the past 2 days have been really hectic between school and my sister's birthday, so I haven't been able to post reviews. I know I'm behind schedule and I'm going to try my absolute best to fix it (which will probably mean a glut of 2-sentence reviews tomorrow, but maybe not so don't hold your breath). Stick with me, though.
Sorry again. I've still got 3 months to finish off the list, and I'm on page 8 of 10 in the gallery; this is before, of course, I go back and try to get all the games I missed due to their screwy release timing, but I still think I can pull it off.
Until next time
PS- to whoever has been +1ing all my reviews as of late...thanks. It really means a lot. I hope in a past life we were bros who would hunt warthogs together for sustenance and sport...Sorry, I'm tired. I should go to bed now...
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Friday, September 20, 2013
Spirit Stone
Well, this was disappointing. I started up this game thinking it would be just another Alien Swarm clone, mostly because it's literally a mod of Alien Swarm, but then curiosity (and the words of my girlfriend who you should totally all visit at vivalavidaconamor.blogspot.com sorry I'll stop with the shameless plugs now) drove me to click on the "backstory" button. Upon clicking it, I was treated to a slideshow animation thing explaining the game's narrative that looked professionally done. I mean it droned on forever and way overstayed its welcome, but I'm a game critic, yo, not a slideshow critic. My point is that the quality of the slideshow whetted my appetite for the actual game. Then, I started up the main game to find something that looked completely different from Alien Swarm, unlike Rapidfyre, which I would go so far as to call a carbon copy. After seeing this, I was ready and raring to explore the world in front of me. I was going into this smiling a smile that I seldom smile. Then, the game froze up. HHHHHNNNNGG-
aaaand then I restarted the game. Hah! Had you going there for a second, didn't I? Well anyway, the game worked fine after that. More than fine, really. Well, since the game decided that a 5 minute slideshow about the story was justified, I guess I should talk about the story a bit. You are one of four brothers, guardians of the spirit stone, who must protect said stone from the evil minions of brother #5. Basically, you're in Lyoko killing X.A.N.A's minions. Wow, can't believe I managed to pull that reference somewhere in this blog. As far as motivation goes, it's pretty standard. There are a few holes and the plot as a whole isn't terribly interesting, but if you're one of those guys who can't get immersed in a game unless you know exactly who you are and what you're doing and why at all times, then this game has you covered.
Another thing to note: this game is sexy as all hell. When I say it looks like it could have been done professionally, I mean it. I don't know how many points I should subtract for it being a mod, since, as I said, it doesn't look anything like the game from which it was built, but at the end of the day, a pretty game is a pretty game. If you're into that stuff, you're in luck.
But of course, a game's looks should always take a backseat to its gameplay. So how is the gameplay in Spirit Stone? Well, for one thing, it's super difficult. I died on the first non-tutorial level because there were just so many enemies. A bit of a gentler difficulty curve would have been nice. The tutorial explains the mechanics fine, but I like to experience the tools I'm going to use before I use them. You can tell your little cousin all about how a hose works, but until you let him spray a brick wall for fun for a while, don't expect your daisies to survive when you pass the chores onto him. Catch my drift?
The mechanics themselves, though, are quite impressive. 10 points to the first person who, in the comments, tells me which review of mine this was from (I was too lazy to search for it myself), but remember when I said that the best way to make a tower defense game fun was to let you shoot things yourself in addition to all of that resource-mining tower-upgrading nonsense? Well, this game takes that lesson and sprints to Valhalla with it. The meat of the game is shooting baddies with your fantasy laser thingy, but you can upgrade your laser by upgrading certain guardians, or towers. See that? The tower mechanic is being used to serve the actual FUN part of the game, not the other way around. Beautiful.
While Spirit Stone doesn't have the most solid foundation of all the games on this list, it's certainly done the most it could with what it had. It's a wonderfully crafted mod (I guess. Again, I've never modded anything myself, so I'm just assuming) that shows off the talent of its creators. If I were a teacher, I'd give it an A. So yes, the seal of approval has been given. Congrats.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay spiritual.
Links
420 Spirit-Stoned blaze it up don't do drugs: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24913
aaaand then I restarted the game. Hah! Had you going there for a second, didn't I? Well anyway, the game worked fine after that. More than fine, really. Well, since the game decided that a 5 minute slideshow about the story was justified, I guess I should talk about the story a bit. You are one of four brothers, guardians of the spirit stone, who must protect said stone from the evil minions of brother #5. Basically, you're in Lyoko killing X.A.N.A's minions. Wow, can't believe I managed to pull that reference somewhere in this blog. As far as motivation goes, it's pretty standard. There are a few holes and the plot as a whole isn't terribly interesting, but if you're one of those guys who can't get immersed in a game unless you know exactly who you are and what you're doing and why at all times, then this game has you covered.
