Arvoesine

Finally got around to plaything this commercial turned free action platformer. I, and I can only assume every other person with any sense, has admiring this great retro looking game from afar and now that it has been released for free I no longer had any reason to put of giving it a try. And here is the recounting of my experience:

• First try, died after about 5 seconds on second encountered enemy.
• Second try, died after about 5 seconds on spikes right after third enemy.
• .....
• 6th try, died after about 10 seconds on the 7th enemy (pretty sure I am still only about 1% done level 1).
• Gave up.
• Tried a few more times and got to the first level boss, but no apparent way to even damage him.

So while the game looks amazing, and does not even look all that hard, it is; The strange thing is that you actually have quite a lot of health and I normally love games that give a challenge. Still it looks great, and seems to play quite good as well, I just could not get into the hang of it.

I recommend anyone who is a fan of Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts style super challenging action platformers give it a shot, but I for one am done trying to completely it (or even just a single level).

You can download Arvosine here.

The Stanley Parable

The Stanley Parable was recently released to much critical acclaim and I have finally gotten around to playing it. It was a wonderfully unique and unexpected experience, that plays very much like a interactive film more then any traditional gaming genre.

It is currently a Half Life 2 mod but is already being remade, with no word yet as to what form the finished product will take. Not that it really warrants a remake, the quality and polish is already quite fantastic; And while I am sure all developers always have some great ideas that don't make it into their finished projects, The Stanley Parable feels quite like a whole game, even if it is quite short.

 The game is divided into six endings, all distinct, with varying amounts of overlapping journey between them and even quite a bit of contradiction (but with all of them being considered canonical). The game was made to be played at least a few times with multiple endings encountered and it should only take an hour or two to see all of them.

The entire game is delightfully meta, narrated by the smooth voiced and very talented Kevan Brighting, and themed around choice. For almost the entire time playing the narrator will be talking and it is he that really sets the scene, advances the plot, and provides the desire and force to act. He is everything, the rest of the game is quite minimalistic. The graphics are good, but are not supposed to dazzle or take the attention away from the plot, and the interaction is quite minimal. The crux of the game is that all the choices you make matter, not only in the immediate future but for the rest of the playthrough.

In short, the game is basically perfect at what it tries to do and is ridiculously fun to play. It will not be for everyone, but for the people who enjoy it, it will surely leave an impression.

My mini-review of The Stanley Parable.

Dead Cyborg

I had a chance to finally finish Dead Cyborg episode 1 a few days ago so I can finally give my full opinion on this game.

The graphics style is fantastic; The game world seamlessly blends the hard sci-fi, post-apocalyptic horror, and humour into a great cohesive whole; And the dialogue and story is terrific. It simply is one of the best worlds to emerge from the mind of a indie developer in recent history.

That is not to say it is perfect. I don't think that anyone would argue that the puzzles are (while possibly somewhat realistic) not very interesting. Some are just far to ambiguous and unintuitive, while others are so intuitive and literal you are left thinking you must be missing something. But these are also something that I think can easily be improved in latter episodes, the world is what really cannot be changed at this late a juncture and it is already fantastic.

But this great episodic adventure might just end here if the developer does not get any more donations. While the game is free, and the developer wants the rest of the series to remain free as well, he does require some minimum amount of donations before he invests even more of his time bringing us the rest of Dead Cyborg. So if you have not already, head on over to the official website and give Dead Cyborg a whirl and if you enjoyed it think about donating.

My Indie Elitist Article and my mini-review on Dead Cyborg Episode 1: The Beginning of the Death.

Dig-N-Rig Released

Dig-N-Rig is the latest release from the esteemed college of DigiPen. And in it you control a mining robot in what could only be a future world filled with red necks, where all usages of the word "and" has been removed and replaced with "N". In the game you dig (to liberate the precious minerals from the earth) and you rig (to create machinery that will transport these minerals back to your base), both of which I believe red necks enjoy. But you will not be decimating the natural landscape all the time, sometimes you get to take a break from this to kill off the local wildlife (another pass time of red necks).

