Friday, December 23, 2011
NewNews - Merry Christmas 2011
I'll be busy for a while so I won't be able to do any posts for the following 2 weeks or so. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
GameLight Review - Gundemonium Collection
Official Site: http://gundemonium.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/sub/11712/
Source: Youtube Channel rockinandroid
Developer: Platine Dispositif
Publisher: Rockin' Android
Platforms: PC (Steam), PS3 (PSN)
Release Date: November 22, 2011
Genre: Shoot-em-Up (Bullet Hell)
Pros:
-All the original graphics, music, and voice acting is kept intact
-3 games for $10 ($5 during sales, like right now)
-Fast-paced, challenging, adrenaline pumping shooter action
-Gundeadligne (Gundemonium 2) is online capable for 2-player co-op action
Cons:
-Geared towards danmaku (Bullet Hell) players, noobs beware
-Story is confusing and ambiguous
-Each game is very short, about 30 mins if you successfully run through it without dying
-Hard to discern where the player's hitbox exactly is at when a flood of bullet is headed their way
It's been a while since I've played a shooter, and getting the Gundemonium Collection was a good choice in playing one again. Gundemonium 1 and 2 are horizontal shooters with very unique bullet patterns that the player has to weave through as well as utilizing several special abilities that make it unique (mana, bomb, switch directions). Hitogata Happa is a very unique vertical shooter in which activating a bomb requires the player to ram right into the enemy. All three games are very challenging and have their unique aspects which make replaying them fun. There's a lot of abilities to choose from, 4 difficulty levels with the easiest one still being quite the nail biter, and Gundemonium 2 allows you to play with a friend online. What I especially like in shooters are boss battles, and the boss battles in each of the three games have multiple forms and abilities which keep you on your toes. If you're a hardened bullet hell player, than I highly recommend getting the collection. If you happen to have played little to no bullet hell type shooters but still have interest in the game, then play it with patience and learn the bullet patterns as you will find satisfaction in overcoming the challenges you'll face in the game.
Aesthetics
The Gundemonium series is drawn in a cutesy animé style. All the sprites in the game are hand-drawn I believe and everything done in the original game was by one guy (Aeju Murasame I believe). There has been some concerns about the nudity of some of the enemy characters, but honestly you can really see them if you're shooting them (all the flashes of the white light from the bullets cover everything up). The interface in-game is very arcade-like with hearts on top to indicate lives and revolver chambers on the bottom to indicate the remaining bombs (for gundemonium). In the first two Gundemonium games (horizontal shooter), everything looks really big and up close, so there "seemingly" doesn't seem as much space to move around in. Hitogata Happa is played vertically and everything is drawn back (smaller) so a lot more enemies, bullets, and objects are moving about in the screen. One of the things I don't like is how it's difficult to distinguish where the pixel hit box on the player's character is at when trying to avoid a whole slew of bullets. The horizontal perspective is a bit odd and the sizes of the objects in the game makes it difficult to discern which ones can hurt the player. It takes a bit of getting used to, but making the hitbox a bit more obvious would help in the harder difficulty levels. The sound effects are effective and strong. Lots of destruction and power behind it which is a lot more important than most people think. The sound effects for bullet impact and destruction indicates contact and let's the player know that they're hitting their mark. There's a choice between playing with the original music and remixed versions. The remixed versions are actually really good and make it sound more modern. Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons
First and foremost, you can't play any of the games unless you have a USB controller of some sort. Or at least that's how it was like for me, I had to Alt+Ctrl+Del many times trying to move in the menu screen or even just to exit out. Luckily, I have a USB Arcade stick I use for my fighting games on PS3 and is compatible with the 3 gundemonium games. So after finding out I needed a USB controller to play the games, I started each of the 3 games up and tried them out (and eventually beat all of them). It's a bit confusing at first having to alternate between shooting, mana usage, bombs, switching directions, and rapid fire (all depending which game you play), but I eventually got used to it. The characters really affects how the game works as some are faster, some have no range, some require charging, etc. It might seem unfair at times when the character is too slow to dodge fast bullets or when they're to fast to weave through multiple bullets, but they can be adapted to and no longer become problems (for the most part). The controls are very responsive and you don't have to constantly mash the buttons for firing (except for Hitogata Happa). It's a bit more difficult to switch between regular movement and slow movement in Hitogata Happa as slowing down means an alternate attack by holding down the fire key. For the most part, the controls are tight and responsive, but Hitogata Happa has control schemes that make it a bit more difficulty to maneuver around. Buttons: 8/10
Concept and Content
Most of the changes are mainly translations for words, a remixed track, and possibly the inclusion of online play (I'm not sure if it was there before). Although it doesn't seem very much to add to the game, having it localized and compatible with steam, leaderboards, online play and being able to read everything really offers a lot to the player who wants to be able to fully appreciate the game to its fullest. The first game is played horizontally like Gradius but all the graphics are human, monsters, objects of sorts that's not "sci-fi". The first game has a total of 5 stages with mini-bosses and bosses. It's just like any other shooter where you keep going right and fight off all the enemies and beat the boss at the end. The unique twists are the bullet patterns, the abilities the characters use, and bomb-saving (using a bomb to counter-act losing a life). The 2nd game is similar except that the player can now change directions to face left to shoot enemies from behind. Hitogata Happa probably is the most unique. It's played vertically and uses "dolls" as the fighters. The keys are very simple: fire, hold to alternate fire and slow down, and switch which doll goes next after death. The goal is the same: get to the boss and defeat them to move to the next level. The hard part is that you can't die after time runs out at a boss battle or it's an automatic game over. And what the bosses are most susceptible to are the bombs. The bomb is actually the doll itself, and you have to successfully ram into an enemy in order for it to activate. If you get shot, it doesn't count and the explosion won't go off. Because you lose your doll, you'll get to make a lot with 12 max of each doll with 8 in total and 4 that can be unlocked (probably by finishing each difficulty level. The easiest one gave me a really hard time). So each of those 8-12 dolls can perform their own attacks and specials. This is why Hitogata Happa is so unique, but it's also frustrating. It might sound easy to ram your tiny character into a large boss, but remember that it's a bullet hell and you have to weave through several hundred pellets trying to kill you to get to the boss. And having 12 dolls of each one sounds like a lot to keep you alive, but the main problem is running out of time on the boss battles. There's also special mission modes for each of the games where the player can fulfill a task by playing a certain way. Like in Hitogata Happa, you can play solo mode where you only use one kind of doll to try to finish the entire game. I really like the level designs (the bullet patterns) of Gundemonium 1 and 2 and I like the bomb concept in Hitogata Happa as it changes the way the player approaches the situations of boss battles (you generally stay on the very bottom, but ramming means having to go up close). The story of each one is ambiguous and not entirely important, but a PDF with more information for each game is available on the official website if players are interested in the lore. So for a shooter made by one guy and localized by a team with remixed tracks and such, it's a pretty interesting one that's different, challenging, and enjoyable. Concept & Content: 9/10
Duration
I kind of wish Gundemonium 1 and 2 had a few extra levels and made it longer, but 5 level is a decent amount. Hitogata Happa has 6 levels and that was more than enough for me (I hated boring/difficult some of the boss battles were and had to restart countless times for running out of time). I can feel the progression of each level as it becomes harder to dodge bullets and the screen is filled with more enemies in the higher levels. I liked the pacing of the first two games more than Hitogata Happa, even though it's more unique of a shooter. I think what I really like about the games is the replay value. There's 4 levels of difficulty, a lot of characters to choose from, various modes and missions, and an online play for the 2nd game so a friend can suffer the torment of absolute chaos with you. I'll be replaying each one to try to finish the harder difficulty levels, try out the new characters and modes, and to play online. Duration: 9/10
Fun
My first impression was that it was hard, but only because I started at the hardest difficulty level to see how crazy the game can become. I liked how it was fast-paced, had a lot of action and required a lot of focus out of me. I like the challenge in shooters, and so Gundemonium is my type of game. I got through Gundemonium 1 and 2 fairly quickly (about 30 mins each), yet it still proved to be quite difficult during the boss battles. Hitogata Happy drove me nuts the first time I played it because I had no idea how to beat the first boss until I read on the PDF on the official website that you're supposed to ram right into it when the "flow" meter is full. The rest of the game was alright and it was fun experimenting with all the different dolls, but the last 2 levels proved to be very annoying with a lot of bosses that were difficult to beat because they required so many bombs to defeat and shooting them took too long and made me run out of time. I complained a lot about Hitogata Happa throughout this review and it's because I half loved it (the innovation, forcing the player to go to the top of the screen and also utilizing the different abilities of each doll) and half hated it (I can't get near anything without some pellet knocking my doll out and forcing me to fill up my flow gauge again). What I think I felt was a genuine kind of entertainment I once had with shooters from the retro days. The game was hard, but it was always possible. That excitement I feel of dodge and weaving through thousands of bullets each level was good and reminded me of the simple game play that made videogames fun. I didn't need a deep storyline or incredible 3D graphics to enhance the amount of fun I had. The game is pure and innovative, but it's also reaching out to a niche group of gamers so not everyone will have fun with the 3 games. Yes, it was frustrating but it felt good to complete each of those games. After I completed them, I wanted more of it. What's good is that it still had more to offer. Fun: 9/10
Overall
I bought the collection for $5 and enjoyed each one, even though there were times where I was groaning and complaining about losing at pivotal moments. Traditional shooters are rare nowadays, at least in the western market. I really hope that shooters are still made and brought over, and Gundemonium Collection was a good purchase that reminded me that these types of games are still really fun to play and shouldn't be abandoned by game developers. The art style is silly, cute and wild; the music is really exciting, the controls are great and offers all sorts of different play styles, and the concepts are different and possibly fresh for some gamers. Getting the game at $5 or even at its regular price of $10 would be a good investment if you're the type to enjoy hardcore/difficult games, shoot-em-ups, or want to try something new. I hope Rockin' Android translates and localize more games in the future. Overall: 8.6/10
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/sub/11712/
Source: Youtube Channel rockinandroid
Developer: Platine Dispositif
Publisher: Rockin' Android
Platforms: PC (Steam), PS3 (PSN)
Release Date: November 22, 2011
Genre: Shoot-em-Up (Bullet Hell)
Pros:
-All the original graphics, music, and voice acting is kept intact
-3 games for $10 ($5 during sales, like right now)
-Fast-paced, challenging, adrenaline pumping shooter action
-Gundeadligne (Gundemonium 2) is online capable for 2-player co-op action
Cons:
-Geared towards danmaku (Bullet Hell) players, noobs beware
-Story is confusing and ambiguous
-Each game is very short, about 30 mins if you successfully run through it without dying
-Hard to discern where the player's hitbox exactly is at when a flood of bullet is headed their way
It's been a while since I've played a shooter, and getting the Gundemonium Collection was a good choice in playing one again. Gundemonium 1 and 2 are horizontal shooters with very unique bullet patterns that the player has to weave through as well as utilizing several special abilities that make it unique (mana, bomb, switch directions). Hitogata Happa is a very unique vertical shooter in which activating a bomb requires the player to ram right into the enemy. All three games are very challenging and have their unique aspects which make replaying them fun. There's a lot of abilities to choose from, 4 difficulty levels with the easiest one still being quite the nail biter, and Gundemonium 2 allows you to play with a friend online. What I especially like in shooters are boss battles, and the boss battles in each of the three games have multiple forms and abilities which keep you on your toes. If you're a hardened bullet hell player, than I highly recommend getting the collection. If you happen to have played little to no bullet hell type shooters but still have interest in the game, then play it with patience and learn the bullet patterns as you will find satisfaction in overcoming the challenges you'll face in the game.
