Review: Reach for the Sun

The last few years have seen a surge in ‘simulation’ games lately, ranging from dating to driving. Reach for the Sun is no different, but instead focuses on the delicate process of growing a plant. Remember Farmville? It’s basically Farmville without the micro-transactions and mass timed crow growing.

Each plant varies in size, hardiness and cost of growing new parts.

To be fair, it’s not like Farmville at all; in any way whatsoever. Reach for the Sun starts you off with the humble Sunflower, a little sprout in the ground. When part of the plant glows, you can click on it to collect resources. Roots collect water and a small amount of nutrients while leaves do the elaborate process of photosynthesis and convert CO2 into starch by using a little bit of water in the process. You’ll use these three resources to grow your plant, adding more roots or growing your plant taller with stalks and leaves. Eventually, you’ll grow the resource-heavy flowers and you’ll need to get them pollinated. Once pollinated, you can transform the flower into precious seeds which act as an in-game currency, and you’ll do all this before the cold embrace of winter freezes your plant into an icicle.

Sometimes you’ll have insects which you need to scare off or kill by repeatedly clicking them, blight-stricken leaves need to be pulled off by clicking and dragging and leaves frozen by a sudden cold-snap need to be rubbed warm by clicking and rubbing with the mouse. That’s pretty much all you’ll do; clicking, lots of clicking. Growing your plant is a coordinated clicking affair, and you only have about ten minutes to get your plant fruiting before winter.

Other than the initial synopsis, there’s not much more to this Plant Simulator. There are four plants to grow, each with increasing difficulty. There is a small shop where you can spend your excess seeds on the four ‘upgrades’ which are simple things like more regular watering or fertilizer for additional nutrients. I completed the entire game, achievements and all in a mere 72 minutes and for the $10 price tag, despite the good quality I felt significantly disappointed by the quantity.

The design is pretty and it plays ok. I had repeated issues with my clicks not registering on several occasions, especially when the game got busy late-stage. This was a real pain since the earlier you click on a glowing root of leaf the more resources you get from it.

Overall, it’s a new idea and it plays well enough, but the price tag is too high for such a small amount of content. Otherwise I would recommend Reach for the Sun as a fun casual filler, and who knows, maybe you’ll learn something.

When Surviving is Everything

Just like the undead, the zombie genre doesn’t seem to go away. I’m not complaining, but I would like to see more sandbox zombie apocalypse survival games. We’ve had a few come out in the last few months like State of Decay and Seven Days to Die, but this little corker has popped up on Steam Early Access and I've very much taken a liking too it.

Project Zomboid is an isometric zombie survival sandbox, and an unforgiving one at that. You’ll have to scavenge for food, supplies and stock up on water before the water and electricity go out…for good. Zombies aren’t a pushover either. It could take only one scratch before you join the zombie hoards, and a bite is a sure (un)death sentence. The other enemy is you; keeping yourself fed, hydrated, well slept and trying not to get sick is all on the table. Even preventing yourself from boredom, depression and insanity requires a delicate management of time and resources.

Sneak, Loot and Fight to survive.

Despite all this, the game gives you fantastic sandbox to play in. Although I will admit the towns are a bit bare, the game has invested a lot of time in making everything require strategy. You’ll need to plan how you’ll break into buildings beforehand in case a horde is waiting for you inside. Your food won’t last forever and you’ll need fruit and vegetable crops which require you to plant a garden and keep it watered. You can even go as far as to build your own stronghold with material you loot around the town.

Although it’s still in early development, there is a great deal of customisation for your sandbox ranging from in-game day time from one day per hour to real-time to what kind of zombies you want, shamblers or do you prefer the sprinting undead? There is still much content to be added, including NPCs and story modes, but right now you have a very playable survival sandbox.

You’re walking a very fine line of survival; one slip will usually mean certain death, which makes this game that much more desperate and enjoyable. You can find it on Steam or check out their page.

Review: Arkham Origins

He’s Batman. What else do you need to say about him? The billionaire playboy turned Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne, has been sitting in comic stardom for over 70 years. DC’s pop culture icon has featured in television series, movies and games and been referenced in even more. With Arkham Origins promising to follow up with a knockout punch from the acclaimed Arkham City, there is certainly more Batman goodness to come.

Origins takes us back to the early years of Bruce’s caped crusades, in fact, it’s only been two years since he started roaming Gotham’s streets at night. Before Catwoman, before Robin, even before Gordon became Police Commissioner. It’s Christmas Eve and with a 50 million dollar bounty put on his head by crime lord Black Mask, eight of the world’s deadliest assassins are on the hunt for the Dark Knight. Add the newly emerging Joker, Anarky and Riddler combined with the long-time entrepreneur Cobblepot and the rotten Gotham Central Police Department, Batman is in for one heck of a long night.

You wouldn't want to go up against either of these two, but I still have my doubts that Batman would always trump Slade, aka Deathstroke

With Rocksteady Studios, creator of Arkham City, moving away from the Batman franchise, it was picked up by Warner Bros. Games Montréal. To be brutally honest, this was probably one of the worst ideas. The studio had little prior experience, and it really shows in their half-hearted attempt at a sequel.

Thankfully, it has some fantastic writing, with much of the dialogue being hard-hitting and gritty, reflecting the Dark Knight’s initial isolation and distrust of just about everyone. While I’m definitely not the expert on Batman lore, the portrayal in the Arkham series continues to show how Bruce has evolved as both himself and as the Dark Knight. Torn between his ideals and the harsh reality, Origins amazingly portrays the struggle that Bruce has with himself and the connections he has with new-found enemies, especially the Joker.

It’s also great to see some fantastic faces in the series. Black Mask, Deadshot, Deathstroke and Bane just to name a few, while also featuring some unique, but lesser known characters. Unfortunately, this is where most of the praise ends.

Combat is slightly more refined, but it's still difficult to use gadgets in combat and achieve that perfect score.