I have only been playing this game for a few hours but I have to say that it is quite enjoyable, an enjoyment that is only further enhanced by occasionally shouting Git-R-Done at the computer screen (something I imagine the fictional lab workers whop control your mining robot do all the time), and cannot wait to get back to playing it. So I would highly recommend you all go Git-R-Done and download this indie gem.

Dead Cyborg Episode 1: The Beginning of the Death Released

A game I have been looking forward to quite a lot has finally been released. Dead Cyborg is a episodic, first person, fully 3D, text adventure inspired, post apocalyptic, pay if you like, graphical adventure. And earlier today episode 1: The Beginning of the Death was released.

It looks great, is very long for a free episodic adventure, but not sold on the puzzles yet. Have made it about half way through level 2 but am now completely stuck.

Review to follow as soon as I get unstuck, but in the meantime you can play the game yourself, which can be downloaded from its website, and even donate to the developer to help get episode 2 released (if you are so inclined).

Apply 1000mg

One of the most distinctive looking games, I think possibly ever, Apply 1000mg is a beautiful pixel art platformer with an incredibly cheerful look that won the Ludum Dare #20 contest. This uniqueness is accomplished by the pixels not actually being pixels but instead small blocks made up of different shades of the same colour.

In addition to the graphics, the platforming is ok but it is the story that really makes this game more then just skin deep. And while I will not spoil anything for you, dear readers, it is quite a interesting minimalistic story.

Apply 1000mg can be played over at its Ludum Dare page.

My mini-review of Apply 1000mg.

Realm of the Mad God

Realm of the Mad God is a browser based MMORPG. And probably the only modern, if not only, MMO to make dying permanent; RotMG is a simplified class based MMORPG. There are many rigid classes, a small number of simple stats, and quite a few tiers of static loot; Additionally, any single class only has two abilities that it can use, that class` main attack (which really only fluctuates in effectiveness with different equipment) and the special ability that uses MP.

One of the best examples of this simple greatness that makes up RotMD is the quest system. First off there is the overall quest of every player in a particular world, which is to summon and defeat the mad god himself, Oryx. To kill him you are likely going to need many max level characters working together; But to even get that far you need to first defeat all of the quest monsters to get him to show up. Even brand new players can help here as there are quest monsters of all levels. Basically anyone of the correct level range in the general vicinity of a quest monster will be notified of its location and if you travel to that location and kill it then you have helped out the entire world in your own little way (and been justly rewarded with loot and experience).

It is also worth mentioning that RotMG has completely done away with the infamously complicated system of windows needed to display all the information of a normal MMORPG and no windows or additional GUI is ever needed nor are any special keyboard shortcut used. And since it is supposed to be a coop game most of the time you are not soloing as experience is not split between players but simply given to everyone in the vicinity, so there are never any hard feelings about just tagging along with even the most advanced groups. this is a huge boon to the less socially apt. I normally hate groups in MMOs, depending on the game you can get into arguments over the loot, or you feel bad leaving a group in the lurch if you have to go on short notice. It is just so much nicer with the easy going, spontaneous, groups that form in RotMG.

It is incredibly fun and addicting, and very easy to get into. The only downside is the incredibly huge amount of bandwidth it takes to play; And as impossible as it seems I have checked and rechecked and it really seems like the game takes 50-100 kbps of your bandwidth while you play.

You can play Realm of the Mad God over at it web site, here (http://www.realmofthemadgod.com/).

My mini-review of Realm of the Mad God.

Benthic Zone

Benthic zone is a short graphical adventure game set on the bottom of a lake; Or possibly more correctly a tech demo or unfinished project comprised of beautiful graphics and puzzles but completely lacking in plot.