Aesthetics
The Gundemonium series is drawn in a cutesy animé style. All the sprites in the game are hand-drawn I believe and everything done in the original game was by one guy (Aeju Murasame I believe). There has been some concerns about the nudity of some of the enemy characters, but honestly you can really see them if you're shooting them (all the flashes of the white light from the bullets cover everything up). The interface in-game is very arcade-like with hearts on top to indicate lives and revolver chambers on the bottom to indicate the remaining bombs (for gundemonium). In the first two Gundemonium games (horizontal shooter), everything looks really big and up close, so there "seemingly" doesn't seem as much space to move around in. Hitogata Happa is played vertically and everything is drawn back (smaller) so a lot more enemies, bullets, and objects are moving about in the screen. One of the things I don't like is how it's difficult to distinguish where the pixel hit box on the player's character is at when trying to avoid a whole slew of bullets. The horizontal perspective is a bit odd and the sizes of the objects in the game makes it difficult to discern which ones can hurt the player. It takes a bit of getting used to, but making the hitbox a bit more obvious would help in the harder difficulty levels. The sound effects are effective and strong. Lots of destruction and power behind it which is a lot more important than most people think. The sound effects for bullet impact and destruction indicates contact and let's the player know that they're hitting their mark. There's a choice between playing with the original music and remixed versions. The remixed versions are actually really good and make it sound more modern. Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons
First and foremost, you can't play any of the games unless you have a USB controller of some sort. Or at least that's how it was like for me, I had to Alt+Ctrl+Del many times trying to move in the menu screen or even just to exit out. Luckily, I have a USB Arcade stick I use for my fighting games on PS3 and is compatible with the 3 gundemonium games. So after finding out I needed a USB controller to play the games, I started each of the 3 games up and tried them out (and eventually beat all of them). It's a bit confusing at first having to alternate between shooting, mana usage, bombs, switching directions, and rapid fire (all depending which game you play), but I eventually got used to it. The characters really affects how the game works as some are faster, some have no range, some require charging, etc. It might seem unfair at times when the character is too slow to dodge fast bullets or when they're to fast to weave through multiple bullets, but they can be adapted to and no longer become problems (for the most part). The controls are very responsive and you don't have to constantly mash the buttons for firing (except for Hitogata Happa). It's a bit more difficult to switch between regular movement and slow movement in Hitogata Happa as slowing down means an alternate attack by holding down the fire key. For the most part, the controls are tight and responsive, but Hitogata Happa has control schemes that make it a bit more difficulty to maneuver around. Buttons: 8/10
Concept and Content
Most of the changes are mainly translations for words, a remixed track, and possibly the inclusion of online play (I'm not sure if it was there before). Although it doesn't seem very much to add to the game, having it localized and compatible with steam, leaderboards, online play and being able to read everything really offers a lot to the player who wants to be able to fully appreciate the game to its fullest. The first game is played horizontally like Gradius but all the graphics are human, monsters, objects of sorts that's not "sci-fi". The first game has a total of 5 stages with mini-bosses and bosses. It's just like any other shooter where you keep going right and fight off all the enemies and beat the boss at the end. The unique twists are the bullet patterns, the abilities the characters use, and bomb-saving (using a bomb to counter-act losing a life). The 2nd game is similar except that the player can now change directions to face left to shoot enemies from behind. Hitogata Happa probably is the most unique. It's played vertically and uses "dolls" as the fighters. The keys are very simple: fire, hold to alternate fire and slow down, and switch which doll goes next after death. The goal is the same: get to the boss and defeat them to move to the next level. The hard part is that you can't die after time runs out at a boss battle or it's an automatic game over. And what the bosses are most susceptible to are the bombs. The bomb is actually the doll itself, and you have to successfully ram into an enemy in order for it to activate. If you get shot, it doesn't count and the explosion won't go off. Because you lose your doll, you'll get to make a lot with 12 max of each doll with 8 in total and 4 that can be unlocked (probably by finishing each difficulty level. The easiest one gave me a really hard time). So each of those 8-12 dolls can perform their own attacks and specials. This is why Hitogata Happa is so unique, but it's also frustrating. It might sound easy to ram your tiny character into a large boss, but remember that it's a bullet hell and you have to weave through several hundred pellets trying to kill you to get to the boss. And having 12 dolls of each one sounds like a lot to keep you alive, but the main problem is running out of time on the boss battles. There's also special mission modes for each of the games where the player can fulfill a task by playing a certain way. Like in Hitogata Happa, you can play solo mode where you only use one kind of doll to try to finish the entire game. I really like the level designs (the bullet patterns) of Gundemonium 1 and 2 and I like the bomb concept in Hitogata Happa as it changes the way the player approaches the situations of boss battles (you generally stay on the very bottom, but ramming means having to go up close). The story of each one is ambiguous and not entirely important, but a PDF with more information for each game is available on the official website if players are interested in the lore. So for a shooter made by one guy and localized by a team with remixed tracks and such, it's a pretty interesting one that's different, challenging, and enjoyable. Concept & Content: 9/10
Duration
I kind of wish Gundemonium 1 and 2 had a few extra levels and made it longer, but 5 level is a decent amount. Hitogata Happa has 6 levels and that was more than enough for me (I hated boring/difficult some of the boss battles were and had to restart countless times for running out of time). I can feel the progression of each level as it becomes harder to dodge bullets and the screen is filled with more enemies in the higher levels. I liked the pacing of the first two games more than Hitogata Happa, even though it's more unique of a shooter. I think what I really like about the games is the replay value. There's 4 levels of difficulty, a lot of characters to choose from, various modes and missions, and an online play for the 2nd game so a friend can suffer the torment of absolute chaos with you. I'll be replaying each one to try to finish the harder difficulty levels, try out the new characters and modes, and to play online. Duration: 9/10
Fun
My first impression was that it was hard, but only because I started at the hardest difficulty level to see how crazy the game can become. I liked how it was fast-paced, had a lot of action and required a lot of focus out of me. I like the challenge in shooters, and so Gundemonium is my type of game. I got through Gundemonium 1 and 2 fairly quickly (about 30 mins each), yet it still proved to be quite difficult during the boss battles. Hitogata Happy drove me nuts the first time I played it because I had no idea how to beat the first boss until I read on the PDF on the official website that you're supposed to ram right into it when the "flow" meter is full. The rest of the game was alright and it was fun experimenting with all the different dolls, but the last 2 levels proved to be very annoying with a lot of bosses that were difficult to beat because they required so many bombs to defeat and shooting them took too long and made me run out of time. I complained a lot about Hitogata Happa throughout this review and it's because I half loved it (the innovation, forcing the player to go to the top of the screen and also utilizing the different abilities of each doll) and half hated it (I can't get near anything without some pellet knocking my doll out and forcing me to fill up my flow gauge again). What I think I felt was a genuine kind of entertainment I once had with shooters from the retro days. The game was hard, but it was always possible. That excitement I feel of dodge and weaving through thousands of bullets each level was good and reminded me of the simple game play that made videogames fun. I didn't need a deep storyline or incredible 3D graphics to enhance the amount of fun I had. The game is pure and innovative, but it's also reaching out to a niche group of gamers so not everyone will have fun with the 3 games. Yes, it was frustrating but it felt good to complete each of those games. After I completed them, I wanted more of it. What's good is that it still had more to offer. Fun: 9/10
Overall
I bought the collection for $5 and enjoyed each one, even though there were times where I was groaning and complaining about losing at pivotal moments. Traditional shooters are rare nowadays, at least in the western market. I really hope that shooters are still made and brought over, and Gundemonium Collection was a good purchase that reminded me that these types of games are still really fun to play and shouldn't be abandoned by game developers. The art style is silly, cute and wild; the music is really exciting, the controls are great and offers all sorts of different play styles, and the concepts are different and possibly fresh for some gamers. Getting the game at $5 or even at its regular price of $10 would be a good investment if you're the type to enjoy hardcore/difficult games, shoot-em-ups, or want to try something new. I hope Rockin' Android translates and localize more games in the future. Overall: 8.6/10
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
GameLight Review - Cave Story+
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/200900/
Source: Youtube Channel marcosoutsider
Developer: Nicalis, Studio Pixel
Publisher: Nicalis
Platforms: PC
Release Date: November 22, 2011
Genre: Action-Adventure Platformer
Pros:
-They didn't simply just change the graphics and audio, the original graphics and audio can be still used
-The game is still really fun even though I've played it before
-Additional content such as new modes, levels, weapons, and boss fights
-More content on its way in the future (better not be DLC we have to pay for)
Cons:
-The "improved HD" graphics and "Remastered" music seems to take away from the original game
-...I've got nothin' else
NOTE: Please disregard what I say about "Remastered" music as it seems to be newly added just about 1-2 days ago. There's 3 versions now: Original, New, and Remastered. When I say "Remastered" music in the review, I meant to say the "New" version. The "Remastered" version is actually kind of interesting.
