Posts Tagged ‘2010s’

March 17th, 2014 Featured, PC, Reviews 1 Comment »

Gigantic Army Review

Gigantic Army Boxart

Developer: Astro Port
Publisher: Nyu Media
Platform: PC – Direct, Desura, GamersGate, Rice Digital, Steam

If mechs are your thing then Gigantic Army is probably already on your radar. The doujin title brings back memories of classic SNES and Genesis games, although it isn’t attempting to recreate any of those titles exactly. What Gigantic Army does best is give more realistic control of a huge robot on a 2D battlefield.

Your machine is massive and it feels the part. Each step is slow and heavy, clunking as you progress forward. This isn’t a bad thing in the least, although you might need to get used to the feel of controlling such a hefty robot. Enemies blast you continuously but most shots feel like nothing against your machine’s powerful armor. In fact, often times you can simply trod up to a weak little enemy and destroy it point blank. It’s pretty cool how powerful the game allows you to be!

Does that mean Gigantic Army is a super easy game? Not at all. Levels get progressively tougher, although if you need a better challenge you can always switch difficulty. If anything, it seems your toughest enemy is the clock. It counts down as soon as you start the stage – impatiently waiting for the player to finish. With that said, you can make the game easier (or harder) on yourself by the right selection of main and sub weapon as well. They aren’t all balanced in power levels meaning ones like the grenades are super powerful while others are far less so.

Gigantic Army Featured

The graphics paint a pretty dismal picture for the state of this war-torn world. Everything is painted in hues of brown and orange, with bullets being the most brightly-colored objects around. Enemy designs aren’t particularly inspired although bosses are still pretty neat and huge. Unlike most action shooters, this one doesn’t have a tremendously inspiring soundtrack either, which is a definite shame.

Still, Gigantic Army is a ton of fun to play. It feels great to be in control of such a powerful mech as it sprays enemies with bullets, boosts up to higher ground, and defends against weakling attacks. The ponderous movement definitely enhances the concept that you are in control the minute you enter a stage. Kicking robot butt is always entertaining and if you love that then Gigantic Army is a game you should play.

Score: 3

3 out of 5 alpacas

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March 14th, 2014 PC, Reviews No Comments »

Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! Part 1 Review

Steve Jackson's Sorcery! Part 1 Logo

Developer: inkle
Publisher: inkle
Platform: Mobile – Android, iOS

As a huge fan of visual novels, it will probably come as quite a shock that I’ve barely ever touched any gamebooks. Gamebooks, as their name implies, are books that grant the player some direct control – or gameplay – at many junctures throughout the story. Many have played something from the Choose Your Own Adventure catalog. However, Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! is a  huge step above that. Initially a part of the Fighting Fantasy series in the 1980s, developer inkle has smartly re imagined it for the mobile market.

Sorcery! Part 1 is just the first leg of an epic journey and it is a blast to play. The storyline is fairly common: You are a young, inexperienced adventurer who must travel to many dangerous locations to obtain the Crown of Kings. Along your way, there are many choices to make that shift the whole tone of the story that’s unfolding for the player. With so much choice, you really feel like the narrative matches your decisions.

For example, I imbued my hero with a very courageous, smart, and caring personality. She would fight for what was deemed right if it were necessary but not get into battles for the heck of it. When offered food from poor townsfolk, she would refuse it as they needed it much more than her. Any time it seemed a dangerous situation was around the corner I would even tense up a bit, trying to rightly perceive which option would be the right one. It’s all thanks to the great writing that made me invested in my character as well as her quest.

Steve Jackson's Sorcery! Part 1 Screenshot

Alongside the many choices of what to say and where to go, there is also a battle system that is quite neat. When you’re in an inescapable battle the screen switches to show both your hero and the enemy as cool black and white art. It then plays out a bit like rock, paper, scissors where you must determine when they’ll strike hard or when they’re bluffing and only going to defend. It’s not random as the descriptions hint to what will come next. Unfortunately, sometimes the touch controls didn’t function properly which made it hard to switch fighting stances without trying multiple times. This touch screen issue also persisted on the map menu at times.