I didn't know who I was controlling, other then I liked how he looked and surprisingly liked him even though he never says anything other then emotionless object descriptions. I also do not know why I was solving puzzles and doing the things I was doing in the game, other then that I enjoyed doing them.

So while the game is really about nothing it does not matter because it is still fun and pretty.

You can download the game here, make sure to extract the game before play because if you just try to play it from the archive it will probably not work.

My mini-review of Benthic Zone.

Something Amiss

Something Amiss is a three part episodic adventure game that is freely available to play online. It uses a verb coin interface, though it does not really benefit from the freedom that that gives the player, and is made up almost exclusively of inventory based puzzles. It is set in current time in Washington DC and involves government agencies, anti-government groups, and one woman given strange powers from an experiment that was conducted on her.

Overall I found the game had some good points and some not so good points. The graphics for one are good in some scenes and bad in others and go all the way from realistic and obviously derived from photographs of actual places (with hardly anything changed) to ultra cartoony visuals with materialistic colour and detail. Additionally, while the story, interface, presentation, and gameplay are not bad, they all could use some work and never were particularly moving. But it is not a bad game, and if you are looking for something different from the AGS title then this might be something to look into.

My mini-review of Something Amiss.

What Makes you Tick

What Makes you Tick is a free indie graphical adventure game set in a Victorian style world filled with ingenious inventions, inventors, and villains. In the game you play Nathan who is in search of the retired professor and famous inventor Dr. Coppelius to warn him of some unknown impending danger. But will you be able to reach the professor before this danger gets to him itself?

I really enjoyed What Makes you Tick, with its good graphics, interesting characters, nice music and sound effect, and a beautifully drawn and realized world. The graphics are simple, 2D, and side-view with sparsely animated static backgrounds and they look fantastic. The puzzles are also great and are mostly inventory based, and are preformed in game with the use of a standard verb coin interface and a inventory system that allows the use of the same verb coin system on all of the items and combining items being a integral part of the game.

If you have enjoyed this review and want to pick What makes you Tick then head over to its official website where both it and its commercial sequel, A Stitch in Time, are available.

My mini-review of What Makes you Tick.

Ace of Spades

Ace of Spades is a new free to play multiplier only FPS. Right now it is only in beta but the lack of features is actually quite refreshing.

The basic premise is a FPS in a complete sandbox environment made of Minecraft style blocks. These blocks can be added and removed with  relative ease allowing you to create buildings and fortifications while at the same time you and your team must protect your intel (flag) from the enemy team and try to steal their intel as well.

At this point, beta .51, you are equipped with a simple offensive load-out; You have your trusty bolt action rifle and some grenades. The biggest issue I have with the game is that while the combat with these weapons is fun, it is mostly useless as only capturing the lintel matters and enemies re-spawn almost instantly. In fact I have never seen an example of intel ever being captured under regular circumstances, and it basically is impossible, as far as I can tell, if both teams have a moderate amount of members and no one is cheating.

Still the game can be an interesting diversion and only promises to get better, so if you want to check it out go to ace-spades.com (note: it is a download game but you start a game by clicking on one of the active servers in the list on the webpage, I recommend aloha uswest pinpoint).

It is not a particularly photogenic game, but pictures can be seen at the official Ace of Spades Gallery.

Bullet Candy Perfect Free for a little while

Until 6pm GMT on Monday the 23rd May 2011 to be precise.

So if you want to check out this bright stylish shoot-em-up send a email to charlie@charliesgames.com soon and you will get your free copy for Windows, Mac, and Linux.


Source: http://www.charliesgames.com/wordpress/?p=612

Digital: A Love Story

Digital: A Love Story is first and foremost a love story but I do not think that it is as simple as that might imply or as one might deduce from reading a plot synopsis or depending on the person even playing the game. I think that this game is one of the few pieces of art that I actually understand and appreciate in a artistic sense. To me yes it is a love story in the traditional sense of boy meets girl, but it was also a love story in the sense of boy meets computer and the Internet, and that is a love story that I can relate to. Digital has also been accused of being a visual novel and while I admit that the only real thing you do in the entire game is type in phone numbers and click a few buttons occasionally when told to, to me it did not feel at all like a visual novel and actually felt like a very open and realistic world while I was playing it. And while I have to admit there is not very much interaction and visual novel is a accurate description, it is still a description that is devoid of the essence of the game.