Arkham Origins is heavily based off Arkham City; in fact I’d go as far to say it is the same game with a different skin. There are precious few additions to the toolkit, and as a prequel, has the age-old of issue of better gear in the past. The Ice Grenade from City is the Glue Grenade in Origins and serves as the exact same item. There is the new Line Gun which I personally found a little overpowered, taking out enemies in predator encounters with ease. The addition of the Shock Gloves in combat was one of the most unique items, which serves as a game-changer with its unblockable attacks and instant knockdown on most enemies.

The combat is mostly unchanged, but some encounters have a better mix of enemies types for more challenge, but sometimes just a sheer increase in enemy numbers. In one particular combat, I was fighting over twenty assailants with a whole mix of weapons. I still had a great deal of problems using gadgets in combat, sometimes they didn’t respond, but most of the time I accidentally put explosive gel on the floor and then had no idea how to set it off.

You now have much more territory to roam, with a large portion of Gotham City open and not surrounded by water or fortress-style walls. The area is split into two sides, connected by a large bridge, which is both slow and boring to try and cross, especially when the game repeatedly directs you from one side to the other for missions. There are fast-travel points you can use via the bat-jet, but as an advocate against fast-travel in games, even I was inclined to use them just to break the monotony of crossing that bridge. That aside, although a storm warning supposedly has all the civilians inside, the city still feels very empty, with only hardened criminals and corrupt cops roaming the streets. The indoor locations were nicely detailed, and it was good to have a roam around the bat-cave, but many areas suffered from over-cluttering and confusing design. On several occasions I would wander around in detective vision to try and figure out where I needed to go. Many grapple or hanging points were just lost in the mass of objects within a room.

Much of Gotham City is recognizable from Arkham City, but there is a good deal more to explore, despite its emptiness.

I was playing Arkham Origins on PS3, and I encountered several glitches and bugs during the course of the game. While traversing the city, there were several occasions where I experienced a significant frame drop for a short period. These were irregular and inconsistent, so the exact cause I couldn’t say, but it is a very unusual occurrence on a console to experience such a severe drop such as these. I also experienced some game-breaking bugs that required me to manually restart from a checkpoint. These ranged from being unable to grapple to points after a cutscene to doors failing to open after a fight. I even managed to kill an enemy during a predator encounter, but he still managed to survive and then continued to look for me although the encounter was over. Fortunately, the game registered him dead and I couldn’t interact with him anyway, so it let me proceed. One of the most frustrating bugs I had was while searching for the Enigma transmitters and data packs. After finding a transmitter or data pack, then letting it save and quitting the game, upon my return I discovered that the game had not saved that I had done that item, but had still removed it from the map. By this point, I had finished everything else in the game and did not have the willpower to attempt to look for them one by one myself or with a guide.

If you enjoyed Arkham City, then you’ll enjoy this too, because it’s the same game. This isn’t so much a step forward for the series as it is a slight shuffle sideways, but there is some entertainment to have, and considering its cheaper retail price it’s still worth picking up, but maybe from the bargain bin or pre-owned instead.

How Deep does the Basement Go?

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Issac who lived happily with his mother who spent all her time watching religious television programs. One day, while watching her programs, she heard the voice of God (or, most likely having an episode of Schizophrenia, that's what she thought she heard) that told her that her son was evil and had to be punished, so she locked him away in his room, never to come out. The next day she heard the voice again, Issac was still evil, so she took all his toys and left him with an empty room. Issac didn't understand why, but he knew there was something very wrong with his mother. On the third day, his mother heard the voice again, telling her that the only way to cleanse him was to sacrifice him, so she went to the kitchen and took a carving knife. Issac, peeking through the keyhole in his room, saw her coming and panicked, desperately searching for a way out. he discovered a trap door leading to the basement under a rug. Not knowing what was down there in the dark, but more afraid of his mother turning the key in the lock of his door, he jumped down into the darkness.

The Binding of Issac is definitely one of the more disturbing games, but that's what makes it fun to play. Everything is warped and wrong in so many kinds of ways that you can't help but feel an ominous presence hang over you while you guide Issac through the dark depths. Enemies are horrible, disfigured creatures and the dozen or so bosses are some of the most gruesome and horrid creature you'll ever see.

Issac himself is not defenceless; he shoots his tears as projectile weapons while dodging the ranged and melee attacks from enemies. Issac can't defend himself, so you have to avoid getting hit by the blood globs and touching any enemies. There are, however, literally dozens of items that Issac can find throughout the basement; each one gives him a stat boost or a new power entirely. Unfortunately, each one usually represents itself on Issac in some bizarre or gruesome way, and when they start to stack it will transform Issac into an equally disfigured character compared to the rest of the denizens of the basement.

There are also other items that require activation that you'll be able to collect and hang on to until you need them. Issac can carry one type of pill which gives a randomised effect, but they’re not always good. Tarot cards can be found and give a specific effect, but you’ll have to learn for yourself what each one does by using it. Finally, you can carry one useable item that can be used repeatedly but must recharge between rooms. These items are usually the most powerful in the game, but the more powerful it is, the longer it takes to recharge.

The best thing about The Binding of Issac is that each playthrough is completely randomised and you can (usually) complete a playthrough in half an hour, unless you did well enough and manage to get access to Sheol and attempt to defeat Satan himself; good luck with that. I only managed to get that far once and the game completely crushed me like a snail. This game is brutal and unforgiving; only quick fingers, quick thinking and a little bit of luck will get you anywhere near the big final bosses. And there is so much more to do within the game by unlocking special characters, even more items and then there are the special challenges to complete.

The Binding of Issac is completely wrong and disturbing on many, many levels. I won't deny that some may be dubious about its content. I was a bit uncomfortable with some elements myself, but they are never the focus of the game, usually simple items that you are free to ignore. With that said, most of the game makes you feel uncomfortable regardless, even with "Questionable religious content" (Nintendo's response on a possible 3DS version) aside.

