottom line: this game had potential. Lots of potential. Enough potential to make me ready to call this the best platformer on the list.
And then...I played the rest of it.
First, let's talk about Scurrybot. You are put into a room with a bunch of little robots and...well, that's it. go nuts, take no prisoners. I didn't even notice whether or not the scurrybots were able to damage me. The most significant threat to my health bar was the splash damage caused by my own weapons. So yeah, Scurrybot mode is insubstantial and not at all challenging, but that's fine for a supplemental game mode. The real game must be hidden in Battle mode.
Aaaaand nope. Battle mode is one hell of a frustrating experience. There's no respawning. Once you're dead, you're dead. The weapons are very powerful, too, meaning your health bar can be drained in a second if you're not careful. Couple that with the fact that all enemies immediately have their sights trained on you from the start of the match and you've got yourself a very anticlimactic battle. I tried every map and match style, but it always had the same result. 2 seconds of gunfire followed by "you have been destroyed" standing menacingly on the screen.
The developers of this game were able to create the tools to make this game wonderful. It's as if they spent hours preparing seasonings and side dishes to complement the meal they were cooking, but someone misplaced the lamb shank and they had to replace it with a handful of dirt. There is some value to reaped from playing around with the robots' varied powers, but the game as a whole absolutely wreaks of lost potential.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay complete.
Links
Scarp: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=548
Alright, well I guess I'll start with an overview of the aesthetics. Scrapped is a side-scrolling battle arena wherein you play as one of 5 (and no more than 5, despite what the description would have you believe) robots, each with their own unique ability. The game's visual style has that organic "MS Paint" feel, but is certainly no eyesore. The characters move fluidly and the bells and whistles (like screen distortion, my fave) keep the game from ever looking bland.
The game has three play modes: Tutorial, Scurrybot and Battle. Naturally, I played the tutorial first and found myself quite impressed. The robots' abilities are varied enough to keep gameplay constantly interesting. There's cloak, rope swing, machine gun, rocket, and gravity-reversal.
Now, the tutorial was fairly straightforward, ending with me killing a quite challenging opponent with my own arsenal of 3 out of a multitude of weapons. I had high hopes for this game. I thought it was going to be a platformer wherein you solve different problems with the different robots. Swing across a fire pit, change into a ninjabot to cloak behind a big baddie and change into machinegun bot to kill it swiftly, etc. Like Megaman, but with an emphasis on the numbered platform-centric powers. Bottom line: this game had potential. Lots of potential. Enough potential to make me ready to call this the best platformer on the list.
And then...I played the rest of it.
First, let's talk about Scurrybot. You are put into a room with a bunch of little robots and...well, that's it. go nuts, take no prisoners. I didn't even notice whether or not the scurrybots were able to damage me. The most significant threat to my health bar was the splash damage caused by my own weapons. So yeah, Scurrybot mode is insubstantial and not at all challenging, but that's fine for a supplemental game mode. The real game must be hidden in Battle mode.
Aaaaand nope. Battle mode is one hell of a frustrating experience. There's no respawning. Once you're dead, you're dead. The weapons are very powerful, too, meaning your health bar can be drained in a second if you're not careful. Couple that with the fact that all enemies immediately have their sights trained on you from the start of the match and you've got yourself a very anticlimactic battle. I tried every map and match style, but it always had the same result. 2 seconds of gunfire followed by "you have been destroyed" standing menacingly on the screen.
The developers of this game were able to create the tools to make this game wonderful. It's as if they spent hours preparing seasonings and side dishes to complement the meal they were cooking, but someone misplaced the lamb shank and they had to replace it with a handful of dirt. There is some value to reaped from playing around with the robots' varied powers, but the game as a whole absolutely wreaks of lost potential.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay complete.
Links
Scarp: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=548
Thursday, August 22, 2013
I return unto thee all that I taketh away
sorry about yesterday and sorry about today, folks. The last two days of my college tour road trip cacophonous extravaganza turned out to be a bit more eventful than I'd planned, so I wasn't able to review any games. I can't promise to be back on schedule by tomorrow, but I can promise to try my gosh darn best.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Scavenger Hunt
One major difficulty people have when trying to come up with valuable IP is that whole "think of something that's never been done before" gambit. The problem with that approach is that it's simply not how the human brain works. It's very difficult to imagine something that you haven't experienced, let alone something that's never even been conceived.