This is a huge testament to the power of the writing that such a limited amount of interaction could draw the player into the story far more then in any previous literature or game I have ever played. There is just something to the game that surpasses all sandbox games in existence or any game designed to immerse the player in the role of the protagonist that I have played at their respective selling points. With respect to the open-worldness of Digital, this is partly achieved by imposing absolutely no artificial boundaries; While a normal sandbox game might try to give you the allusion of openness by giving you a huge world, eventually we all at some point come to an invisible wall or door that simple cannot open; But in Digital this simply does not happen, and you can go anywhere and do anything that you can conceive of. For putting you in the role of the protagonist there are two main features. The first feature I am going to talk about is total control such that for the most part the protagonist in the game does not really even exist; You never press a button to have him eat or another one to have him walk forwards, you move your mouse to have the in-game mouse move, or you type in a word/number to have it appear in game; The only thing that the in game you don't do is write messages. And the distancing these massages would have is almost completely mitigated by the second feature I want to talk about, and that is your messages. You never see them; You respond and send messages to people by pressing the reply button and while you can mostly deduce the general content of your messages by the replies, it still helps immensely to immerse you in the game by not seeing them.

I have already mentioned the open realistic world and how much I liked playing in it, so now I try to describe it. It is 1988 and your father has just purchased one of the earlier GUI PCs for you. You start off with simply a dialer, a program to connect to other computers, called BBSes, over the phone lines by dialing their number. These BBSes acted like web-pages of today but were very simple and for the most part were used for users to exchange messages and files. This is the world that you are thrown into and while you start off with a single number to a local BBS, you soon discover more BBSes and programs online. To learn more about BBSes I recommend watching this absolutely amazing documentary (trailer).

Another great aspect of the game is the fantastic and natural characters that inhabit its world. These characters do things and talk just like people you have probably already interacted with on the Internet and simply seem very realistic and believable. There are helpful knowledgeable people in many technical fields who help you improve your knowledge of computers and BBSes and provide patches and programs; As well as the occasional funnily outrageous troll and other general interesting characters.

The gameplay of Digital while always unique is not particularly varied but you will be doing a few interesting things. Other then typing in phone numbers and replying to messages you will be hacking private BBSes, updating software, and installing/building programs.

So if you liked this review and even if you didn’t you should probably go download and play Digital: A Love Story for PC, Mac, or Linux.

My mini-review of Digital: A Love Story.

Technical:
Windowed Mode:
Supported by use of the options menu, but already windowed by default.

Alt+Tab:
Works but a small portion on the bottom of the game screen does not refresh when this happens.

Gallery: Ranger

My mini-review of Ranger.

Viriax

Viriax is the latest game released by Locomalito, the creator of Hydorah. It is a vertical shooter set inside of a human body where you play a virus attempting to infect the patient. In the game you must jump and swim upwards towards the end of the level, dodging enemies and collecting power-ups. The biggest difference from normal vertical shooters is that moving drains your health, so you must constantly replenish it.

Their are six stages all representing parts of the body you are infecting and after completing any one of them you unlock the special ability that comes with that stage. Each of these stages are quite unique and have special enemies and environmental effects; For example the stomach has a continually rising ocean of acid that you must keep ahead of and the intestines are dark and you can only see a short distance. Additionally, these stages are procedurally generated, making them different every time you attempt them.

It is also worth noting, unlike Hydorah, this game is playable and even beatable (more of less) by people who are not particularly experienced in the shooter genre.

So for anyone who is interested they can check out Viriax here.

As far as I was able to get in a day.