Another thing to note: this game is sexy as all hell. When I say it looks like it could have been done professionally, I mean it. I don't know how many points I should subtract for it being a mod, since, as I said, it doesn't look anything like the game from which it was built, but at the end of the day, a pretty game is a pretty game. If you're into that stuff, you're in luck.
But of course, a game's looks should always take a backseat to its gameplay. So how is the gameplay in Spirit Stone? Well, for one thing, it's super difficult. I died on the first non-tutorial level because there were just so many enemies. A bit of a gentler difficulty curve would have been nice. The tutorial explains the mechanics fine, but I like to experience the tools I'm going to use before I use them. You can tell your little cousin all about how a hose works, but until you let him spray a brick wall for fun for a while, don't expect your daisies to survive when you pass the chores onto him. Catch my drift?
The mechanics themselves, though, are quite impressive. 10 points to the first person who, in the comments, tells me which review of mine this was from (I was too lazy to search for it myself), but remember when I said that the best way to make a tower defense game fun was to let you shoot things yourself in addition to all of that resource-mining tower-upgrading nonsense? Well, this game takes that lesson and sprints to Valhalla with it. The meat of the game is shooting baddies with your fantasy laser thingy, but you can upgrade your laser by upgrading certain guardians, or towers. See that? The tower mechanic is being used to serve the actual FUN part of the game, not the other way around. Beautiful.
While Spirit Stone doesn't have the most solid foundation of all the games on this list, it's certainly done the most it could with what it had. It's a wonderfully crafted mod (I guess. Again, I've never modded anything myself, so I'm just assuming) that shows off the talent of its creators. If I were a teacher, I'd give it an A. So yes, the seal of approval has been given. Congrats.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay spiritual.
Links
420 Spirit-Stoned blaze it up don't do drugs: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24913
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Spherious
Yeah, I know I was supposed to have posted this review yesterday. And you know what? I almost did. I played the game, I had stuff to say...I was just too tired to think of a way to make it witty. And now guess what? I'm even more tired than I was before. Well, crap. I'd say I need a vacation but I'm only 2 weeks into the school year. It's gonna be a fun one.
In times like these, I need something to calm me down. A nice video game always helps. Spherious is a loyal companion always ready to be picked up and played. It's got your back when you're feeling down.
The game is a bit like Bejeweled; there are a bunch of spheres piled up on top of one another, numbered each 3-6. You can rotate any group of four spheres to try and make rows of the same number. This will upgrade the value of those spheres. So, for example. if you manage to get three 3s in a row, they will blink and transform into 4s. Get four of those in a row and they turn into 5s. Then 5s to 6s, and when you get six 6s in a row, the spheres disappear and you get points and happiness.
The first thing I noticed about the game was that the music kicks ass. Honestly, though, I don't know what to think about music in these games anymore. On the one hand I got the Astrobunny people saying they just select songs from a list, but on the other, I've got the Purge people sending me pictures of their ghetto music-recording equipment (seriously, go to the comments section of that review and check it out. It's super cool).
The game looks fine, too. Granted, it can't be too difficult to properly render spheres, but I can imagine people screwing it up way more than they did here. And yes, the game feel is fine. I wish that the sounds were a bit more enthusiastic and that the powerups were a bit more satisfying, but what are you going to do.
If you like puzzlers like you'd find on Popcap, check out Spherious. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay super cereal.
Links
I've had enough of your sphere puns, DigiPen: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=449
In times like these, I need something to calm me down. A nice video game always helps. Spherious is a loyal companion always ready to be picked up and played. It's got your back when you're feeling down.
The game is a bit like Bejeweled; there are a bunch of spheres piled up on top of one another, numbered each 3-6. You can rotate any group of four spheres to try and make rows of the same number. This will upgrade the value of those spheres. So, for example. if you manage to get three 3s in a row, they will blink and transform into 4s. Get four of those in a row and they turn into 5s. Then 5s to 6s, and when you get six 6s in a row, the spheres disappear and you get points and happiness.
The first thing I noticed about the game was that the music kicks ass. Honestly, though, I don't know what to think about music in these games anymore. On the one hand I got the Astrobunny people saying they just select songs from a list, but on the other, I've got the Purge people sending me pictures of their ghetto music-recording equipment (seriously, go to the comments section of that review and check it out. It's super cool).