I finished playing Cave Story 3 years ago and first heard about it in a Nintendo Magazine that it was going to be "recreated" on the Wii and that the original was distributed as a freeware and that fans have translated to English. After experiencing the masterpiece that was "Cave Story", I have come to know the name Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya and have a lot of respect for his work. It took him 5 years of his free time to create Cave Story and in the past 3 years it has been ported and recreated on Wii, DSi Ware, 3DS, and supposedly the PSP. With Cave Story+ released on PC for $10, it makes you wonder whether it's worth it to make the purchase when the original is still free. I got it with the Humble Indie Bundle 4 and so I didn't think too much about the price. Although the "new" graphics and audio might sound like the highlight of the remake, it's not. The "new" graphics take away the charm of the retro look while the "remastered" music seems to deviate from the atmosphere that the original chiptune captured so well. The good thing is that you can choose to play with the original graphics and/or audio and mix and match them. The real treat is that there's new modes, new levels, 4 additional weapons from the original 6 (10 in total), and new content that will be updated to the game in the future. So is it worth getting? It's Cave Story! Of course you should get it, especially if you haven't played it yet. And if you really can't hock that $10 out, go get the original and play it because it's really that good!
Aesthetics
The most notable difference in Cave Story+ to all fans is the new graphics and remaster music. The graphics and audio can be interchanged between the new and the original at anytime in the game from the main menu. I would recommend playing with the original content first and then play it a 2nd time with the new graphics if one has not played Cave Story yet. The new graphics are alright for the most part, but I have a problem with Quote's (the main character) face. It's dopey looking with the nose, mouth and hair. It's a very small factor in the change in graphics, but it's also the one thing you'll see most often and it bugs me. Everything else is alright. The music bothers me a lot though. What was so incredible about the experience in playing the original was how well the music complimented the gameplay and the mood. The music would be solemn in the dark areas, upbeat when it's exciting, and easy-going when you're in a safe area. But the "remastered" version of the music were all "remixed" to sound different and suddenly the solemn areas were jumpy, easy-going areas were upbeat, but at least the upbeat is still upbeat. The original compositions were intentionally played in a chiptune style to have that nostalgic feeling of retro games, but it also matched the situations really well. The new music seems to play in the level just for the heck of background music. There's no meaning to it because of it. This is what I was afraid of when I heard about "recreations" of Cave Story (granted, I played the original game for the first time after hearing about a remake for the Wii). But it's okay, because all the original graphics and audio is still an option so it doesn't force the new art style and music if the player doesn't want them. Playing the game again with the original art and music still reminds me of what an incredible game Cave Story was and still is. Aesthetics: 10/10
Buttons
Anyone growing up playing Action-Platformers and Adventure games such as Metroid or Megaman can agree how tight and well designed the controls for Cave Story are. The controls are simple with mainly the "jump" and "attack" key being the most used (other than the movement keys) along with 4 other keys to switch weapons, look at the map, and open up the inventory menu. The key bindings can be changed to any way the player desires and is also compatible with any USB controllers that's plugged in. With the player in complete control of the character, there is little room for Shenanigans to happen such as delayed jumps or "realistic" stopping of movements. The weapon switching is pretty much like Megaman games where the shoulder buttons can be used to switch weapons (A and S by default on keyboard) or bringing up the inventory menu to switch between them. This way, the player can switch to weapons appropriate for the situation on the fly. The core game revolves around great level designs which makes the most out of the two keys "jump and shoot" (sounds like Megaman and Metroid, right?). No fumbling around the keys, no long tutorials to figure out how everything works, just plain easy to understand controls with immediate response time. Nothing changed with the controls from the original and this new version (thankfully). Buttons: 10/10
Concept & Content
The story for Cave Story was always a bit ambiguous, but it never goes into a long dialogue of what the place you're in is (gonna try not to spoil anything good) or who you are or reason with the player of what mimigas are. The story is told little by little and the setting is easily created just by the level designs and their colorful backgrounds. The levels are designed to challenge the player in combat, puzzle solving, and platforming with traps, enemies, items, platforms, etc. Not a single level felt rushed or lacked creative thought. Every level had some purpose or challenge for the player to overcome to progress the game. There are new challenge modes, boss rush and others added to the game, so the player can get more out of Cave Story than the original with this remake. Everything about Cave Story had careful thought into creating it. The graphics were retro looking so it captured a nostalgic experience and also made creating art assets a bit more bearable for Amaya (he himself said he wasn't that great with art, kind of reminds me of ZUN). To go along with the art style, the music was purposely done in a 8-bit style and was composed to have catchy melodies to have a memorable connection to events and parts of the game. The concept of the run and gun mechanic was kept simple so as the levels became more creative, so did the player. I do have to admit that some parts can be confusing with little to no help at all and some parts can be difficult (at first, you learn from mistakes just like in old retro games). There are also some secrets in the game that can't be found unless you look it up online, already know about it, or playthrough the game multiple times and happen to find it. The game has 4 endings, and so it encourages players to play the game more than once. The core concept didn't change, and the additional content is a good add-on for the game. I'm looking forward to some new content. Concept and Content: 9/10
Duration
Cave Story's puzzles did bug me a little in some parts of the game. Objectives were never really clear, a lot of running around was involved (be you lost or not), and getting stuck on one of those puzzles can really break the flow of the game. But for the most part, the game is pretty fast-paced and pushes the story along as long as the player was skillful enough to do so. The game is surprisingly longer than I thought. For one guy that created this game, it lasted quite a while for me. But I never felt like it was dragged out too much. The puzzles and difficulty boss battles is what probably made it seem longer than I thought, but there is seriously a decent amount of levels, bosses, enemies, weapons, everything that made it move along and not slow down (or at least it tries). The replay value is really up to the player. The game has 4 endings, a bunch of hidden secrets, and now it has extra modes. When I finished the original 3 years ago, I felt content and didn't play it again; however, I left it on my hard drive just in case. Sure enough, I started over this past summer with a new file and then saw the release of Cave Story+ on Steam just last month. I couldn't help it and got it (luckily with the Humble Indie Bundle 4) and decided to give the new graphics and music a try. As much as I don't like the new music (graphics is sorta okay, can't stand quote's face though), I am prepared to play through the game again and try a different ending. As I've said before, the replay value really depends on the player. Even though I've beaten Metroid before, I'd still play it again because I love the action, the music, and the nostalgia. It is very much like that in the case of Cave Story for me. Duration: 10/10
Fun
Starting up the game, I already had a groan-worthy reaction to the title screen music. It's all bubbly and poppy, but then I went to the options menu and realize you can play with the original assets. It's only been 3 years since I've played Cave Story, yet I still had a sense of nostalgia from playing the beginning cave. The music threw me off a little, but the game was still really fun. I think it might even be more fun playing it again since I'm already used to the controls and remember most of the puzzles. Perhaps I should have chose a more difficult setting. I forgot to mention that there's 3 difficulty levels now. There's an easy mode which is easier than the original, then the normal mode which is essentially the original game's setting, and now there's a hard mode. One of the new additions that I'm excited about is the new weapons. The new modes have difficult level challenges, boss battles and such waiting to test the hardened players. In the end, I think I really like Cave Story+. The original game was already incredible and having extra content doesn't hurt (unless they constantly keep charging a lot, man I hate DLCs). I'm also happy that I can contribute a little back to Daisuke Amaya, even if it's a small piece. Cave Story+ is definitely worth the playthrough again if you've already played it before and should be necessary for any gamer who hasn't played it to get it now. Fun: 10/10
Overall
It can be difficult to accept buying the game for $10 when you can still get the original since the remake is essentially extra content (DLC if you will) unless you really want the new graphics and audio (not sure why, but to each their own). Steam often has sales to discount it (33% off right now during winter sales and is part of the "Super Indie Pack"; humble indie bundle 4 still has 5 days left) so you can get Cave Story+ as low as $5. The game is easy to learn, filled with tons of memorable characters and events, is challenging and engrossing, and simply a masterpiece that shouldn't be missed by any gamer. Overall: 9.8/10
Source: Youtube Channel marcosoutsider
Developer: Nicalis, Studio Pixel
Publisher: Nicalis
Platforms: PC
Release Date: November 22, 2011
Genre: Action-Adventure Platformer
Pros:
-They didn't simply just change the graphics and audio, the original graphics and audio can be still used
-The game is still really fun even though I've played it before
-Additional content such as new modes, levels, weapons, and boss fights
-More content on its way in the future (better not be DLC we have to pay for)
Cons:
-The "improved HD" graphics and "Remastered" music seems to take away from the original game
-...I've got nothin' else
NOTE: Please disregard what I say about "Remastered" music as it seems to be newly added just about 1-2 days ago. There's 3 versions now: Original, New, and Remastered. When I say "Remastered" music in the review, I meant to say the "New" version. The "Remastered" version is actually kind of interesting.
I finished playing Cave Story 3 years ago and first heard about it in a Nintendo Magazine that it was going to be "recreated" on the Wii and that the original was distributed as a freeware and that fans have translated to English. After experiencing the masterpiece that was "Cave Story", I have come to know the name Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya and have a lot of respect for his work. It took him 5 years of his free time to create Cave Story and in the past 3 years it has been ported and recreated on Wii, DSi Ware, 3DS, and supposedly the PSP. With Cave Story+ released on PC for $10, it makes you wonder whether it's worth it to make the purchase when the original is still free. I got it with the Humble Indie Bundle 4 and so I didn't think too much about the price. Although the "new" graphics and audio might sound like the highlight of the remake, it's not. The "new" graphics take away the charm of the retro look while the "remastered" music seems to deviate from the atmosphere that the original chiptune captured so well. The good thing is that you can choose to play with the original graphics and/or audio and mix and match them. The real treat is that there's new modes, new levels, 4 additional weapons from the original 6 (10 in total), and new content that will be updated to the game in the future. So is it worth getting? It's Cave Story! Of course you should get it, especially if you haven't played it yet. And if you really can't hock that $10 out, go get the original and play it because it's really that good!