Although Sorcery! Part 1 is just the first of Steve Jackson’s fantasy adventures, it is still a great start that will last players a good deal of hours (especially considering the likely short gameplay sessions on phones). It comes tremendously recommended if you enjoy those sort of classic fantasy adventure tales as well as gamebooks. If you’ve never played a gamebook before then this is also a great way to start thanks to its superb writing and fun gameplay!

Score: 4

4 out of 5 alpacas

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March 12th, 2014 Featured, PC, Reviews 2 Comments »

ef – the latter tale Review

Ef - the latter tale Boxart

Developer: minori
Publisher: MangaGamer
Platform: PC – MangaGamer*

Playing ef – the first tale was an unexpectedly emotional experience for me. The twenty something hour visual novel was interesting and a far more heartfelt story than most games of the genre ever muster up. As such, I was very excited to see what would follow in ef – the latter tale. If you’ve already played and enjoyed the first, then this one must definitely be played. It somehow manages to surpass its already excellent forebearer.

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March 7th, 2014 Featured, PC, Reviews No Comments »

Viscera Cleanup Detail: Santa’s Rampage Review

Viscera Cleanup Detail Santa's Rampage Logo

Developer: RuneStorm
Publisher: RuneStorm
Platform: PC – Steam

Are you the type of gamer who can perform the same sort of menial task over and over again? Does it sound like fun? Although this might seem weird to many, it definitely can be fun and that is proved by playing Viscera Cleanup Detail: Santa’s Rampage. In this game, you’re tasked with cleaning up the mess Santa has left behind after a murderous rampage at the North Pole. All you’re armed with is a mop, bucket, and sensor to detect bloody bits and trash.

If nothing else, this is a pretty unique game. First-time janitors might find it a bit confusing, but there’s not much to it. After starting the job, you can choose to start mopping up the blood or disposing of bodies, bullets, and the like. No matter what you decide on, the beginning is pretty rough. Mopping requires water buckets dispensed from a machine but the water quickly gets overwhelmed with blood. Sometimes, you’ll knock the bucket over and cause a huge new blood spill. Oh, and stepping in blood at all will have you leaving a trail of fresh bloody footprints throughout the cabin.

Picking up bodies and trash aren’t exactly any easier. Although you can grab a biohazard bin from the dispenser, it has a habit of dumping out bloody bits of bodies instead. In any case, carrying that around to pick up small meaty chunks and shell casings is easier than running them one by one to the fireplace. Oh, speaking of the fireplace, that’s where you dump all the trash. After a few seconds of sitting in the fire any object will disappear. Of course, the game tells you none of this and hopes you can figure it out on your own.

Viscera Cleanup Detail: Santa's Rampage Featured

Beyond these mechanics, there’s not much to it. There is no goal beyond the one you setup for yourself, which usually is “clean/destroy everything“. Unfortunately, there are some glitches right now that make it impossible to finish. For example, TNT explosions can cause objects to be lodged behind walls which means you’ll never be able to reach them. This happened in my first complete playthrough and was a bit disheartening!

Viscera Cleanup Detail: Santa’s Rampage is under $3 and a ridiculous time-waster so it’s hard to bash it too much. I recommend playing with a partner to make the mess more manageable, although you might need to run a program like Hamachi to do it. All in all, it was a weird three hours spent cleaning digital messes and I was glad to have done it. My hope is that RuneStorm’s final product, simply titled Viscera Cleanup Detail, will expand on the concepts found in Santa’s Rampage.

Score: 3.5

3 out of 5 alpacas

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February 25th, 2014 Featured, PlayStation Vita, Reviews, Sony Systems 4 Comments »

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Review

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Developer: Spike Chunsoft
Publisher: NIS America
Platform: PlayStation Vita

What the heck is Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc?  Its name doesn’t reveal much, and it’s actually quite misleading. You see, it’s a murder mystery visual novel of sorts with a bunch of various elements from other genres mixed in. Its like the Ace Attorney, Zero Escape, and Persona series had a crazy baby. And this baby is really awesome.