With the sheer randomness, the massive content of items, enemies and rooms you’ll find, make playing each time like playing a whole different game

The Binding of Issac: Rebirth is an upcoming re-production of the original game to switch the platform from Flash to a more stable engine that will fix several bug that could not be fixed on the Flash platform. It will also feature co-op support, and add even more items and enemies to the colossal stack. It will be coming to PS4, Vita and Steam sometime in 2014.

Art by Blckwht (http://blckwht.deviantart.com/)

Mobile Security and You

I’m going away for the weekend, so this week’s update is coming to you a bit early. I also thought this would be a good chance to discuss Mobile Security, especially Anti-Theft tools.

Currently, the majority of all viruses and worms are aimed at the Android OS. Statistics say that 92% of all malware is targeted at Android devices, thanks to the open-source programmability designed by Google. This, coupled with a rising popularity over iPhones, has increased mobile infections significantly. This isn’t to say iOS and Windows smartphones aren’t completely immune to attacks. For iPhone users who ‘jailbreak’ their devices, there are viruses and worms that pose a threat and Windows is still in its infancy and isn’t much of a target, but so far there haven’t been any reported cases of attacks.

Viruses and Worms, the two big threats, are slightly more complicated to create for mobile devices since it is more difficult to actively infect these devices. In addition, a virus or worm must be written specifically for a mobile device OS, so you can’t pick up a desktop or Mac virus on your phone.

Most forms of viruses require mobile users to seek out and install Trojan applications, usually occurring when users download ‘cracks’ or imitations to avoid paying for apps. iPhone and Window’s users are protected by a ‘walled garden’, which filters all apps before making them available, with a fee charged to the developer. Google later implemented the ‘Google Play’ app as a similar product, but users are still free to download apps from other sites if they disable some security settings.

Worms, the more dangerous of the two, can infect a device through many other means, including BlueTooth, WiFi, SMS and MMS. Currently, only Android and ‘jailbroken’ iPhones are vulnerable to Worms.

Android users have access to Anti-Virus software which is a hard-line defence from all methods of infection. Both iPhone and Windows mobiles do not have Anti-Virus software available in their app stores, and although the risk to those devices are significantly low, they are extremely vulnerable if their systems are eventually hacked.

With mobile phone thefts on the rise, Anti-Theft software is another big issue some developers are tackling. According to the UK Office for National Statistics, an estimated 826,000 people in the United Kingdom had their phone stolen during the year of 2011/12. This has prompted governments to address concerns to mobile producers to incorporate more security into their mobile devices.

In the meantime, there are various applications you can get that offer a variety of features including Anti-Virus and Anti-Theft protection. For Android users, the top two products are avast! and Bitdefender Mobile Security and Antivirus. There is also a more universally available application called Prey, which works on iOS, Macs and Windows PCs; an ideal product for securing your laptops and notebooks.

These products, with the exception of Prey, also offer full anti-virus protection. avast! is a free product with premium available, but provides the basic tools necessary to protect your device. Prey is also free, but has limits on various abilities unless you pay for the premium service.

Anti-Theft protection can vary between products, but they offer multiple forms of protection and recovery. They can attempt to ping local WiFi networks or activate GPS to alert you to its location. They can activate the microphone or front camera to record thieves trying to access your device, some even activate an alarm if the SIM card is removed. Whichever product you decide to use, be sure to read into each one carefully, as they each offer a wide variety of options and abilities and with mobiles carrying increasingly sensitive data and costing a great deal, you’ll want to protect your investment.

You can find these products on the Google Play marketplace and you can also check out Prey here.

Universum: Jack in the Hole?

We delve back into the wide open pastures of Kickstarter this weekend, this time a game has surfaced that has got a few heads turning. Universum: War Front is a FPS, RTS, MOBA RPG and a DOTA-style game all in one. If that seems like a mouthful, well, it probably is. Now feel for the developers making this game.

Not too long ago now, there was a mammoth of a game called Spore; an idea spun off the top of Will Wright’s head and produced by Maxis. Spore was unique, there was nothing like it back in the day, but there were problems. Spore had five stages of evolution, each one played very differently than the others, in fact, you could go as far as to say they were different games altogether in one package. This was also Spore’s problem and despite the fact that producing one polished game is difficult enough, the developers were instead asked to produce five completely different games. Suffice to say Spore was both an ingenious idea and a technical letdown, lacking in overall quality.

Universum is striving for a similar goal, though on a much less linear scale. Firstly, it’s a RTS, with multiple planets divided into territories and then each territory is a DOTA game. Followed by another layer of FPS, you can join the troops on the ground and help blast the enemy away personally, finally followed by a slather of Space Combat and even a splash of underwater combat.

On the technical side, Universum is boasting destructible terrain and even natural disasters and phenomenon. The early production video on the Kickstarter page shows the game already has very good graphics, especially since its only been produced by a single person so far. Also boasting a single player campaign as well as full online support and they have already met their meagre $20K target. However, the stretch goals will each add a new planet to the solar system, expanding the war zone even further.

Universum could be a fantastic game and certainly something very unique that will attract players of all calibres, if it can pull each style off successfully. It would be a great disappointment if the FPS gameplay was excellent while the RTS was left lacklustre. Unlike the issue Spore had, there is no problem here of making different games within the game; rather, it is a single game with multiple gameplay elements that need to be perfectly balanced and designed. This will be a monumental task as they try to implement the balance of an RTS with the customisation of a FPS.

Can they pull it off, or will Universum be a Jack of all trades and a King of none? Well, either way, you can check out the Kickstarter page and have a look. The game is already initially funded, so any extra will just be icing on what’s left of the war-torn cake.

Mobile Review: Bloons TD 5

Balloons. One of Earth’s greatest threats has never been so dynamic, versatile and…pretty? The only thing standing in the way of the Bloons taking over the world is a troop of very resourceful monkeys. So we have Bloons TD 5.

The TD stands for just what this game is, Tower Defence. Bloons will enter the map from various points and only your resourceful placement of dart-hurling monkeys will prevent them from reaching the end. The design of Bloons is pretty standard for a tower defence, not really trying anything new, but rather putting a quirky spin on it. Looking back on the previous incarnations of Bloons, it really has grown and they’ve taken a lot on board for making the fifth iteration into one very solid game, standing out from the crowded tower defence genre.