Aesthetics
The most notable difference in Cave Story+ to all fans is the new graphics and remaster music. The graphics and audio can be interchanged between the new and the original at anytime in the game from the main menu. I would recommend playing with the original content first and then play it a 2nd time with the new graphics if one has not played Cave Story yet. The new graphics are alright for the most part, but I have a problem with Quote's (the main character) face. It's dopey looking with the nose, mouth and hair. It's a very small factor in the change in graphics, but it's also the one thing you'll see most often and it bugs me. Everything else is alright. The music bothers me a lot though. What was so incredible about the experience in playing the original was how well the music complimented the gameplay and the mood. The music would be solemn in the dark areas, upbeat when it's exciting, and easy-going when you're in a safe area. But the "remastered" version of the music were all "remixed" to sound different and suddenly the solemn areas were jumpy, easy-going areas were upbeat, but at least the upbeat is still upbeat. The original compositions were intentionally played in a chiptune style to have that nostalgic feeling of retro games, but it also matched the situations really well. The new music seems to play in the level just for the heck of background music. There's no meaning to it because of it. This is what I was afraid of when I heard about "recreations" of Cave Story (granted, I played the original game for the first time after hearing about a remake for the Wii). But it's okay, because all the original graphics and audio is still an option so it doesn't force the new art style and music if the player doesn't want them. Playing the game again with the original art and music still reminds me of what an incredible game Cave Story was and still is. Aesthetics: 10/10
Buttons
Anyone growing up playing Action-Platformers and Adventure games such as Metroid or Megaman can agree how tight and well designed the controls for Cave Story are. The controls are simple with mainly the "jump" and "attack" key being the most used (other than the movement keys) along with 4 other keys to switch weapons, look at the map, and open up the inventory menu. The key bindings can be changed to any way the player desires and is also compatible with any USB controllers that's plugged in. With the player in complete control of the character, there is little room for Shenanigans to happen such as delayed jumps or "realistic" stopping of movements. The weapon switching is pretty much like Megaman games where the shoulder buttons can be used to switch weapons (A and S by default on keyboard) or bringing up the inventory menu to switch between them. This way, the player can switch to weapons appropriate for the situation on the fly. The core game revolves around great level designs which makes the most out of the two keys "jump and shoot" (sounds like Megaman and Metroid, right?). No fumbling around the keys, no long tutorials to figure out how everything works, just plain easy to understand controls with immediate response time. Nothing changed with the controls from the original and this new version (thankfully). Buttons: 10/10
Concept & Content
The story for Cave Story was always a bit ambiguous, but it never goes into a long dialogue of what the place you're in is (gonna try not to spoil anything good) or who you are or reason with the player of what mimigas are. The story is told little by little and the setting is easily created just by the level designs and their colorful backgrounds. The levels are designed to challenge the player in combat, puzzle solving, and platforming with traps, enemies, items, platforms, etc. Not a single level felt rushed or lacked creative thought. Every level had some purpose or challenge for the player to overcome to progress the game. There are new challenge modes, boss rush and others added to the game, so the player can get more out of Cave Story than the original with this remake. Everything about Cave Story had careful thought into creating it. The graphics were retro looking so it captured a nostalgic experience and also made creating art assets a bit more bearable for Amaya (he himself said he wasn't that great with art, kind of reminds me of ZUN). To go along with the art style, the music was purposely done in a 8-bit style and was composed to have catchy melodies to have a memorable connection to events and parts of the game. The concept of the run and gun mechanic was kept simple so as the levels became more creative, so did the player. I do have to admit that some parts can be confusing with little to no help at all and some parts can be difficult (at first, you learn from mistakes just like in old retro games). There are also some secrets in the game that can't be found unless you look it up online, already know about it, or playthrough the game multiple times and happen to find it. The game has 4 endings, and so it encourages players to play the game more than once. The core concept didn't change, and the additional content is a good add-on for the game. I'm looking forward to some new content. Concept and Content: 9/10
Duration
Cave Story's puzzles did bug me a little in some parts of the game. Objectives were never really clear, a lot of running around was involved (be you lost or not), and getting stuck on one of those puzzles can really break the flow of the game. But for the most part, the game is pretty fast-paced and pushes the story along as long as the player was skillful enough to do so. The game is surprisingly longer than I thought. For one guy that created this game, it lasted quite a while for me. But I never felt like it was dragged out too much. The puzzles and difficulty boss battles is what probably made it seem longer than I thought, but there is seriously a decent amount of levels, bosses, enemies, weapons, everything that made it move along and not slow down (or at least it tries). The replay value is really up to the player. The game has 4 endings, a bunch of hidden secrets, and now it has extra modes. When I finished the original 3 years ago, I felt content and didn't play it again; however, I left it on my hard drive just in case. Sure enough, I started over this past summer with a new file and then saw the release of Cave Story+ on Steam just last month. I couldn't help it and got it (luckily with the Humble Indie Bundle 4) and decided to give the new graphics and music a try. As much as I don't like the new music (graphics is sorta okay, can't stand quote's face though), I am prepared to play through the game again and try a different ending. As I've said before, the replay value really depends on the player. Even though I've beaten Metroid before, I'd still play it again because I love the action, the music, and the nostalgia. It is very much like that in the case of Cave Story for me. Duration: 10/10
Fun
Starting up the game, I already had a groan-worthy reaction to the title screen music. It's all bubbly and poppy, but then I went to the options menu and realize you can play with the original assets. It's only been 3 years since I've played Cave Story, yet I still had a sense of nostalgia from playing the beginning cave. The music threw me off a little, but the game was still really fun. I think it might even be more fun playing it again since I'm already used to the controls and remember most of the puzzles. Perhaps I should have chose a more difficult setting. I forgot to mention that there's 3 difficulty levels now. There's an easy mode which is easier than the original, then the normal mode which is essentially the original game's setting, and now there's a hard mode. One of the new additions that I'm excited about is the new weapons. The new modes have difficult level challenges, boss battles and such waiting to test the hardened players. In the end, I think I really like Cave Story+. The original game was already incredible and having extra content doesn't hurt (unless they constantly keep charging a lot, man I hate DLCs). I'm also happy that I can contribute a little back to Daisuke Amaya, even if it's a small piece. Cave Story+ is definitely worth the playthrough again if you've already played it before and should be necessary for any gamer who hasn't played it to get it now. Fun: 10/10
Overall
It can be difficult to accept buying the game for $10 when you can still get the original since the remake is essentially extra content (DLC if you will) unless you really want the new graphics and audio (not sure why, but to each their own). Steam often has sales to discount it (33% off right now during winter sales and is part of the "Super Indie Pack"; humble indie bundle 4 still has 5 days left) so you can get Cave Story+ as low as $5. The game is easy to learn, filled with tons of memorable characters and events, is challenging and engrossing, and simply a masterpiece that shouldn't be missed by any gamer. Overall: 9.8/10
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
VGCulture - Filler with Pokemon
I just spent several hours writing a review for Terraria only to realize that I already did one back in July. I was confused when I couldn't find it on my own blog and thought "wow, the game I spent the most time on this year doesn't have my review yet?" Well, I found it...a bit too late and now I'm too tired to do another post. I have a lot of reviews to do the next few weeks, but I'm done for today. Enjoy this Pokemon Parody and be mindful that it's NSFW. Created by Egoraptor:
Source: Youtube Channel egoraptor
Source: Youtube Channel egoraptor
Monday, December 19, 2011
NewNews - Steam Winter Sales 2011 (Dec 19 - Jan 1)
Official Site: http://store.steampowered.com/
As many people expected it from Valve, the Steam Winter Sales for 2011 has begun! Even with the purchase of something around 20+ games in the past 3 months, I'm still pretty excited for some of the sales offered this winter. Each day, up until January 1st, there will be 12 featured games/packs on the front page with an additional discount along with the one they already have. There's also tons of discounted games all across the Steam stores should the game you're looking for not be on the list. As with every seasonal event on steam, there will be "missions/quests/objectives" that players can fulfill on games each day. For each completed objective, a player will receive a gift or a lump of coal. A gift has either a complete game (wow, awesome) or coupons (not sure what they do yet) that you can use to redeem for or trade with friends. A lump of coal can be used to craft a gift (7 is needed) and it won't be a lump of coal again OR they can be kept for an epic holiday giveaway where the grand prize winner wins ALL STEAM GAMES! If that's not epic, I don't know what is. So have fun, play hard, and win some prizes!
Friday, December 16, 2011
NewNews - Music with your Games
If you bought the Humble Indie Bundle 4 that I mentioned on Tuesday, then all of you get the soundtracks for each of the games from the bundle. All of you that didn't buy it still can and get the soundtracks! Just the soundtracks from Super Meat Boy, Cave Story+ and Jamestown are worth buying the bundle!
Source: Youtube Channel NotVaati
Source: Youtube Channel NotVaati
Thursday, December 15, 2011
GameLight Review - Dungeons of Dredmor
Official Site: http://www.dungeonsofdredmor.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/98800/
Source: Youtube Channel GameBansheeDotCom
Developer: Gaslamp Games, Inc.
Publisher: Gaslamp Games, Inc.
Platforms: PC (Steam)
Release Date: July 13, 2011
Genre: Rogue-like RPG
Pros:
-Hundreds of combinations for all sorts of builds and play styles
-Stays true to the turn-based Rogue-like RPG of the past
-A different experience every new game is started
-Challenging, humorous, and really fun background music
-Unpredictable in every step and a surprise behind every door
Cons:
-Can be very difficult and not easily approachable to just anyone
-Things are randomly generated, be prepared for shenanigans to happen (like getting 1-shotted)
-Where did the time go? Easily eats up time in the day/night
Dungeons of Dredmor gave me a bad impression the first time I saw the video for it. It looked slow and boring. Still, it was an "RPG" sort of game and I was very curious. Being sold at the usual $5, I picked up the game during a sale for a mere $2.49. I'm so glad I did now. DoD is a Rogue-like RPG where the player custom builds a combination of skills and talents for the hero to walk into the dungeon with. The experience in how the player subdues enemies and compensates for lack of other abilities change depending on what the player chose for talents and skills as well as what randomly generates each play through. As I gained more experience (both in understanding and points wise), I started looting more, killing more, and delving even deeper into the dungeons. It might be a bit strange having the turn-based tile system of most Rogue-likes for the gamer that's accustomed to Action-RPGs, but it should be fairly easy to adjust to after an hour or so. The learning curve can be a bit steep depending on how quickly one learns, but learning how the game works and what everything does is half the fun. It is bothersome to be extra careful with each step in not trying to trigger a trap, but it truly adds to the tension of the game and reminds the player to be cautious and play smart. With so many combinations and the ability for the game to randomly generate levels, this game can last a really long time for the measly $5 that you pay for. Rogue-like RPGs are rare and good ones are even scarcer. Anyone looking for a unique sort of Action-RPG experience with tons of variation and replay value should definitely pick this one up.
