Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World

Just posted over at The Indie Elitist about a great adventure game I just finished playing, Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World.

The following is a excerpt from the article:

The graphics are nice and really good but I would not go so far as to call them great. The puzzles similarly are good, there are a few problems, a few good parts, and few sections that show a lot of promise, but overall it is just good/decent. Probably the most interesting part of the entire thing is the setting, which is a steampunk Victorian, scifi, alternative past. But by far the most well done part is the dialogue. For the most part I find games that try to be funny, just corny and forced sounding; Which is not at all how Kaptain Brawe turned out, it is quite funny and more then worth not skipping.

But everything is not rosy. The game is a little buggy and way too short. It has around three hours of gameplay and not really worth the original selling price of $20 (you can find it for less now). Also at some points the dialogue is just filled with mistakes and the ending seemed really inconsistent to the rest of the game; The entire game seemed to be trying (quite hard at some points) to keep the adventure G rated and then at the end the villain gets sodomized by two inmates, which just seemed out of character.

Overall it is a great game and I liked it a lot. I hope that they produce sequels and I will play them, but there are two things that would really benefit from some polish. In the game you control a total of three different characters, by switching between them, and Rowboat the robot, who is used like an item. And it works great, they have very different personalities and often they must be used in tandem to get past a obstacle. But the characters are so diametrically different that I would of loved puzzles that could be solved in different ways depending on which character you are currently controlling and puzzles that are only solvable using a specific person because it requires a specific mental or physical trait. As it stands now the puzzles and their solutions are just too generic, Kaptain Brawe is supposed to be a overly brave stupid action obsessed hero type and yet he solves normal mental puzzles like everyone else and shows a complete lack of interest in just charging in and solving a puzzle disregarding of the dangers. The second thing I would love to see improved is the setting, it is supposed to be the 1800's but in space with one major invention and conceivably a bunch of others that it inspired. But the technology level is just far to high in all areas. Sure Kaptain Brawe's ship is made of wood but it still is absolutely filled with technological marvel after technological marvel and some places actually look like a futuristic normal scifi location, with metal domes and force fields. In some areas the technology should be extremely lacking and far more Victoria era steampunk architectural really should of been used (even the oldest looking, least technically advanced, things looked at least one hundred years too new).

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.

No Time to Explain

No Time to Explain, the instant KickStarter success, has just got significantly more cool and been released. What they did was upload there own game, very shortly after release, to The Pirate Bay (a torrent site), allowing anyone to download it for free (normally $10). The one catch is that the version they uploaded is all pirate themed and apparently moderately more buggy.

So you can download this game right now and give it a try before you buy, and while you are waiting for it to finish downloading you might as well read this interview on the pirate version and why they made it.

Limbo

Limbo is a very famous indie XBLA platformer that recently got ported to the PC, giving me and many others the ability to finally play it. At its core it is simply a platformer with some puzzles but what makes it great is its style.

It is wonderfully dark, and I am not just talking about the graphics. The giant spiders, zombie worms, murderous children, and effective traps are all fantastically realized and delightful cruel, made all the more poignant because you are playing as a child. And while the officially explained plot is minimalistic I think it is safe to say that it all takes place in a dream that he has after falling asleep in a forest.

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.

Two Bioluminescent Environmental Platformers

I just played two platforming games with blight colourful, luminescent, graphics and with environmental themed plots.

In CreaVures you play as group of specialist forest creatures in which you take control of any one at a time to traverse the forest to gather its fading light and save it. Its part action, part platforming, part puzzles, but mostly casual and atmospheric; The puzzles are very simple, the action is slow, and the platforming is not designed to be precise or fast (I recommend you don`t pay the Challenging difficulty as the controls and un-agility of your creavures are not quite up to it).

While in The Undergarden the gameplay is quite different: It is a mildly puzzle platforming take on Flower. In  the game you travel through a underwater cave system pollinating plants and using fruit to solve some very simple puzzles.

Penumbra: Overture First Impressions

So I am finally giving Penumbra: Overture another go after the severe physiological trauma it inflicted on me a few years ago.  And it already does not look good; As I clawed ineffectively on the mine's entrance as the blizzard sucked at my strength and numbed my extremities I knew that this playthrough would be no better then my first. Penumbra: Overture is a great game; It is a graphical adventure with the best and all encompassing physics of any game I have ever played, it is a stealth/action game that gives you a choice of hiding or fighting. But most of all it is a horror game that is many times more scary then anything I have ever seen and often leaves my with a racing heart after an encounter.

But now I hear banging from the deep and know that I must go down there, that there is no other way. It seems like far to good and unique of a graphical adventure to succumb to the fear and leave the game in some dark forgotten area of my hard drive.

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.