The design has evolved to always feel the same; bright colours, simple cartoonish style, but it looks significantly better with each iteration. It has a charming seriousness about it; all monkeys are dressed for war. Your enemy is also extremely resourceful, with multi-layered balloons requiring several pops to destroy or the dreaded regenerating or MOAB balloons. There are several Bloon types, each posing a new problem. Lead Bloons can’t be popped by regular spikes and darts and Camo Bloons can’t be seen by regular towers either. Each map requires careful tower placement to best deal with the Bloon threat.

The tower options are both diverse, but not overwhelming. As with most tower defence games, players will have their favourites and the towers they never touch. Each tower has four upgrade options followed by two upgrade tracks with a further two upgrades, but you can only upgrade one track per tower. Each track transforms your tower into something completely different, usually providing more popping power, or popping more Bloons per shot, though others provide special abilities.

As with most mobile games, there are micro-transactions. Even though you pay for games these days, it’s very common to still be asked for more money. In this era of gaming, I can’t scrutinise a game for having micro-transactions, I can however complain full-heartedly if you have to pay for significant aspects of the game. Bloons TD 5 doesn’t do this, as all items in the game can be purchased with the in-game currency of ‘money’ (creative name right there) and you earn ‘money’ by playing the game, earning more on harder difficulties. Only if you have some compulsive need to get those items quickly, then you’ll never even notice the game asking for your cash.

It’s stylish, fun and challenging, and those things make for a very good game. Each map takes about fifteen minutes on medium difficulty, so it could be a quick time-waster if you need it to be. You can also quit and resume a map at any time between the quick rounds, handy if you want to squeeze in a few on the go.

Review: 1953 KGB Unleashed

There were many unusual and bizarre experiments by various nations in the early 20^th century, many may know of Germany’s experiments with the supernatural as highlighted by games such as Wolfenstein. Seeking an edge over the enemy, these experiments ranged from EMP devices to spirit warfare and genetic mutation. 1953 – KGB Unleashed is set around supposed experiments during the escalating Cold War.

Warning! Spoilers ahead! But you already knew that.

 

Although I couldn’t find much genuine information about the experiments, the game is set around a supposed series of real-life experiments conducted by Russian scientists during the 1950’s into the power of telekinesis and ‘spirits’. True or not, the oppressive and cruel nature of these experiments are revealed through various documents.

KGB Unleased is a first-person point-and-click adventure puzzle. Waking up alone in a room with no memory of how you got there, you must find your way out of the strangely deserted underground bunker. It’s the usual ‘amnesiac’ start, but it plays its part to the story well enough. You haven’t forgotten who you are, Gleb Ivanovich Nikolayev, a mechanic/engineer sent to the bunker to repair equipment within the facility. The rest of the details are hazy, but a few memories flicker back as you progress through the bunker.

I’ll be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of point-and-click games, but I do enjoy them on occasion. In KGB Unleashed it’s the usual journey of solving various puzzles and figuring out the meaning of various objects in each room. This game features more of the latter rather than the former. More often than not, I struggled to progress due to the obscurity of some elements, and despite the fact that I agree with the logic of each puzzle and the idea behind it, I believe it could have been far better designed. Many elements were misleading, or failed to emphasise the reason for its use. There are several examples I could give, one of which was a simple switch in a safe which gave no indication of what it did, yet it unlocked a door in another corridor that I did not realise until I had backtracked through most of the game to try and discover its purpose. In another part of the game, you have to descend a trap hole and there is a crate in the hole. Your cursor highlights to indicate there is something you need to do with the crate, but while I spent almost 10 minutes trying to open it, turns out it was actually where you had to put the tape recorder. Confusion like this could have been easily avoided by making the object anything other than a crate; a crate I had to break open not two rooms before.

I almost quit outright in frustration upon the first 10 minutes of starting the game. I don’t know if it was just my settings, but the initial two rooms are dark, so you have to strain your eyes to hardly see anything and the incessant alarm tone became annoying and headache inducing very quickly, beating the puzzles to the punch. The game significantly lacks any Russian undertones, with the main character voiced with an English accent. Aside from some radio stations and a few scraps of propaganda, the game could be set in the USA or England and you wouldn’t notice any difference.

The ending became downright bizarre, ending very abruptly with little resolution. In the last area, you find a glass (hopefully) eyeball which you roll under a door. You can then look through the eyeball as if by magic and somehow that opens the door. Now here is a big spoiler for you, but the game stops, tells you that guy who has been talking to you is dead and then shoos you out the exit. The exit, by the way, is a subway tunnel that somehow goes directly into a bathroom and the wall just disappears after you pick up a subway token. It almost seems as though the developers gave up at this point, or just didn’t know how to end the game. It was an abrupt and confusing ending that severely jarred the experience.

Aside from me failing at puzzles, the game also failed on technical levels in many places. It’s very slow to load, which is very unusual for my high-end PC. It could take as long as ten seconds to load one room, yet I can load Fallout New Vegas with 50+ mods faster. It only had to do this once per room though, which reduced the annoyance, but it’s still unusual for a game of this era. I also had trouble with sluggish cutscenes that left me locked in the cutscene long after the dialouge ceased. There was also no option for subtitles, which was a bit problem for me when there was poor audio quality dialogue and I couldn’t understand what was said, making me miss what may have been important plot points.

The game looked decent, and the mood was set as it should have been, but it felt empty and void of any character. With constant backtracking to and from rooms, I tired from walking the same slow corridors over and over. It became a grind and that’s no fun at all.

An engine that just isn’t up to scratch, inconsistent gameplay and design ruined this game, which showed great potential. Some may enjoy the puzzles, I know some people who will get more satisfaction from games such as these than I do, but the price, the length of only a mere 2 or 3 hours coupled with all the letdowns made KGB Unleashed a great disappointment.

And where was all the Vodka? You can't have Russians without Vodka!