Aesthetics
I'll be very honest, but the graphics are rather shoddy. Everything looks like it was painted in Flash and was crudely drawn. but after playing the game for a while, I didn't mind anymore. The style of the graphics were consistent and worked well for the game's humorous theme. What does bother me is things that are obscured or hidden, such as traps behind a wall or door, or a potion behind a book shelf. I was also disappointed that equipped items do not reflect back at the main character's look. All equipped items are stat changing and has no change in the character's appearance. Animations are simple but portray the actions of attacks, enemies and traps within the game. I think what makes up for the graphics is the audio. The sound effects have a significant role in the game as it helps tell a player when they've stepped on a trap, got a critical hit, when they can't hold anymore items, etc. My first experience with the music, other than the title screen, is the tutorial tune. At first, I thought "wow, this is kind of catchy". By the 5-7th tutorial mission, the song started to get annoying. Luckily, the rest of the game cycles through various tracks created for the game. Better yet, the music for the game is awesome! There's the dark type of atmospheric tunes with jazzy upbeat ones. It actually made the game a lot more entertaining! The graphics and animation aren't incredible, but they work for the game in a way. The music I ended up liking a lot. Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons
The game was really confusing at first, but there's an optional tutorial that the player can play through. It helped me get started, but I ultimately had to figure out everything else on my own. The stats system is convoluted and detailed, and I barely go past looking at it as "the higher the numbers, the better they are". The inventory can get really messy too, but the added "sort" button and its compact screen makes it easy to leave it open and still be able to play the game and keeping it organized. I'm glad they allowed the use of the keyboard for movement as well as mouse. Some may feel more comfortable using the mouse to click where to go, but I started using the keyboard more as each step has its danger in the game. The controls and User-interface isn't the easiest to learn, but I think it's mapped out pretty well once I got used to them. Buttons: 7/10
Concept & Content
I believe there's 10 floors total for each playthrough and they're all randomly generated. The goal is to get to the 10th floor and defeat Lord Dredmor himself. Along the way, the player can fight monsters to gain experience points, learn new skills, gather strong equipment, and gain items to use against the many enemies in the dungeons. The concept is basically a Rogue-like back in the 1970's but with nicer graphics and a (much) more approachable user-interface. Their interpretation of a Rogue-like is actually much easier to understand than most, even though it's still a bit complicated. And as the game states when you start the game: "don't make finishing the game your goal as you will miss the fun. Get better each play through and experiment to see what works and what doesn't." If the player just tries to rush through the game, they will often find themselves quickly killed by traps, a boss monster, or by their own hands (stepped on my own spell rune once, I was curious). There are three difficulty levels to choose from and the option to turn on Perma-death. So if the player dies in the dungeon, they have to start a new character. I play with Perma-death on since it makes it that much more pivotal to play carefully and strategically. It has that tension that wouldn't be there if I knew I could just rush around everywhere and continue from my last save if I mess up. A new option added to the game just this week is a shorter version of the game which makes all the floors smaller, but give the same amount of experience points so that the player can go through the game a lot faster. While a successful playthrough could probably last at least 5-15 hours of gameplay time, the amount of combinations available offers tons of ways the game can be played which lengthen the gameplay time even further. A new DLC was added yesterday (Dec 14, 2011) with new levels, weapons, enemies, and items as shown in the video above. I dislike DLC a lot, but I really like the game and will be willing to get it during a sale. The DLC is $2.99 (yup, only $2 less than the actual game). But for the original package offered, $5 is a really good deal for what you get. I only wish that items have an actual change of appearance for the character. Concept & Content: 9/10
Duration
As mentioned above, the game has a lot to offer as long as the player is still enticed to the concept and try out different combinations of skills. Watching the gameplay doesn't give a good sense of the pacing as it looks really slow. While playing the game, the pacing moves at a moderate speed. Each room can be a reward or a nightmare which places the player on edge each time. I can't complain about the game being too long or too short as the game itself is so fun that I didn't really care. I've already died about 5 times in the game and each new playthrough got me even more excited than the last as I learned more and want to try a different build. My latest save file got corrupted in the patch this week, which I think the developers knew because I got an achievement for having the game crash stating that it's a "thank you" for doing a bit of QA for them and letting them know that old saves don't work. I started another character with the same build and realized that they added new skills to the branches of the talent tree. I can imagine myself playing this a lot more before I feel like I've gotten all I can out of the game. Duration: 10/10
Fun
I was so skeptical about getting this game. The gameplay looked boring, the graphics were amateurish looking, and the sell price of $5 made me question the quality of the game. I'm so happy that the game turned out to be so much fun! I haven't played a good Rogue-like (other than Desktop Dungeons) since Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja on the Nintendo DS back in 2006. I was still weary about what to think about the game when I played through the tutorials, and I was super confused when I started up the game and I encountered so many things I didn't in the tutorial. But once I started to get better weapons, learning strong skills, and descending farther down the dungeon, I was hooked. The feeling that you get after your character dies or you finish the game is wanting more. The game really does change the way you approach enemies and situations depending on the talents you choose from the beginning. The music really got me into the mood in playing the game too. It does feel disappointing when your character dies and you spent 10+ hours on it though. This game truly surprised me and is one of the more memorable ones this year. Fun: 9/10
Overall
Dungeons of Dredmor isn't for everyone, but for $5 there shouldn't be any reason not to try the game out. It's unique, comical, challenging, and has a surprise behind every door (*cough* monster zoo *cough*). What a player gets out of it is an everlasting adventure experience that leaves a lot of room for experimentation, one which can last a long time if the player wants it to. My only advice for those who want to play the game: be patient and keep playing, because it just keeps getting better and better as you continue to learn more. Overall: 8.6/10
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/98800/
Source: Youtube Channel GameBansheeDotCom
Developer: Gaslamp Games, Inc.
Publisher: Gaslamp Games, Inc.
Platforms: PC (Steam)
Release Date: July 13, 2011
Genre: Rogue-like RPG
Pros:
-Hundreds of combinations for all sorts of builds and play styles
-Stays true to the turn-based Rogue-like RPG of the past
-A different experience every new game is started
-Challenging, humorous, and really fun background music
-Unpredictable in every step and a surprise behind every door
Cons:
-Can be very difficult and not easily approachable to just anyone
-Things are randomly generated, be prepared for shenanigans to happen (like getting 1-shotted)
-Where did the time go? Easily eats up time in the day/night
Dungeons of Dredmor gave me a bad impression the first time I saw the video for it. It looked slow and boring. Still, it was an "RPG" sort of game and I was very curious. Being sold at the usual $5, I picked up the game during a sale for a mere $2.49. I'm so glad I did now. DoD is a Rogue-like RPG where the player custom builds a combination of skills and talents for the hero to walk into the dungeon with. The experience in how the player subdues enemies and compensates for lack of other abilities change depending on what the player chose for talents and skills as well as what randomly generates each play through. As I gained more experience (both in understanding and points wise), I started looting more, killing more, and delving even deeper into the dungeons. It might be a bit strange having the turn-based tile system of most Rogue-likes for the gamer that's accustomed to Action-RPGs, but it should be fairly easy to adjust to after an hour or so. The learning curve can be a bit steep depending on how quickly one learns, but learning how the game works and what everything does is half the fun. It is bothersome to be extra careful with each step in not trying to trigger a trap, but it truly adds to the tension of the game and reminds the player to be cautious and play smart. With so many combinations and the ability for the game to randomly generate levels, this game can last a really long time for the measly $5 that you pay for. Rogue-like RPGs are rare and good ones are even scarcer. Anyone looking for a unique sort of Action-RPG experience with tons of variation and replay value should definitely pick this one up.