The game looks fine, too. Granted, it can't be too difficult to properly render spheres, but I can imagine people screwing it up way more than they did here. And yes, the game feel is fine. I wish that the sounds were a bit more enthusiastic and that the powerups were a bit more satisfying, but what are you going to do.
If you like puzzlers like you'd find on Popcap, check out Spherious. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay super cereal.
Links
I've had enough of your sphere puns, DigiPen: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=449
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Spherical
(I couldn't resist...)
Spherical is a sumo wrestling game with spheres. I'd explain the mechanics more thoroughly, but I'm pretty sure you already know exactly how the game controls. You're a sphere. Ever played that one Mario Party minigame, Boulder Ball? Well, it's basically like that, except instead of trying to knock your opponent solely off edges, you can also try and knock them into little holes in the field.
Your primary focus, however, is going to be defense, not offense. One thing Spherical has that Boulder Ball omitted are the abilities to dash in whatever direction your momentum is pointed and to halt in your tracks. With these tools being very generously used by the AI, manipulating enemies is an exercise in futility. If you survive long enough, they'll kill themselves off eventually. I guess it's as good a way to design your game as any other, but it just doesn't feel as satisfying as does engineering my opponents' demises myself.
The game looks nice and feels fine. If that's all you're after, knock yourself out. That's all I got for today. Until next time, stay a'rollin.
Links
Newton Balls Gone Wild: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18594
Monday, September 16, 2013
Sphere
*groans* I just don't have the energy for this one...
Sphere is a 3rd person shooter wherein you shoot other spheres. It plays exactly like you'd expect it would. There's literally nothing interesting to talk about.
The game is designed...er...simplistically, to say the least. You're a sphere in an arena and that's about all there is to see. The weapons are all different combinations of a few polygons, and the death animation is just your sphere expanding and disappearing. It has its charm, I guess...
The only thing really worth saying is that the momentum mechanics, while appropriate for a sphere, are infuriating. These kinds of movement mechanics would work well in a large, open arena where momentum can be manipulated to your advantage, but here, doing anything but being painstakingly careful not to hold the "w" key for more than a half a second is just going to send you bouncing along walls uncontrollably.
The weapons are fun to use, I guess, but there's not much creativity. I've already thrown enough lasers at people; give me something interesting! Remember Slug 'em Up? That game had tons of creative weapons that made the game unique and fun to play.
Eh....yeah, that's all I got for today. Until next time, stay marbellous (ooh, portmanteaus!).
Links
Sphurr: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=515
Sphere is a 3rd person shooter wherein you shoot other spheres. It plays exactly like you'd expect it would. There's literally nothing interesting to talk about.
The game is designed...er...simplistically, to say the least. You're a sphere in an arena and that's about all there is to see. The weapons are all different combinations of a few polygons, and the death animation is just your sphere expanding and disappearing. It has its charm, I guess...
The only thing really worth saying is that the momentum mechanics, while appropriate for a sphere, are infuriating. These kinds of movement mechanics would work well in a large, open arena where momentum can be manipulated to your advantage, but here, doing anything but being painstakingly careful not to hold the "w" key for more than a half a second is just going to send you bouncing along walls uncontrollably.
The weapons are fun to use, I guess, but there's not much creativity. I've already thrown enough lasers at people; give me something interesting! Remember Slug 'em Up? That game had tons of creative weapons that made the game unique and fun to play.
Eh....yeah, that's all I got for today. Until next time, stay marbellous (ooh, portmanteaus!).
Links
Sphurr: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=515
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Speed Run and Speed Trip (kinda)
Now this is more like it. I was delighted when I saw that the next two games both centered around "speed," which I took to mean I'd get done playing them as fast as possible. Thankfully for me, I was right! One game was over in a matter of minutes and the other doesn't launch. So, let's talk about the one that worked: Speed Run
I gotta say, for a game entitled Speed Run, the default walking speed is pretty pathetic. I guess that's the point, though, because jumping over and over makes you go super fast. I must say, I'm very grateful that the game spelled that out in big white letters, otherwise I would have never figured it out, he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
The levels are quick and simple, which the developers seem to think is a selling point; while it is true that I always prefer more complex and open level design, a game like this has to be streamlined, and if there's one word to describe the level design, it's streamlined.
