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.

Plenty of Time To Explain

Newgrounds is the birthplace of many an internet oddity, one such oddity made it's way to Kickstarter, raised over $25,000 and made a full fledged game of itself. That game was: No Time To Explain.

The game starts with your future self telling you that there is no time to explain before being promptly snatched away by a giant UFO crab or something, I don't know. It takes a page out of the insane book and slaps it on the classic jumping puzzle. Using the future blasting device that is both laser gun and rocket boosting device, you use it to navigate an increasingly difficult array of pits, spikes and the usual array of slightly-hazardous-to-you-health obstacles.

The great thing about this game is the pace, snappy music and instant respawning from the last place you touched safe ground keeps the game running smoothly, at least till you get to a boss. There are several boss levels, each one increasingly more difficult. They start out easy enough, even though most will one-hit-kill you, you instantly respawn and don't have to start the level again, so there is no challenge on those ones; then there are the bosses that use certain attacks that set you on fire. Fire is a different danger all together. If you are set on fire and don't jump in water quickly, you burn to death and must restart the room completely. With several later bosses using this power, and the glitchy and uninspired fights that take place, the game goes from face-paced platformer to annoying and frustrating grind.

Aside from the annoying boss fights, the rest of the game is fantastic. The randomness is thrilling and the variety of challenges keeps it fresh. One second, you're a failed clone sticking to walls and sling-shotting wall to wall and the next you're flying through the air on a jetpack blasting at dinosaurs.

It's short, so you won't go nuts playing this game, but I found the overall comic nature to slightly outweigh the letdowns of glitches and the boss fights. Oh, and on of my favorite quote of all times.

"My ribs are in my eyes! THEY'RE IN MY EYES!"

Randomitis: Torchlight is Free for a day!

Drop your things and put on your pants! If you rush over to GoG you can pick up a copy of Torchlight for free for the next 24 hours! Featuring solid dungeon crawling, mighty monsters and pretty sparkles; Torchlight is definately one of the keepers.

Pick it up at GoG today.

The Dayz Cometh

Open world zombie survival. It all kicked off with the Arma 2 mod, DayZ. It set a very different stage for gaming, and also brought up a great many issues when it came to discerning what kind of gamer you are. With the much anticipated DayZ Standalone almost out of Private Alpha and said to be entering a Public Alpha soon, New Bohemia and mod creator, Dean Hall, released some info on what to look forward to.

Although the visuals in the DayZ mod were good when cranked way up, they have been much improved for the standalone. They have introduced many new assets and buildings, and 90% of buildings are now enterable according to New Bohemia. New items, including combinable items such as purifying pills to clean dirty drinking water and the gunplay has been significantly improved. While the game is still running on the Arma 2 engine, it is much improved for DayZ.

There is also some chatter about Sony picking up DayZ for the PS4, assuming the PC launch doesn't collapse. Despite that, there is no announced release date for DayZ, but we've been told it should only cost about $20-$25USD. I'm looking forward to it, DayZ was a great experience, despite the 'human' nature of some players, but the fact that zombies are a real threat, as is cold, heat and illness, it makes the world just that more hostile for everyone.