Aesthetics
I'll be very honest, but the graphics are rather shoddy. Everything looks like it was painted in Flash and was crudely drawn. but after playing the game for a while, I didn't mind anymore. The style of the graphics were consistent and worked well for the game's humorous theme. What does bother me is things that are obscured or hidden, such as traps behind a wall or door, or a potion behind a book shelf. I was also disappointed that equipped items do not reflect back at the main character's look. All equipped items are stat changing and has no change in the character's appearance. Animations are simple but portray the actions of attacks, enemies and traps within the game. I think what makes up for the graphics is the audio. The sound effects have a significant role in the game as it helps tell a player when they've stepped on a trap, got a critical hit, when they can't hold anymore items, etc. My first experience with the music, other than the title screen, is the tutorial tune. At first, I thought "wow, this is kind of catchy". By the 5-7th tutorial mission, the song started to get annoying. Luckily, the rest of the game cycles through various tracks created for the game. Better yet, the music for the game is awesome! There's the dark type of atmospheric tunes with jazzy upbeat ones. It actually made the game a lot more entertaining! The graphics and animation aren't incredible, but they work for the game in a way. The music I ended up liking a lot. Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons
The game was really confusing at first, but there's an optional tutorial that the player can play through. It helped me get started, but I ultimately had to figure out everything else on my own. The stats system is convoluted and detailed, and I barely go past looking at it as "the higher the numbers, the better they are". The inventory can get really messy too, but the added "sort" button and its compact screen makes it easy to leave it open and still be able to play the game and keeping it organized. I'm glad they allowed the use of the keyboard for movement as well as mouse. Some may feel more comfortable using the mouse to click where to go, but I started using the keyboard more as each step has its danger in the game. The controls and User-interface isn't the easiest to learn, but I think it's mapped out pretty well once I got used to them. Buttons: 7/10
Concept & Content
I believe there's 10 floors total for each playthrough and they're all randomly generated. The goal is to get to the 10th floor and defeat Lord Dredmor himself. Along the way, the player can fight monsters to gain experience points, learn new skills, gather strong equipment, and gain items to use against the many enemies in the dungeons. The concept is basically a Rogue-like back in the 1970's but with nicer graphics and a (much) more approachable user-interface. Their interpretation of a Rogue-like is actually much easier to understand than most, even though it's still a bit complicated. And as the game states when you start the game: "don't make finishing the game your goal as you will miss the fun. Get better each play through and experiment to see what works and what doesn't." If the player just tries to rush through the game, they will often find themselves quickly killed by traps, a boss monster, or by their own hands (stepped on my own spell rune once, I was curious). There are three difficulty levels to choose from and the option to turn on Perma-death. So if the player dies in the dungeon, they have to start a new character. I play with Perma-death on since it makes it that much more pivotal to play carefully and strategically. It has that tension that wouldn't be there if I knew I could just rush around everywhere and continue from my last save if I mess up. A new option added to the game just this week is a shorter version of the game which makes all the floors smaller, but give the same amount of experience points so that the player can go through the game a lot faster. While a successful playthrough could probably last at least 5-15 hours of gameplay time, the amount of combinations available offers tons of ways the game can be played which lengthen the gameplay time even further. A new DLC was added yesterday (Dec 14, 2011) with new levels, weapons, enemies, and items as shown in the video above. I dislike DLC a lot, but I really like the game and will be willing to get it during a sale. The DLC is $2.99 (yup, only $2 less than the actual game). But for the original package offered, $5 is a really good deal for what you get. I only wish that items have an actual change of appearance for the character. Concept & Content: 9/10
Duration
As mentioned above, the game has a lot to offer as long as the player is still enticed to the concept and try out different combinations of skills. Watching the gameplay doesn't give a good sense of the pacing as it looks really slow. While playing the game, the pacing moves at a moderate speed. Each room can be a reward or a nightmare which places the player on edge each time. I can't complain about the game being too long or too short as the game itself is so fun that I didn't really care. I've already died about 5 times in the game and each new playthrough got me even more excited than the last as I learned more and want to try a different build. My latest save file got corrupted in the patch this week, which I think the developers knew because I got an achievement for having the game crash stating that it's a "thank you" for doing a bit of QA for them and letting them know that old saves don't work. I started another character with the same build and realized that they added new skills to the branches of the talent tree. I can imagine myself playing this a lot more before I feel like I've gotten all I can out of the game. Duration: 10/10
Fun
I was so skeptical about getting this game. The gameplay looked boring, the graphics were amateurish looking, and the sell price of $5 made me question the quality of the game. I'm so happy that the game turned out to be so much fun! I haven't played a good Rogue-like (other than Desktop Dungeons) since Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja on the Nintendo DS back in 2006. I was still weary about what to think about the game when I played through the tutorials, and I was super confused when I started up the game and I encountered so many things I didn't in the tutorial. But once I started to get better weapons, learning strong skills, and descending farther down the dungeon, I was hooked. The feeling that you get after your character dies or you finish the game is wanting more. The game really does change the way you approach enemies and situations depending on the talents you choose from the beginning. The music really got me into the mood in playing the game too. It does feel disappointing when your character dies and you spent 10+ hours on it though. This game truly surprised me and is one of the more memorable ones this year. Fun: 9/10
Overall
Dungeons of Dredmor isn't for everyone, but for $5 there shouldn't be any reason not to try the game out. It's unique, comical, challenging, and has a surprise behind every door (*cough* monster zoo *cough*). What a player gets out of it is an everlasting adventure experience that leaves a lot of room for experimentation, one which can last a long time if the player wants it to. My only advice for those who want to play the game: be patient and keep playing, because it just keeps getting better and better as you continue to learn more. Overall: 8.6/10
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
GameLight Review - Orcs Must Die!
Official Site: http://www.robotentertainment.com/games/orcsmustdie
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/102600/
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
Developer: Robot Entertainment
Publisher: Robot Entertainment
Platforms: Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: October 11, 2011
Genre: Action-Strategy
Pros:
-Fast-Paced Action with fluid controls
-Tons of strategies to work with
-More than 24 levels to play on
-Simple goal to understand, challenging gameplay to master
-Gets straight to the action for a gratifying action tower defense experience
Cons:
-No multiplayer support
-Trap orientation can be confusing when plotting them
-The recoil movement from the magic crossbow when zoomed is too jerky
I wasn't sure what to think of the game before I saw gameplay of it as the name itself was tacky and general. But when I finally saw what "Orcs Must Die" was about and the ability to combat the enemies upfront, I was pretty much sold. I picked the game up during the Autumn sale on steam for $3.75 and was surprised to get 24+ levels (along with DLCs though) to play on as a lot of tower-defense games are limited to only a few levels (Sanctum started with 4). What was different and very entertaining about the game was that the player takes a very active role in vanquishing each wave of enemies rather than taking the usual passive approach of only setting up traps and fighters. Besides traps are an array of weapons which makes the player's participation in battle more variable each time. But in order to be successful each level, the player must utilize the weapons and traps effectively to get the most out of them. This is a really fun game and good to play when trying to relax or get a satisfying experience in a short amount of time for those who are generally busy to play for long sessions.
Aesthetics - Graphics, Audio and Presentation
I really like the cartoonish, almost cel-shaded like style that the developers went for. The characters pop out, the environment looks nice, it's easy to discern enemies, and it looks flashy when the action happens. It kind of reminds me of what Valve did with Team Fortress 2 in their art style direction which significantly changed the game mechanics are interpreted: glowing liquid shows the danger of the player falling into them, a light blue stream runs across the level to show the enemies walking path, the main character's outfit is a bright contrast to the dark levels with an accent of red making easy for the player to keep track of where their character is on the screen when in a large wave of enemies, etc. The little details such as the number of currency gained from each enemy killed and the message that pops up when getting a headshot with the crossbow all contributes to that feeling of achievement and doing well. Of course, the indications also serve as useful information such as reminding the player that getting headshots help take an enemy out faster and all the money earned should be spent on more traps. When in the set up phase, it can be a bit confusing trying to plot the traps in all the right places. In traditional tower-defense games, a player can easily figure out choke points and orientations of all the traps/towers within a level from a top-down view. Iron Grip: Warlords allows the player to go into a top-down view when plotting towers. In Sanctum, the player can bring up the camera into a top-down view to look at the whole level and warp around. In Dungeon Defenders, the mini-map shows where traps are laid. So it can be a bit difficult when figuring out where to set traps in Orcs Must Die, but perhaps it's a design choice to keep the player consistently active in the fighting rather than sitting back and watching. Some of the music feels sort of out of place, but the game is wacky to begin with. The sound effects are quite satisfying whenever contact between weapons or traps is made with the enemies and mayhem is fallen upon the waves. The voice acting of the main character adds that nice bit of humor with the amount of shenanigans you get into within the game. Overall, it's a nice presentation that works both aesthetically and mechanically. Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons - Controls
One of the concerns I had with the game was that the fighting mechanics might be sluggish and clunky, but to my surprise the combat is very fast-paced. Animations run fairly quick, traps are easy to put up, and the key orientations are plotted out comfortably around the keyboard and mouse. It can be rather hectic when trying to put up traps "during" a wave and there's 7-9 items to scroll around, but I'm guessing that this was a design choice to keep the player fighting as much as possible rather than worrying about putting more traps up (though it gets easier as the player becomes more experienced and can balance between strategy and action). I really like the controls. They're tight, easy to navigate through, and made it fairly quick for me to understand how to play the game. Buttons: 9/10
Concept & Content - Design
The story is quite simple: A warmage protects the many rifts of the world from the many waves of orcs and monsters and ends up slipping on blood on one of his missions only to end up dying and leaving the daunting task to his apprentice; the main character who's a hearty fellow with a naive demeanor. It made sense to why the player must fight off all these enemies and why "Orcs Must Die!" The concept is quite simple: utilize the weapons and traps available and decimate all invading enemies. The fun part is being "creative" in succeeding that goal. Players can set archers, wall traps, springs, set explosives, and many more to subdue their enemies and prevent them from walking any further. Each level has a different setting with various choke points, environmental hazards, and paths which can help the player or the enemies. A lot of the beginning ones are simple and small, so this makes learning the game a lot easier for beginners. An Action/Strategy hybrid of Action games and Tower Defense isn't new, but Robot entertainment's interpretation of that genre mix is an excellent one that works really well. It's too bad it isn't a multiplayer game as it could be tons of fun with even just two players. Other than choosing different difficulty levels, there isn't much variety in terms of modes. Concept & Content: 8/10
Duration - Pacing, length, and replay value
Besides the opening cinematic which tells the raison d'être for the main character, the game is immediately full of action the second the first wave starts. The length of a level can vary depending on difficulty, a player's skill level, and the level design. It takes anywhere from 10-30 minutes each match so it never takes to long to play each chapter and get something out of it. I haven't sat down and played for one long session yet, but I feel like I could with this game. Even with playing one level each time I start up the game, I felt like I got enough from it. I felt satisfied, which I feel is difficult to get out of short session games sometimes. Replay value really depends on the player. If a player wants to challenge themselves, they can go for a higher difficulty level for a better score or equip themselves with more weapons than traps to do more fighting then planning. For others, I could be that after getting through the game once, there's not much more to offer. There isn't multiplayer support or different modes, but there is a online ranking system. Others could get bored half-way through the game if they don't find the entertainment value in the first half. Although I think that 24 level is a generous amount, a lot of levels are similar in nature and look and offer little variety after a player gets through all the chapters other than what was stated above. Still, I think I got a lot more than I paid for ($3.75) and genuinely enjoy the game. Duration: 8/10
Fun - Impression, Entertainment Value
I don't think it's the greatest indie games to have come out this year, but it's pretty dang fun. The first time I saw the hordes of orcs rush through the door and fly all over the room from my arrow wall traps was both hilarious and satisfying to see my work (placing the traps) come to fruition. The combat is what really surprised me though. Even with Action Tower Defense games like Sanctum, I feel like I'm just adding to damage that my towers were already doing to the enemies (along with the fact that enemies totally ignores you). In Orcs Must Die, fighting enemies really make it feel like an "Action" game rather than adding in "combat" just to deal damage with the traps. The player can die, use mana, and utilize all sorts of weaponry like in an action game, and that active participation in the game made it much more involving and intense when the enemies get near the rift. I guess the jollies and laughs I get out of Orcs Must Die is similar to games like Dynasty Warriors where you fight hundreds to thousands of enemies and still survive. It feels satisfying to end a level in victory by overcoming an incredible amount of enemies of epic proportions with just the player alone. It does feel like a button masher at times, but the moments where enemies get too close to the rift and being able to figure out a solution with the weapons available has a gratifying moment to make up for those. You can't just mash your way to victory. Fun: 9/10
Overall
The premise of the game is simplistic, yet effective. The game is rather short, but satisfying. There isn't multiplayer support, yet I got this game for $3.75 and had a ton of fun playing it. The next time a friend asks for a relaxing game to play, I'm going to recommend Orcs Must Die because it's just so awesome to see all those orcs flying around the room and getting sliced, skewered, and sprung off the stage. I don't like how it's following the DLC path where extra content means extra money to be added in order to play them, but the original package is enough in itself for a full experience. Steam winter sales is coming up soon (I can feel it) and I highly recommend Action/Tower Defense game fans to pick this game up during that sale. This game is a really nice distraction to whatever game you might be playing. Overall: 8.4/10
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/102600/
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
Developer: Robot Entertainment
Publisher: Robot Entertainment
Platforms: Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: October 11, 2011
Genre: Action-Strategy
Pros:
-Fast-Paced Action with fluid controls
-Tons of strategies to work with
-More than 24 levels to play on
-Simple goal to understand, challenging gameplay to master
-Gets straight to the action for a gratifying action tower defense experience
Cons:
-No multiplayer support
-Trap orientation can be confusing when plotting them
-The recoil movement from the magic crossbow when zoomed is too jerky
I wasn't sure what to think of the game before I saw gameplay of it as the name itself was tacky and general. But when I finally saw what "Orcs Must Die" was about and the ability to combat the enemies upfront, I was pretty much sold. I picked the game up during the Autumn sale on steam for $3.75 and was surprised to get 24+ levels (along with DLCs though) to play on as a lot of tower-defense games are limited to only a few levels (Sanctum started with 4). What was different and very entertaining about the game was that the player takes a very active role in vanquishing each wave of enemies rather than taking the usual passive approach of only setting up traps and fighters. Besides traps are an array of weapons which makes the player's participation in battle more variable each time. But in order to be successful each level, the player must utilize the weapons and traps effectively to get the most out of them. This is a really fun game and good to play when trying to relax or get a satisfying experience in a short amount of time for those who are generally busy to play for long sessions.