As Danganronpa relies on its story as its primary appeal, I won’t go into it too much lest I spoil anything! I’m sure you’re intrigued about what the basic premise is, though. Basically, incredibly talented “Ultimate” students from various fields are chosen to attend a prestigious school known as Hope’s Peak Academy. Unfortunately for these students, they quickly find out that they’ve actually been trapped in this school and must kill each other if they want to leave. When these killings do happen, you’re forced to take part in class trials in order to figure out who murdered your fellow classmate.

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These class trials are reminiscent of Ace Attorney games, though they’re done quite differently. They are composed of four different parts: Nonstop Debate, Hangman’s Gambit, Bullet Time Battle, and Closing Argument. Nonstop Debate is the main portion of class trials, and it’s where you use “truth bullets” (evidence) that you’ve gathered against contradictions in the arguments being thrown about. There are also times when one remark that is being made during the discussion must be used against the contradiction. The way that the Nonstop Debate mode is laid out is pretty interesting and unique!

Hangman’s Gambit simply involves shooting letters to form a word that is relevant to the trial. Bullet Time Battle is a rhythm minigame that feels extremely unnecessary and is probably my least favorite part of class trials (and I love rhythm games). Lastly, the Closing Argument section is a kind of puzzle where you put the correct image in the blank spots of a comic book in order to retell how the murder went down. It’s kind of annoying how tiny the images are, which makes it difficult to figure out what exactly is going on in it.

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The characters of Danganronpa are definitely what make the game shine. At the very beginning, I honestly couldn’t see myself liking more than one or two of the students. As Dangaronpa progressed, however, I grew to love most, if not all, of them. And to my surprise, the people that I thought I would like the least ended up becoming my favorites! They’re an eccentric, lovable bunch that had me laughing constantly.

Being a game that relies on its “craziness,” Danganronpa is full of twists and shocking moments. The way the murders are carried out can be quite predictable, but you’ll be on edge throughout the whole game that it doesn’t really matter in the end. Like a good book, you’ll want to get through it from start to finish in one sitting and won’t want to put it down.

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It’s hard to keep myself from babbling incoherently about Danganronpa because I enjoyed it so much. I’m in love with the story, characters, music, and mostly everything about it. So I can’t stress enough how much I recommend it for Vita owners. Grab yourself a copy, play it, and savor it. Then you can wait patiently (or impatiently) for the recently announced Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair!

Pink Score: 4.54 1/2 out of 5 alpacas

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February 21st, 2014 Featured, PC, Reviews 1 Comment »

Probably Archery Review

Probably Archery Logo

Developer: South East Games
Publisher: South East Games
Platform: PC – Steam

Video games are often hard for people who haven’t grown up with a controller in hand. Those of us who have been gaming for many years often overlook this reality. It’s only when games like QWOP or Surgeon Simulator 2013 come out that both gaming and non-gaming types can be on equal, wobbly ground. Probably Archery is another one of these extremely difficult to control games. Only this time, you’re an archer.

Probably Archery gives players control of the left and right arms of their avatar. Arms are moved pretty freely from shoulders, elbows, and even rotate wrists. Switching between shoulder or elbow control is handled via button presses, as is moving to left hand. The left hand holds a bow which means you often have to get that in the right (or rather, least horrible) position before shooting arrows.

It actually isn’t too difficult to get a feel for the control scheme if you play enough, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be hitting bulls-eye all the time. For me, it was quite hard to gauge exactly how the arrow would behave when launched. Sometimes the arc seemed too high or too low, but perhaps the realization of how it works will come to me in time.

Probably Archery Featured

The best feature of Probably Archery is that the developers crammed in multiple game modes to accompany their silly controls. You can shoot static targets or moving ones, a noose, or a swarm of strange men. Perhaps my favorite mode is where you shoot an apple off the head of a muscular man whose own head is a much larger apple. If you think that’s funny then you’ll likely love the rest of the humor inherent while playing.

With all that said, it does feel like even the variety of modes can’t cover up the fact that it’s a simple archery game with wonky controls. Multiple modes deal with the pinpoint accuracy or swarm style and there’s not much else variety to it. Still, Probably Archery is entertaining. If you end up with a copy then head into online multiplayer so I can finally play with other awful archers!