A Card in the Hand

Dungeons and monsters and loot, oh my! Don’t forget the precious loot. You can have all this and more in Blue Manchu’s great interpretation of the Dungeons and Dragons formula with Card Hunter.

So far I have slain only a few Kobolds and am still a mere pipsqueak compared to the great Heroes of Legend, but this flash game is more than mere skull bashing. It puts far more emphasis on strategy with a card-based system forcing you to plan your actions carefully for the best results.

Characters have action cards which you play to have them perform said action, and you draw a new set after the end of each combat round, which occurs when both sides of the combat pass their turn because they’ve got no cards left. What you get is random, you might not draw any movement cards leaving you stuck in a possibly bad position. Do you use your weak attack cards to flush out their defence cards or try to finish them off quickly? Has your ranged Spellcaster ended up in melee combat, perhaps your Priest has a handy card to shift them away? It will take clever use of your actions to keep your party members alive, especially during the harder battles, but the whole system is very well fleshed out, letting luck only determine your options, rather than your actions.

The whole premise is made even more fantastic with a cardboard-cutout style design, making it feel very much like a tabletop game. It comes loaded with effects, despite its flat appearance and so far I’ve found the levelling up characters to be both sensible while allowing a great deal of customisation for your personal tastes.

You can play Card Hunter for free, only account registration is required, here. There also isn’t much in the way of gimmicks yet (ie, microtransactions or advertisements), but they are there, but not imposing, which is nice.

Mobile Review: The Room

I went and did it. I actually paid for a mobile game. I always considered buying a mobile app to be a risky venture, mostly because of all the cheap ripoffs. Free apps usually nag you with ads, but I can get past that, they need to make money somehow after all. I always knew the notion of buying a game should mean that I got the whole game, and wouldn't be held back by micro-transactions and have ads waved in my face every few minutes. So this was my first app purchase, and it was fantastic.

The Room is a sequence of exploratory puzzle-boxes, each new box is found inside the box before, but a complicated series of mechanisms and secrets stand between you and the depths of the rabbit hole. It gets a whole lot trippy when you obtain the eyepiece; an unusual device that can perceive the unperceivable, to view holes in our dimension. Just when you thought the puzzle boxes were hard enough, added dimensional puzzles are just more mind-numbing clubs to whack your brain.

With that said, the puzzles are not ridiculously vague and all are both logical (the ones well within dimensional limits anyway) and all can be solved when you follow the sequence. The hardest point is usually when you start, but they solved this with the eyepiece revealing a fingerprint or other marking to hint you where to begin. Eventually, things start to get disturbing as dimensions begin bleeding into each other, and while not leaving you on a cliffhanger, the game will be continued in a second part. Despite the shoestring story, it is still effective enough to provide some sort of purpose that doesn't hurt the immersion of the game. You are following a man who perhaps ventured too far down the rabbit hole, in the hopes you don't end up lost like him.

On the tech side, I have a Galaxy S2, not the latest I know, but it still a damn good piece of hardware. The game looked amazing and had fantastic 3D rendered graphics. Even when zoomed in on a part of the puzzle box, it was still impressive quality for a mobile game. The clicks, whirrs and groans of the puzzle box are all very well done and provide a hearty feeling of satisfaction.

The Room, while not too easy, it doesn't frustrate, which I like in a puzzle game. It was shorter than I expected unfortunately, but the reasonable price of a dollar feels balanced for what you get. And you get a very impressive game that is going to at least chew up a few hours and give your brain that little bit of a bashing.

Review: Waking Mars

There have been many movies and games that have depicted life on mars. Some perhaps less alive and some from another dimension, but they all took place on mars nonetheless. I suppose when it comes to alien life, Mars is our next port of call, at least in our solar system. Since we’ve already looked on the moon, the Red Planet is the next most habitable planet that we can hope to find anything on. We’re still decades away from the technology to get there in any reasonable time, but Waking Mars depicts a ‘what-if’ scenario of the possible not-to-distant future of 2097 (but when haven't we said that before?).

With evidence of alien life discovered, a team is dispatched to venture into the depths of a massive cave system to make first contact. Deep inside, the explorers discover a developing alien ecosystem that has lain dormant for countless millennia. With the aid of a nifty jetpack you must navigate to the depths of the caves to find out the source of the alien growth.

Originally designed as an iOS game, Waking Mars received a PC release late last year. The side-scrolling puzzle platformer makes navigating the rocky caverns easier with a jetpack and requires that you carefully develop the alien ecosystem to your own needs to increase the biomass and open plant barricades. While you won’t be blasting everything in sight, that doesn’t mean you’re safe from danger. Some of the local flora is not as safe as you might expect and environmental hazards are your biggest threats. You’ll collect seeds and manipulate the growth of the environment by planting them in particular spots of fertile soil. The game slowly introduces additional plant-life that you can breed and further increase biomass. By the end, you learn the secrets of the ecosystem and why it’s here in the first place.

I don’t play very many space gardening simulators these days, my green thumb has been itching for some extra-terrestrial agriculture. The premise itself is simple enough, but requires some deep thought to actually master, which was quite enjoyable. The slow introduction of various new tools to solve those deeper problems was perfectly paced, though it would have been better to not introduce you to rooms that you couldn’t solve easily without said tools. I spent a good portion of my time fighting an uphill battle in a room I thought I was supposed to have passed to continue the game. The problem with an ecosystem simulator, is that it does just what a good ecosystem should, operate without you, sometimes to its own detriment. I had several rooms that would actually start killing off the ecosystem I had very carefully and painstakingly developed.

The progression of the story also became very confused at some point, with the first half of the game being a linear journey; it suddenly throws branching paths and optional quests into the mix. At that point, you can just head straight towards the exit, but miss out on some of the most important aspects of the story, which seemed a shame. It relies on you to have a genuine curiosity to find out the truth and with it having built a decent story up until that point it feels like the game is giving up on itself. A real shame, because the game does so well up to that point. The characters are well voiced, though their dialogue occasionally breaks the mood. The AI character ART was also an interesting addition to provide support during your exploration, but after a while it was grating and annoying and seemed to grow worse as the game went on. Occasionally the characters begin talking in scientific terms, and in the early game they do well to simplify it so you can understand, but by end game you’d need to be a space alien botanist to understand what they are talking about. Does that job even exist yet?