Aesthetics - Graphics, Audio and Presentation
I really like the cartoonish, almost cel-shaded like style that the developers went for. The characters pop out, the environment looks nice, it's easy to discern enemies, and it looks flashy when the action happens. It kind of reminds me of what Valve did with Team Fortress 2 in their art style direction which significantly changed the game mechanics are interpreted: glowing liquid shows the danger of the player falling into them, a light blue stream runs across the level to show the enemies walking path, the main character's outfit is a bright contrast to the dark levels with an accent of red making easy for the player to keep track of where their character is on the screen when in a large wave of enemies, etc. The little details such as the number of currency gained from each enemy killed and the message that pops up when getting a headshot with the crossbow all contributes to that feeling of achievement and doing well. Of course, the indications also serve as useful information such as reminding the player that getting headshots help take an enemy out faster and all the money earned should be spent on more traps. When in the set up phase, it can be a bit confusing trying to plot the traps in all the right places. In traditional tower-defense games, a player can easily figure out choke points and orientations of all the traps/towers within a level from a top-down view. Iron Grip: Warlords allows the player to go into a top-down view when plotting towers. In Sanctum, the player can bring up the camera into a top-down view to look at the whole level and warp around. In Dungeon Defenders, the mini-map shows where traps are laid. So it can be a bit difficult when figuring out where to set traps in Orcs Must Die, but perhaps it's a design choice to keep the player consistently active in the fighting rather than sitting back and watching. Some of the music feels sort of out of place, but the game is wacky to begin with. The sound effects are quite satisfying whenever contact between weapons or traps is made with the enemies and mayhem is fallen upon the waves. The voice acting of the main character adds that nice bit of humor with the amount of shenanigans you get into within the game. Overall, it's a nice presentation that works both aesthetically and mechanically. Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons - Controls
One of the concerns I had with the game was that the fighting mechanics might be sluggish and clunky, but to my surprise the combat is very fast-paced. Animations run fairly quick, traps are easy to put up, and the key orientations are plotted out comfortably around the keyboard and mouse. It can be rather hectic when trying to put up traps "during" a wave and there's 7-9 items to scroll around, but I'm guessing that this was a design choice to keep the player fighting as much as possible rather than worrying about putting more traps up (though it gets easier as the player becomes more experienced and can balance between strategy and action). I really like the controls. They're tight, easy to navigate through, and made it fairly quick for me to understand how to play the game. Buttons: 9/10
Concept & Content - Design
The story is quite simple: A warmage protects the many rifts of the world from the many waves of orcs and monsters and ends up slipping on blood on one of his missions only to end up dying and leaving the daunting task to his apprentice; the main character who's a hearty fellow with a naive demeanor. It made sense to why the player must fight off all these enemies and why "Orcs Must Die!" The concept is quite simple: utilize the weapons and traps available and decimate all invading enemies. The fun part is being "creative" in succeeding that goal. Players can set archers, wall traps, springs, set explosives, and many more to subdue their enemies and prevent them from walking any further. Each level has a different setting with various choke points, environmental hazards, and paths which can help the player or the enemies. A lot of the beginning ones are simple and small, so this makes learning the game a lot easier for beginners. An Action/Strategy hybrid of Action games and Tower Defense isn't new, but Robot entertainment's interpretation of that genre mix is an excellent one that works really well. It's too bad it isn't a multiplayer game as it could be tons of fun with even just two players. Other than choosing different difficulty levels, there isn't much variety in terms of modes. Concept & Content: 8/10
Duration - Pacing, length, and replay value
Besides the opening cinematic which tells the raison d'être for the main character, the game is immediately full of action the second the first wave starts. The length of a level can vary depending on difficulty, a player's skill level, and the level design. It takes anywhere from 10-30 minutes each match so it never takes to long to play each chapter and get something out of it. I haven't sat down and played for one long session yet, but I feel like I could with this game. Even with playing one level each time I start up the game, I felt like I got enough from it. I felt satisfied, which I feel is difficult to get out of short session games sometimes. Replay value really depends on the player. If a player wants to challenge themselves, they can go for a higher difficulty level for a better score or equip themselves with more weapons than traps to do more fighting then planning. For others, I could be that after getting through the game once, there's not much more to offer. There isn't multiplayer support or different modes, but there is a online ranking system. Others could get bored half-way through the game if they don't find the entertainment value in the first half. Although I think that 24 level is a generous amount, a lot of levels are similar in nature and look and offer little variety after a player gets through all the chapters other than what was stated above. Still, I think I got a lot more than I paid for ($3.75) and genuinely enjoy the game. Duration: 8/10
Fun - Impression, Entertainment Value
I don't think it's the greatest indie games to have come out this year, but it's pretty dang fun. The first time I saw the hordes of orcs rush through the door and fly all over the room from my arrow wall traps was both hilarious and satisfying to see my work (placing the traps) come to fruition. The combat is what really surprised me though. Even with Action Tower Defense games like Sanctum, I feel like I'm just adding to damage that my towers were already doing to the enemies (along with the fact that enemies totally ignores you). In Orcs Must Die, fighting enemies really make it feel like an "Action" game rather than adding in "combat" just to deal damage with the traps. The player can die, use mana, and utilize all sorts of weaponry like in an action game, and that active participation in the game made it much more involving and intense when the enemies get near the rift. I guess the jollies and laughs I get out of Orcs Must Die is similar to games like Dynasty Warriors where you fight hundreds to thousands of enemies and still survive. It feels satisfying to end a level in victory by overcoming an incredible amount of enemies of epic proportions with just the player alone. It does feel like a button masher at times, but the moments where enemies get too close to the rift and being able to figure out a solution with the weapons available has a gratifying moment to make up for those. You can't just mash your way to victory. Fun: 9/10
Overall
The premise of the game is simplistic, yet effective. The game is rather short, but satisfying. There isn't multiplayer support, yet I got this game for $3.75 and had a ton of fun playing it. The next time a friend asks for a relaxing game to play, I'm going to recommend Orcs Must Die because it's just so awesome to see all those orcs flying around the room and getting sliced, skewered, and sprung off the stage. I don't like how it's following the DLC path where extra content means extra money to be added in order to play them, but the original package is enough in itself for a full experience. Steam winter sales is coming up soon (I can feel it) and I highly recommend Action/Tower Defense game fans to pick this game up during that sale. This game is a really nice distraction to whatever game you might be playing. Overall: 8.4/10
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
VGCulture - Humble Indie Bundle 4
Official Site: http://www.humblebundle.com/
Source: Youtube Channel WolfireGames
There's another Humble Indie Bundle out with 7 great games!!!
-Gratuitous Space Battles (If you pay above the average)
-Cave Story+ (If you pay above the average)
-Jamestown
-Bit Trip Runner
-Super Meat Boy
-Shank
-Nightsky HD
These are 7 incredible indie games for the price "of your choice!" (albeit the 2 you have to pay above average which is only $5.15 right now). Remember that part of your payment can/will go to charity. Click on the link above, click purchase, choose your price and the division of payments, and either download them or redeem them on Steam (all of them are available on steam this time thankfully).
Source: Youtube Channel WolfireGames
There's another Humble Indie Bundle out with 7 great games!!!
-Gratuitous Space Battles (If you pay above the average)
-Cave Story+ (If you pay above the average)
-Jamestown
-Bit Trip Runner
-Super Meat Boy
-Shank
-Nightsky HD
These are 7 incredible indie games for the price "of your choice!" (albeit the 2 you have to pay above average which is only $5.15 right now). Remember that part of your payment can/will go to charity. Click on the link above, click purchase, choose your price and the division of payments, and either download them or redeem them on Steam (all of them are available on steam this time thankfully).
Monday, December 12, 2011
VGCulture - Today on Game Sales (Dec 12)
The number of game sales available is still very high and will continue to grow till the end of the year.
On Steam, we have:
-Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition ($4.99)
-STAR WARS® THE FORCE UNLEASHED II ($4.99)
Everything else you can ignore because they'll probably get a bigger discount during Christmas Sales
On Amazon, it's Call of Duty Sales Day
-There's also an Assassin's Creed Day tomorrow
On Origin, there's games going at 40% or more such as the Need for Speed series.
I might be out on Wednesday, so I'll only have posts for today and tomorrow. Next week, I'll be doing tons of reviews if I'm not busy/lazy.
On Steam, we have:
-Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition ($4.99)
-STAR WARS® THE FORCE UNLEASHED II ($4.99)
Everything else you can ignore because they'll probably get a bigger discount during Christmas Sales
On Amazon, it's Call of Duty Sales Day
-There's also an Assassin's Creed Day tomorrow
On Origin, there's games going at 40% or more such as the Need for Speed series.