Score: 3

3 out of 5 alpacas

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February 19th, 2014 Featured, PC, Reviews 3 Comments »

Octodad: Dadliest Catch Review

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Developer: Young Horses
Publisher: Young Horses
Platform: PC – Steam

Octodad has been doing a fine job so far assimilating himself into a life with a normal human family. Nobody suspects a thing! Unfortunately, things don’t stay perfect for long. In Octodad: Dadliest Catch, you’re in charge of keeping up the charade.

It’s anything but a simple task, though, considering Octodad’s eight slippery appendages. The main grab of Octodad: Dadliest Catch is its controls. When you want to walk around, you move each “leg” one at a time. Grabbing things and whatnot is done by maneuvering your right arm and executing those sticky suction cups. It’s as hard to describe the whole process as it is to actually perform at first, but it becomes manageable quickly enough (hint: use a controller if at all possible!). With the crazy physics and controls, there is some frustration with getting to certain points and platforms, but that’s what makes Octodad: Dadliest Catch so fun.

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The other half of Octodad: Dadliest Catch‘s appeal lies in its story, writing, and characters. As mentioned previously, as Octodad, you must get through events in his life while maintaining his persona as a normal human. This means going to the grocery store and taking your family to the aquarium (the latter of which Octodad thinks is a crime against sea-manity). All of it is just as wacky as controlling Octodad.

Your initial playthrough in Octodad: Dadliest Catch will probably only last you about two or three hours. Thankfully, there’s always co-op mode, which allows two players to control Octodad, and a plentiful amount of mod levels on Steam Workshop to keep you busy!

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I had a lot of fun during my time with Octodad: Dadliest Catch. Despite my frustrations with getting Octodad to get where I wanted him to go, the humor and fresh concept kept me going and kept me entertained.

Pink Score: 3.53 1/2 out of 5 alpacas

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February 14th, 2014 Featured, PC, Reviews No Comments »

Oniken Review

Oniken Boxart

Developer: JoyMasher
Publisher: JoyMasher
Platform: PC – Desura, Steam

I hate to admit it but I was not raised on the era of tough as nails NES games. Nope, instead I became friendly with an Apple IIe, Atari 7800, and off-brand Pong console. These devices offered their own difficult games but it was quite a different experience when you typically only had one button and a joystick. Missing out on the greats like Contra, Ninja Gaiden, and innumerable others has caused me to wonder what it was like to grow up with them, though. So, from my perspective, it does feel like Oniken is bringing a classic experience to players.

It starts things off on the right food with a wonderfully cliche storyline. The Oniken – bad guys – are attempting to seize control of humanity. A ragtag trio of resistance fighters aren’t having any of it! They jump into action to stop Oniken by any means necessary. Lead character Zaku is armed only with a sword and grenades but will work his way through countless enemies through the game’s six stages.

Oniken Screenshot

As you might expect from a title hearkening back to the NES era, Oniken is a 2D side-scrolling action game. You slash up foes, jump over dangerous areas, and generally kick a lot of butt in order to beat bosses and complete stages. Each area might seem fairly tough the first time but repeated plays make them seem increasingly manageable. For me, that meant maybe ten or so rounds on the second stage, but I’m not as skilled as players actually honed on NES games are. After watching a few people play it, I found that perhaps the game wasn’t even that hard at all – my skills simply weren’t up to the task.

Both the visuals and music seem to accurately recreate the era as well. I can’t say for certain if the color pallete and amount of pixels are right on, but they seem good enough to me! It’s exciting to see that even at this point in time there is still something uniquely engaging about a game that operates with such a bare minimum of keys. Oniken is a ton of fun even for people like me who don’t feel indebted to the systems of their past. Basically, if you’re in the mood for a retro-styled romp then Oniken is a fine choice.

Score: 3.5

3 1/2 out of 5 alpacas

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February 12th, 2014 Featured, PC, Reviews No Comments »

Serena Review

Serena Logo

Developer: Senscape
Publisher: Senscape
Platform: PC – Steam

Are you hungry for video games but short on cash? Out of nowhere, a game by the name of Serena popped up on Steam for the price of only… zero dollars! This was fairly surprising given that it’s an adventure game and not a free-to-play MMO. After finding out it was an adventure game and apparently had references to classic titles, I had to give it a shot.