There are a few simple design decisions that bug me. First off, the camera is way too low to the ground. I feel like I'm in quicksand (which might explain why the walking speed is so low relative to air travel speed). Second, the palate needs at least one or two dull colors here and there, otherwise all the pastel oranges and blues just blend together into this mess that isn't too easy on the eyes. Also, you gain a bit too much momentum when you run, but that's really only a problem in one level, which I'll get to later, after I'm done seething.
Now let's get to the big problems: the abilities. In most levels, you are given three basic abilities to expedite your race to the finish. There's a rocket, a jetpack, and a gravity-switcher. The only one you will ever use is the jetpack. Remember how I said jumping makes you go super fast? Well the jetpack is essentially just a really long jump, so if there's a quicker way to move, I haven't found it. The rockets are utterly pointless. There are no enemies or destructible environments, so the only use the rockets have is rocket-jumping, which vastly inferior to the jetpack.
Don't even get me started on the gravity-switching. It's a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. Maybe it's because of how low the camera is to the ground or maybe it's because the camera doesn't orient itself quite right, but if you ever flip the gravity, you will be confused and nauseated. All that sense of direction that was keeping you moving through the world in a timely manner will be gone, and you'll be lucky if you have enough motivation to restart the level. How could no playtesters have raised their hands and been all "uh, yeah, I kinda feel like a need a bucket right now so maybe clean up this mechanic..."
Other than all those monstrosities, there's only one other problem I had with the game: the last level. Up until then, you'd been programmed to storm through the level with the jetpack as fast as possible, but then, without notifying you, the game takes away your jetpack and gravity switcher so all you're left with is the stupid rocket-jump. Not that that will help anyway, because the level is just a bunch of rectangles that you have to jump on carefully and diligently, lest you fall and have to start all over. It's a frustrating, inconsistent, lazily designed mess of a level. Maybe you'll say "whatever, it's just one level," but this is an entire twelfth of the game we're talking about here. Not only that, but the final twelfth. The grand finale. The climax!
I like what they were trying to do, but Speed Run needed a lot more work before it could be considered fun. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay speedy.
Links
Gotta go fast: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24660
The other one: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=507
I gotta say, for a game entitled Speed Run, the default walking speed is pretty pathetic. I guess that's the point, though, because jumping over and over makes you go super fast. I must say, I'm very grateful that the game spelled that out in big white letters, otherwise I would have never figured it out, he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
The levels are quick and simple, which the developers seem to think is a selling point; while it is true that I always prefer more complex and open level design, a game like this has to be streamlined, and if there's one word to describe the level design, it's streamlined.
There are a few simple design decisions that bug me. First off, the camera is way too low to the ground. I feel like I'm in quicksand (which might explain why the walking speed is so low relative to air travel speed). Second, the palate needs at least one or two dull colors here and there, otherwise all the pastel oranges and blues just blend together into this mess that isn't too easy on the eyes. Also, you gain a bit too much momentum when you run, but that's really only a problem in one level, which I'll get to later, after I'm done seething.
Now let's get to the big problems: the abilities. In most levels, you are given three basic abilities to expedite your race to the finish. There's a rocket, a jetpack, and a gravity-switcher. The only one you will ever use is the jetpack. Remember how I said jumping makes you go super fast? Well the jetpack is essentially just a really long jump, so if there's a quicker way to move, I haven't found it. The rockets are utterly pointless. There are no enemies or destructible environments, so the only use the rockets have is rocket-jumping, which vastly inferior to the jetpack.
Don't even get me started on the gravity-switching. It's a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. Maybe it's because of how low the camera is to the ground or maybe it's because the camera doesn't orient itself quite right, but if you ever flip the gravity, you will be confused and nauseated. All that sense of direction that was keeping you moving through the world in a timely manner will be gone, and you'll be lucky if you have enough motivation to restart the level. How could no playtesters have raised their hands and been all "uh, yeah, I kinda feel like a need a bucket right now so maybe clean up this mechanic..."
Other than all those monstrosities, there's only one other problem I had with the game: the last level. Up until then, you'd been programmed to storm through the level with the jetpack as fast as possible, but then, without notifying you, the game takes away your jetpack and gravity switcher so all you're left with is the stupid rocket-jump. Not that that will help anyway, because the level is just a bunch of rectangles that you have to jump on carefully and diligently, lest you fall and have to start all over. It's a frustrating, inconsistent, lazily designed mess of a level. Maybe you'll say "whatever, it's just one level," but this is an entire twelfth of the game we're talking about here. Not only that, but the final twelfth. The grand finale. The climax!
I like what they were trying to do, but Speed Run needed a lot more work before it could be considered fun. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay speedy.
Links
Gotta go fast: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24660
The other one: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=507
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