I definitely applaud the game for its unique idea and implementation, but the rest of the game pales in comparison. Considering the game was developed for mobile, the graphics are smart, but simple in design. It reminds me of paper cut-outs, similar to ‘And Yet It Moves’, but just trying much harder to not look that way. I got seven hours out of Waking Mars, which is pretty decent for a $10 game and although the rest of the game is pretty lackluster, the concept was new and enjoyable to experience.

Review: Space Hulk

I’m definitely a huge supporter of smaller developers stepping out and taking on some daring ideas, turning them over and making some of my favourite games. Some even go out to out-play even AAA-titles like CoD, like Killing Floor. Don’t get me wrong though, there are plenty of indie games that flop like a soggy flannel, but considering I can buy five games made by independent developers over one name-brand developer’s game and the hit-miss ratio is about the same, I see Indie games as a much better alternative, and you still get those hidden gems. Space Hulk is not one of those gems.

I love a good turn-based strategy game. Titles such X-COM and Civilization are some of the most well known definitions of the genre. I also enjoy a little tabletop gameplay from time to time, and the Warhammer 40K universe is definitely very deep in history and it offers some amazing opportunities for rich and spectacular games on both tabletop and keyboard. The original Space Hulk tabletop game has been around since 1989 and I have not had the privilege of playing it, my experience with 40K is still in its infancy. This electronic iteration of the game attempts to bring the experience of the board game, the tension between the Blood Angels and the Genestealers, into a brutally vicious computer game.

It does so, albeit poorly. The problem with the tabletop/pc transition is that half the fun is when you roll the dice, that black void of chance that may raise you up to victory or shun you to the depths of some bottomless pit. Instead, the computer spits out random numbers and you sit and watch; watching is not fun. With half the enjoyment of the game gone, there is nothing to fulfil that emptiness. As far as I’ve been told, it is a true copy of the tabletop game, so I can’t credit or discount them for any of the mission design. Though with that said, you get through them in about eight hours, which is significantly less than it would take on the table.

 

So with the game already designed by Games Workshop, perhaps the developers could focus on graphics and making it a great game to play? Perhaps not. I understand there have been numerous patches and fixes since release that may have addressed some of these issues that I have with the game, but let’s go through some when I played at release. Bullet effects skewed through walls rather than firing straight. I lost sound several times, requiring a restart. Constant miss-clicks causing undesired actions. Not registering that a Terminator had reached the exit. Spelling mistakes and once I had letters missing from words, requiring a restart. Animation glitches galore, the AI was dull and predicable and sometimes pathfinding broke, which caused the game to get stuck. The game was full of bugs and glitches and most weren’t game breaking, but some caused great frustration in an already tense game. Sadly, Space Hulk feels like it almost wasn’t tested and could have still been in beta. Always test, test and test everything in game design; many games have failed because of this mistake.

Art by Tremess http://tremess.deviantart.com/

I can’t finish this without at least giving some credit. There are some neat ideas they implemented, such as the suit camera that allowed you to see from the Terminator’s perspective. The game looks very good with the levels being very well detailed despite the design constraints, though I found some levels a bit unnecessarily dark.

Space Hulk was a great idea, attempting to bring to life a great concept, but it didn’t bring enough cards to the table to stand out. It also forgot its pants.

And there aren't any Orks in it. WAAAAAAGH!

Review: Rogue Legacy

The only place where the Gay Dwarf with ADHD is king!

Rogue Legacy is an arcade-style platformer with an emphasis on fast-paced gameplay. Your father entered the castle in search of a cure for the ill king, paying Charon’s fee of all his family’s wealth to do so. Now his heirs must enter the castle and find out what happened to their father who never returned.

The goal of the game is simple; defeat the four bosses to unlock the door to the throne room. Reaching that goal is a mammoth task and you will fail many times in your enduring quest, but that won’t stop you. When you die, your children will carry on the quest, using the gold you earned in the castle to buy upgrades to the family castle (which in turn unlocks abilities and upgrades). With that said though, your children may not always be the most perfect of warriors, many of them will suffer or benefit from a variety of conditions and afflictions.

Each time you die, you must select one of three randomly generated children to be your heir. There are various classes and traits your children may have, but you can’t choose what you get except from the three picked out at random. There are many different classes which include Paladin, Mage, Lich as well as Awesome Dragon and while most need to be unlocked through upgrades, many have a second upgradable version to make them more powerful. Traits are also randomized and range from cosmetic afflictions such as baldness and Colour-blindness, to the more play altering conditions such as ADHD (move faster) and Muscle Weakness (enemies don’t get knocked back). You’ll learn to avoid certain traits that impair you too much, for me it was Vertigo, where the game turns itself upside-down. With most you can adjust your play-style to suit but some can be very useful such as O.C.D. which gives you a little mana when you break objects. The same goes for the classes with each one demanding its own play style, it’s up to you to find what suits you the most. For me, my preferred was the Hokage, the upgraded assassin, I was great at getting in close and getting the hits in, usually killing enemies before they could attack back.

The upgrade system is very well designed and suits the fast-paced gameplay perfectly. You can only upgrade after you die, and because you have to pay Charon’s fee (ie, all of your money) to get in the castle, you have to choose your upgrades carefully before each run to waste as little money as possible. You can also unlock the blacksmith and the enchantress to buy equipment and apply runes that you have found in the castle, these become essential later on. Various equipment applies different stats, and runes grant various bonuses such as extra mid-air jumps or health drain from enemies.

Rogue Legacy requires a controller; keyboard control will let you down greatly. The controls are fluid and feel right. There is a general arcade feel throughout the game and everything reflects this, from music to colourful graphics. The randomized castle rooms were a joy to run through and each area of the castle was superbly designed and generated. Completing the game unlocks New Game+ which fills the castle with the hardest enemies possible, just in case you weren’t getting killed often enough.