Often, the most successful ideas, even the ones most praised as "original," seem to come from the exact opposite school of thought. Scavenger Hunt exemplifies this mentality. "Let's hide some stuff and make you find it," they say. "Once we have a game that works, let's just keep adding bells and whistles until our deadline comes around."
While simple, the gameplay in Scavenger Hunt is quite enjoyable. You run around your small, circular neighborhood (kind of like that one Matrix-esque simulation world from Fallout 3 but much less depressing) and search for goodies to bring back to the center. The different goodies are color coded, so it's very easy to immediately determine which giant arrows you should run toward and which you shouldn't.
Of course, just running back and forth can get very monotonous very fast, which is why the developers spiced up the world a little bit. One way they did this was with a sprint function, which works decently well until you run out of stamina, at which point you literally screech to an immediate halt and patiently wait for the meter to fill up again. It is to this game's sense of flow what a pool full of crocodiles is to a chicken with one wing.
Another way they spice up the world is with "gags." These are weapons that you can pick up and use against the other players. The gags can do anything from obstruct your vision with cream pie to lower your running speed and limit your carrying capacity. These gags are very frustrating to experience, which might be a good quality in a multiplayer game where you can look over at your friend's writhing face after you've just launched a successful attack against him or her, but against AI, the gags don't have any noticeable effect. You only notice them when they happen to you, which is the absolute worst way to present a deliberately frustrating powerup. If I were programming this game, I would make the gags do something a bit more immediately apparent, like make the victim drop an item or just knock them on their rear ends for a few seconds.
I feel I've been saying this too often lately, but the game really does look nice. The 3D art isn't even all that complex, so games like this really put things in perspective when a far more graphically capable game fails to deliver decent visual design. The textures are simple but charming, as is the soundtrack, game feel, and really everything about this game in general.
All-in-all, this is a good game that could've benefited from more thoughtful gag design. It's quite fun if you have a few moments, but once you figure out how everything works, it is a little too easy. I'm pretty sure any player can win every game without even hitting one enemy AI as long as they use their sprint responsibly and avoid enemies whenever possible.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay diligent.
Links
Rascals' Funtime in Idyllic Suburbia: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=523
Often, the most successful ideas, even the ones most praised as "original," seem to come from the exact opposite school of thought. Scavenger Hunt exemplifies this mentality. "Let's hide some stuff and make you find it," they say. "Once we have a game that works, let's just keep adding bells and whistles until our deadline comes around."
While simple, the gameplay in Scavenger Hunt is quite enjoyable. You run around your small, circular neighborhood (kind of like that one Matrix-esque simulation world from Fallout 3 but much less depressing) and search for goodies to bring back to the center. The different goodies are color coded, so it's very easy to immediately determine which giant arrows you should run toward and which you shouldn't.
Of course, just running back and forth can get very monotonous very fast, which is why the developers spiced up the world a little bit. One way they did this was with a sprint function, which works decently well until you run out of stamina, at which point you literally screech to an immediate halt and patiently wait for the meter to fill up again. It is to this game's sense of flow what a pool full of crocodiles is to a chicken with one wing.
Another way they spice up the world is with "gags." These are weapons that you can pick up and use against the other players. The gags can do anything from obstruct your vision with cream pie to lower your running speed and limit your carrying capacity. These gags are very frustrating to experience, which might be a good quality in a multiplayer game where you can look over at your friend's writhing face after you've just launched a successful attack against him or her, but against AI, the gags don't have any noticeable effect. You only notice them when they happen to you, which is the absolute worst way to present a deliberately frustrating powerup. If I were programming this game, I would make the gags do something a bit more immediately apparent, like make the victim drop an item or just knock them on their rear ends for a few seconds.
I feel I've been saying this too often lately, but the game really does look nice. The 3D art isn't even all that complex, so games like this really put things in perspective when a far more graphically capable game fails to deliver decent visual design. The textures are simple but charming, as is the soundtrack, game feel, and really everything about this game in general.
All-in-all, this is a good game that could've benefited from more thoughtful gag design. It's quite fun if you have a few moments, but once you figure out how everything works, it is a little too easy. I'm pretty sure any player can win every game without even hitting one enemy AI as long as they use their sprint responsibly and avoid enemies whenever possible.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay diligent.
Links
Rascals' Funtime in Idyllic Suburbia: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=523
Monday, August 19, 2013
SAPFA2GTE
this game's installation process was as hair-brained as its name. I couldn't figure it out. I'll keep trying, but for now, it's broken.
Sorry,
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&download=559
Sorry,
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&download=559
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