Serena plops you into a dusty old cabin as a possible amnesiac who reminisces over his homely possessions. He knows the woman he loves is named Serena but she’s not there. Where did she go and why can’t he remember a thing about her? As you play, story tidbits are slowly revealed, giving you a better sense of what’s going on.

The game takes place in a 3D space but is entirely driven by pointing and clicking. By examining objects you can hear the protagonist ramble, sometimes remembering things, other times simply musing. He has a lot to say about each item so it’s definitely worth listening to all of the lines. Some have complaints about his voice acting, but I found it fitting.

Serena Featured

The cabin, despite being small, is rich with mementos and histories worth investigating. Visually, it looks great too. The windows, dirtied with grime let in the light in a truly creepy fashion. Seeing everything in a dark brown and grey helps set the mood as well. Audio outside of voice acting is also nice, if usually transparent. It’s obvious a lot of love went into this project.

After clicking on specific objects, you trigger a new “stage” to begin. No, you never leave the cabin but after events are triggered it leads to entirely new things being said about the items in the cabin. It might seem weird to some but proves to be a very effective way to tell a story. Serena takes most from half an hour to an hour and a half to complete, but still made me feel quite bad after completing it. I just wish the ending hadn’t been as abrupt.

That said, I can’t believe the game is free. Other short titles definitely exist on the service and have a fee. Since Serena is free it is incredibly easy to recommend. It’s a relatively brief experience, moody, and even those who don’t like it shouldn’t feel “ripped off” by experiencing it. My time with the game was not wasted in the least and I hope others are willing to give it a try too.

Score: 4

4 out of 5 alpacas

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February 10th, 2014 Featured, PC, Reviews No Comments »

Strike Vector Review

Strike Vector Boxart

Developer: Ragequit Corporation
Publisher: Ragequit Corporation
Platform: PC – Steam

One of my earliest memories of console gaming was being exposed to Star Fox on the SNES. At the time I was simply astounded. To my youthful brain, this was a game that had CGI on par with films! It just couldn’t get any better than this – could it? Of course, over the years graphics have become much better but there hasn’t been a ton of growth in regards to futuristic aerial dogfighting. Strike Vector is one game that promises an old school feel where fast reflexes are integral. But is it just the game I was looking for?

That question is a bit silly, but only because nothing could stand up to that moment of childhood awe. All the same, Strike Vector has already developed a devoted following of skilled pilots. What have they found so enthralling? It’s likely the high level of skill required to do well in matches. Simply flying requires being able to judge distances while flying through small pathways. Fighting requires much more of the player, such as learning how to make tight turns and dodge enemy fire.

How do you learn the various tricks of Strike Vector? I must advise against jumping straight into multiplayer because you’ll likely die spectacularly (and regularly) without ever getting comfortable. Instead, head into an empty single player map. All maps are available in this mode and have no enemies, human or AI, meaning you’re free to test the capabilities of your craft and its weapons (this also means there’s no single player campaign). It might also help to learn where various item pickups are on the stage as they’ll have the same positioning online. Finally, check out the third person and cockpit viewpoints to see which works best for you.

Strike Vector Featured

Testing out the various weapon loadouts is helpful to make sure you’re comfortable with the configuration. Some people love homing missiles but others prefer to shotgun their way through enemies. Whatever the case, once you figure it out, you can spend more time on how to most effectively use those weapons instead of continually cycling through them, becoming a master of none.

Online play is hard at first because flying alone in a single player map is much different from entering an almost full match with players everywhere. It also is no help to beginners that the stages, as gorgeous as they are, happen to be fairly compact and full of small areas to fly through. There are a handful of online modes and team deathmatch is both my favorite and least favorite. That’s because when you die by crashing into a wall (so, not being harmed by an enemy) it still counts as a loss – and it’s a loss to your entire team. It’s stressful to feel like you’re the one directly contributing to a team’s failure!

If Strike Vector sounds like a ton of fun then you’re the audience they desire. Players must be willing to lose a lot and practice to become truly skilled. For more casual players this isn’t the game to pick up. It’s fast, unforgiving, and even a bit stressful when entering online matches. After deciding which type of gamer you are then you’ll know whether Strike Vector is for you.

Score: 3

3 out of 5 alpacas

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