It’s great to have a fun game that is easy to pick up, sports a fresh design and reminds us of the old arcade games of the day.

It was Minecraft

They say there was a man. A man who, while wearing crocs with socks and sitting in a bean bag chair, being as casual as possible, came up with the idea for the most casual game to ever exist. That man was Markis ‘Notch’ Persson; the game was Minecraft.

It’s hard to believe such a staple in game history is now over four years old. It was May 2009 when Minecraft showed its face to the world in Alpha. It wasn’t until November in 2011 when Minecraft hit full release, but by then it was too late. Minecraft sold almost two million copies before even being released, grossing an estimated USD$33. The company was founded, and Mojang, having never spent a cent on advertising, continued to build on the game it made a fortune from. With Minecraft 1.7 just around the corner, the tide of casualness is slowly subsiding with updates becoming less and less frequent. But then the community stepped in.

In my opinion, Minecraft is possibly one of the worst-built games of all time. Having been programmed with Java, one of the most flexible, but one of the most limited platforms, Minecraft could have been so much easier to work with. There is only so much Java can do, and they have pushed the platform so much it’s surprising the whole game hasn’t imploded. The main issue I have with java, is its poor allocation of RAM and the constant need to supply (and instruct) it to use the memory you have. Such a memory intensive game like Minecraft suffers greatly from the limits of Java. Not that the game is worse off for it, but I’m sure the developers are.

Then came the mods. With Java being such an accessible platform, the community were able to push Minecraft above and beyond breaking point. Want high-resolution textures? New mobs or how about extra vegetables? What about series of pocket dimentions or would you like to visit the moon? Sure, just wait an extra ten minutes to load the game and you’ve got it all! The community support is great, and now that Minecraft isn’t updating every few months and breaking every mod in existence each time it does so, the real potential of the community is available.

Now you can have whatever you want in Minecraft. You can participate in the Hunger Games, travel the ages of time or survive a zombie apocalypse. Download one of the stand-alone platforms to ensure uninterrupted and functional mod support such as one of the big staples: Tekkit and Technic.

Do I blame Minecraft for a surge in the number of casual games and copycats? Sure, but it would have happened one way or the other and the world isn’t worse off. In fact, the rise of more accessible games has sparked an increase in the number of people who play games. The people who can’t just sit down and play a high intensity FPS or RPG can easily jump on the computer or their mobile device and play a quick game of something quick and casual. It’s opening the industry to a wider market, and that will only help grow the developers.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with the moon.

Review: Antichamber

If there was ever a case of a game hating you for playing it, it would be Antichamber. It does a great many things to confuse, confound and twist your perspective, all the while presenting itself in the form of a very accessible and simple-looking puzzle game.

The goal is simple, escape the Antichamber. Overcome its blockades, looping corridors and psychological torments to find the tools you'll need to solve the puzzles. Despite its simplicity, it is one of the most confusing and difficult puzzle games I have played in a very long time. The puzzles themselves are difficult enough, but the game is out to throw you off at every turn. Hallways change when you're not looking at them, doors move, stairs loop back on themselves; not everything is as it first appears to be; but sometimes it is.

The main element of this game is the way you interact with the key element, the cubes. You'll obtain a tool that can pick up and place cubes, then it upgrades as you progress to grant you new abilities, which are essential to complete specific puzzles. The game starts of frustratingly difficult at first and is very intimidating. I stopped playing for a while after the first session because of just how mind-numbing it was; it's like an explorable M.C. Escher world.

When I returned, it became easier to comprehend, but no easier to complete. With so many red herrings and multiple paths to a specific point, much of this game is spent retracing your steps to find the paths you missed. Not that that's a bad thing, there a few little Easter eggs hidden around for you to discover.

This game is not for the faint-hearted nor the queasy stomachs, but the trill of actually making progress is truly fantastic. Antichamber puts the puzzle back into insanity.

400 Days Later

The first (and possibly only) DLC for Telltale's 'The Walking Dead' finally hit Steam, a over a year since the initial game's release. 400 Days is a short, chapter-based expansion, with each chapter featuring a new survivor at various periods during the zombie pandemic.

Each chapter will only take about 15 minutes at the most to complete, as well as the final scene. With only a short window to flesh out each character, Telltale did a great job of getting you to feel somewhat responsible and attached to your choices. They also hit you with some hard scenes that really stretch your moral compass.

With that said, it doesn't offer much more than handful of short stories that don't feel to have much impact on the overarching world. There are a few scenes where your choices from the original episodic story are reflected in these short chapters, but it has little effect as they don't impact how each chapter plays out at all, they are little more than set pieces.

400 Days is a great time waster, but the shortness and lack of cause and effect contributes to an underwhelming resolution. That aside, it functions much the same as the original game. It looks good and runs well, and they try out a few game-play features that mix it up a bit. 400 Days is definitely worth the one low price of $4.99 USD.

Now Clean up your Mess

Very few games try the most amazing and daring things you've ever seen in a game and I've always loved the Indie and Mod scene for this very reason. It allows devs to 'cut loose' and try out whatever they want. Today I grabbed a bucket and tried out Viscera Cleanup Detail, the latest in gore-splattered cleaning simulators.

If you've ever played games like Dead Space, Resident Evil or one of the many other bloody and gory games out there, you know they leave a lot of mess. Blood splatters everywhere, giblets fly in all directions from your explosives and never mind about the various boxes and barrels being scattered like leaves in autumn on a windy day. Now you can take responsibility for your actions and actually clean up all that mess.

 
Viscera Cleanup Detail is exactly that. After a recent alien incursion aboard a space station is thwarted by a single stubborn and heroic survivor; to meet all safety and cleanliness requirements, you have been assigned a small section of the station to clean it spotless. Take your mop, bucket and trusty gloves and mop up all that blood, making sure you don't forget throw all those spent ammo shells and leftover body bits in the furnace.

It's still in ALPHA, so they are planning to add more to the game, but it is quite playable at the moment. I cleaned up in about 40 minutes, though I didn't get around to burning all the leftover boxes and metal plates. Cleaning isn't hard, nor is it that tedious. In fact, it's just the right amount of work without it feeling like a chore, with a few 'wtf' moments along the way.

You can download it from IndieDB here or follow the devs on Twitter.

You can also follow me on Twitter!

The Swapper - Review

When it comes to puzzle games, we've pretty much seen it all. Most games feature similar elements or various concepts that have been used and re-used many times. Despite this, some games just take already founded concepts, puts them together in a slightly different way, a bit of polish and you've got yourself a pretty decent game.

In a side-scrolling world, you find yourself on a desolate rock somewhere in the far reaches of space,  a short teleport away from the huge space station hovering in orbit above the planet. The story unfolds in fragments as you progress, coming together as you proceed further. Mysterious rocks known only as 'The Chain', act as a hive-mind-like consciousness that communicates telepathically when you get close. You find the last remaining survivor on the station, who, through her own mixed up way, guides you through the station. You can also find various terminals that reveal additional information about what happened to everyone on the station.

The Swapper combines some usual elements and some very different visuals to make such a unique and entertaining game. The base of this game is centered on a device know as 'The Swapper', a complex, yet not completely understood device that has the simple definition of being able to 'swap souls'. It also has the handy feature of creating 'soul-less' clones that mimic your every action and you can swap yourself into them to reach various places. You can have yourself and up to four living clones at a time, I say living because they can still die; as long as you're not in that body when it gets crushed or splatted all over the floor. You use these clones as tools to operate buttons or bypass hazards. As you progress, the puzzle element really comes into play as you explore to collect Security Orbs to operate terminals. Each orb is found in a puzzle room which must be solved using The Swapper. The game introduces elements such as gravity plates which let you walk on the ceiling, and coloured lights which restrict The Swapper from working. You can't create clones within blue light and red light blocks swapping between clones. The puzzle elements never get boring or tedious, the answer is always there, but finding it can be a real frustration. The simplicity of the game reminds you that it is possible, the only reason you can't do it is because you haven't figured it out. Many times I've rage-quit a puzzle, come back to it later and solved it almost immediately.

The design of the game is also a great feature, with many of the background elements created with clay-mation. The lighting and mood-setting in the game is also fantastic, it feels both meaningful, yet empty and alone. Despite the two-dimensional gameplay, the world feels very encompassing and complete. The world buzzes and groans with life, echoing down the corridors drawing you forward.

Many games either lack the challenge or throw tricks at you to trip you up on puzzles. There are a few sections in The Swapper that require quick fingers rather than brains, but it keeps the gameplay simple and always pushing the envelope each time. It's moody atmosphere intrigues, sometimes with only the echo of your footsteps to accompany you, and the crunch of your clones' bones as they die around you. There is around three or four hours of play here, but very enjoyable hours and well worth the $15.

The Last of Us - Review

The Last of Us is one of those post-apocalyptic games that really gives the feeling that everything went down the toilet a long time ago, and it certainly has. Set 20 years after a mutated version of the real-life Cordyceps fungus effects the human population, transforming them into rabid and violent  creatures. The surviving population has fallen into the regular array of nomadic tribes, heavy-handed military settlements, trigger-happy bandits and the odd surviving settlers.

 
The story follows a man named Joel, who, after his own fair share of loss during the initial spread of the outbreak, works as part of a smuggling operation with his partner Tess. Usually sitting on the wrong side of the fence, Tess and Joel are given the task of escorting a young girl named Ellie to a rebel-like force know as the Fireflies. As their luck continues to dwindle, they find out that Ellie is  immune and the Fireflies intend to find out why to engineer a cure.

Without spoiling too much more of the story, the game itself is the many years of work from developer Naughty Dog. Known for their Crash Bandicoot and Uncharted series, The Last of Us marks a big change in direction for the developer, and their years of work have shown in the sheer amount of polish this game boasts. For the entire length of the game, its design and detail to both the environment and the characters was faultless. The character rendering, especially during cut-scenes, is one of the best I've seen to date. Although it's visuals are top quality, it also doesn't miss a beat to the gripping and enticing story and writing. The ebb and flow of action and exploration is paced perfectly, with many quiet walks interrupted by the sudden appearance of resting infected. The world is filled with character. You'll find signs of life everywhere, each adding to the atmosphere of the world around you, making it very engrossing.

There is also a great deal of emphasis on allowing you to choose how you want to play. While you could go guns blazing, you can also opt for the stealthy approach and often sneak pass an entire squad of bandits and continue on your way. With that said, it does still force you into certain circumstances on occasion. Several areas required you to eliminate all guards or infected in an area, usually so you could safely use an object, such as open a garage door. Infected are sometimes already aware of your presence when you enter a room, and sneaking past agitated infected is quite impossible.

Your companion's AI is quite well done, though it does break realism on several occasions. I had Ellie run around trying to hide and walking right in front of guards or them walking right on top of her with no reaction. Enemies also suffer from patrolling in circles, taking the same path back and forward until you put them out of their misery. Despite the few breaks in realism, the combat AI is aggressive. Enemies take cover, blind fire, try to flank you and assist each other. Your own partner is also very responsive, often stabbing enemies when they're grabbing you, or hurling bricks and bottles to stun  them. Later on, Ellie uses a gun and provides a much greater combat role.

The game is also very forgiving, with frequent check-pointing the game doesn't punish you much for failing, which may feel soft for some, but I was grateful for it on several occasions. Loading times are also quick, aside from the initial load of the game which took up to five minutes one time. It features a Multiplayer mode, but it seemed pretty samey and I did not try it. There is also a New Game + mode so you can go back and try and find all the collectables.

The Last of Us is a real piece of gaming gold and although lacking re-playability (unless you're a collecting freak) the ten to twenty hour journey is quite worth the effort.