I might be out on Wednesday, so I'll only have posts for today and tomorrow. Next week, I'll be doing tons of reviews if I'm not busy/lazy.
Friday, December 9, 2011
GameOn - Indie Game Composers - Andrew "Zircon" Aversa
Official Site: http://zirconmusic.com/
Source: Youtube Channel KenoguLabz
Hoo boy, this guy is gonna be a bit harder to talk about. Why? Because Andrew Aversa (aka Zircon) is no stranger to the industry and to his medium. His latest work on indie developed game "Return All Robots!" still reminds many of us that he still has ties to the indie scene. Have any of you heard of Fruity Loops? Have any of you used the program? There's a good chance that you might have heard his demo "Just hold on" which he collaborated with his wife Jillian Aversa. Do you listen to music from OC Remix? There's a very good chance that you've heard his remixes then. Ever watched a show called "Heroes"? Yup, he did the music for that series too! So what's difficult about talking about him? He's done so much that it's hard to describe his style, summarize all his works, and pretty much tell you how awesome he is! Having done multiple videogame remixes, won various awards in music competitions, scored music for critically acclaimed shows and games, co-founding the company in creating new samples and presets for synths, and even teaching new composers at Drexel University. I first found out about Zircon through OC Remix and listened to a lot of his remixes. He works a lot with electronic/synth instruments on Trance, techno, and from the example video above you can see that he'll do other genres like bossa, funk, atmospheric, etc. He describes his music being Organic Electronic music. Let's just say anything he makes sounds "big" or "grand". If you want to listen to more of Andrew Aversa's music, click on the link up top. You can buy his tracks off his bandcamp site, contact him for creating music for whatever you may need, and even learn more about music through his tutorials. Also, be sure to check Jillian Aversa's stuff (his wife) as her collaborations with Zircon has created many great works. This has been an awesome week of music and I hope everyone enjoyed what these great guys have to offer.
Source: Youtube Channel zirconst
Source: Youtube Channel KenoguLabz
Hoo boy, this guy is gonna be a bit harder to talk about. Why? Because Andrew Aversa (aka Zircon) is no stranger to the industry and to his medium. His latest work on indie developed game "Return All Robots!" still reminds many of us that he still has ties to the indie scene. Have any of you heard of Fruity Loops? Have any of you used the program? There's a good chance that you might have heard his demo "Just hold on" which he collaborated with his wife Jillian Aversa. Do you listen to music from OC Remix? There's a very good chance that you've heard his remixes then. Ever watched a show called "Heroes"? Yup, he did the music for that series too! So what's difficult about talking about him? He's done so much that it's hard to describe his style, summarize all his works, and pretty much tell you how awesome he is! Having done multiple videogame remixes, won various awards in music competitions, scored music for critically acclaimed shows and games, co-founding the company in creating new samples and presets for synths, and even teaching new composers at Drexel University. I first found out about Zircon through OC Remix and listened to a lot of his remixes. He works a lot with electronic/synth instruments on Trance, techno, and from the example video above you can see that he'll do other genres like bossa, funk, atmospheric, etc. He describes his music being Organic Electronic music. Let's just say anything he makes sounds "big" or "grand". If you want to listen to more of Andrew Aversa's music, click on the link up top. You can buy his tracks off his bandcamp site, contact him for creating music for whatever you may need, and even learn more about music through his tutorials. Also, be sure to check Jillian Aversa's stuff (his wife) as her collaborations with Zircon has created many great works. This has been an awesome week of music and I hope everyone enjoyed what these great guys have to offer.
Source: Youtube Channel zirconst
Thursday, December 8, 2011
GameOn - Indie Game Composers - Magnus "SoulEye" Pålsson
Official Site: http://www.souleye.se/home
Source: Youtube Channel ChaoticHarmonyEcho
VVVVVV is one of the only games throughout my duration of working on this blog to have given a high 9/10 in my GameLight Reviews (the other being Metal Gear Solid 4). One of the major factors that made me fall in love with the game is the music scored and produced by Magnus "SoulEye" Pålsson. He did such an incredible job for VVVVVV that he has become a little "too" associated with chiptune music. I say this because Pålsson has expressed desires to work more with music than just chiptunes, but he's so good at it that clients want him to make MORE! His work with VVVVVV utilizes scales of modes with simple bass lines and melodies which make it catchy and easy to groove with. The easy going yet high energy music really helped when going through some parts of the game, especially at "veni vidi vici". I was seriously humming along with the music the entire time I played the game AND I replayed the game a 2nd time to get 100% on everything. Although I exhausted my short play time of 10 hours on it (takes me only about 2 hours to beat the main game), the game was very enjoyable. The music just made the game that much better as I played through it. Here's one of my favorite tracks.
Source: Youtube Channel Gamemasternumberone
If you like what you hear, you can visit Magnus "SoulEye" Pålsson's Bandcamp site and buy the soundtrack for VVVVVV. Or if you're looking for some Chiptunes to plug into your game, contact him at is official website up top. I also recommend playing the game VVVVVV. You can get the game on Steam for $5.
Source: Youtube Channel ChaoticHarmonyEcho
VVVVVV is one of the only games throughout my duration of working on this blog to have given a high 9/10 in my GameLight Reviews (the other being Metal Gear Solid 4). One of the major factors that made me fall in love with the game is the music scored and produced by Magnus "SoulEye" Pålsson. He did such an incredible job for VVVVVV that he has become a little "too" associated with chiptune music. I say this because Pålsson has expressed desires to work more with music than just chiptunes, but he's so good at it that clients want him to make MORE! His work with VVVVVV utilizes scales of modes with simple bass lines and melodies which make it catchy and easy to groove with. The easy going yet high energy music really helped when going through some parts of the game, especially at "veni vidi vici". I was seriously humming along with the music the entire time I played the game AND I replayed the game a 2nd time to get 100% on everything. Although I exhausted my short play time of 10 hours on it (takes me only about 2 hours to beat the main game), the game was very enjoyable. The music just made the game that much better as I played through it. Here's one of my favorite tracks.
Source: Youtube Channel Gamemasternumberone
If you like what you hear, you can visit Magnus "SoulEye" Pålsson's Bandcamp site and buy the soundtrack for VVVVVV. Or if you're looking for some Chiptunes to plug into your game, contact him at is official website up top. I also recommend playing the game VVVVVV. You can get the game on Steam for $5.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
GameOn - Indie Game Composers - Jake "Virt" Kaufman
Official Site: http://www.biglionmusic.com/
Source: Youtube Channel nintendolife
I'm not sure if I should even call Jake Kaufman (aka Virt) a "indie" game composer since he has a lot of experience in the industry. I first took notice of Virt when Contra 4 was about to be released on the Nintendo DS. He had the honor of composing/arranging the tracks to the Contra series as well as doing the sound effects for the game. That was one friggin hard game that I never beat on normal mode (which has the true ending).
Source: Youtube Channel t3ht4ilzd0ll
Some notable games he's done the music and sound effects for are: Shantae (GBC), Godzilla: Domination (GBA), Scurge: Hive (GBA/DS), The Legend of Kay (PS2), Contra 4 (DS), Red Faction Guerrilla (Xbox 360/PS3), Shantae: Risky’s Revenge (DSi Ware), and upcoming DSi Ware game Mighty Milky Way. What I really love about Virt's work are his remixes. He has a ton of remix projects he's done in the past with killer guitar riffs. He's very versatile and so he works with all sorts of genres, platforms, and companies in creating the type of music they need. He still does remixes and arrangement when he's not working on a new game.
Source: Youtube Channel Kodylee21
Out of all of Virt's original work, the music from Shantae is my favorite (I hardly remember the music from Scurge: Hive, that game was confusing). But I love his remixes even more because of how creative he is with them. This Super Metroid Medley remix he did was for Dwelling of Duels. In any case, if you're an indie game developer and looking for a great musician to create a killer track, then go click on the top link and contact the man. Jake "Virt" Kaufman is a man who knows what he's doing for any possible genre and will be sure to deliver.
Source: Youtube Channel nintendolife
I'm not sure if I should even call Jake Kaufman (aka Virt) a "indie" game composer since he has a lot of experience in the industry. I first took notice of Virt when Contra 4 was about to be released on the Nintendo DS. He had the honor of composing/arranging the tracks to the Contra series as well as doing the sound effects for the game. That was one friggin hard game that I never beat on normal mode (which has the true ending).
Source: Youtube Channel t3ht4ilzd0ll
Some notable games he's done the music and sound effects for are: Shantae (GBC), Godzilla: Domination (GBA), Scurge: Hive (GBA/DS), The Legend of Kay (PS2), Contra 4 (DS), Red Faction Guerrilla (Xbox 360/PS3), Shantae: Risky’s Revenge (DSi Ware), and upcoming DSi Ware game Mighty Milky Way. What I really love about Virt's work are his remixes. He has a ton of remix projects he's done in the past with killer guitar riffs. He's very versatile and so he works with all sorts of genres, platforms, and companies in creating the type of music they need. He still does remixes and arrangement when he's not working on a new game.
Source: Youtube Channel Kodylee21
Out of all of Virt's original work, the music from Shantae is my favorite (I hardly remember the music from Scurge: Hive, that game was confusing). But I love his remixes even more because of how creative he is with them. This Super Metroid Medley remix he did was for Dwelling of Duels. In any case, if you're an indie game developer and looking for a great musician to create a killer track, then go click on the top link and contact the man. Jake "Virt" Kaufman is a man who knows what he's doing for any possible genre and will be sure to deliver.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
GameOn - Indie Game Composers - Daniel "C418" Rosenfeld
Official Site: http://c418.org/
Source: Youtube Channel UndisciplinedStallio
Daniel Rosenfeld (known to most people simply as C418) was asked to do music for Minecraft when chatting with Markus "Notch" Persson (former Lead Developer of Minecraft" on an IRC server. C418's work on Minecraft is more subtle and atmospheric as players would spend hundreds of hours in the world and wouldn't want a certain tune to play over and over again. But because of this, the music is definitely a "Background" music used for the game. I honestly couldn't really get into the music for Minecraft, but it worked well while playing...for the most part. There's a lot of slowed down tempo piano-only tracks with an occasion of some synth pads and leads with very subtle beats on a few of the songs. It's not so slow where it's sad, but lonelier. It makes sense though since the game is mostly one guy building things within a world with zombies and those green exploding monsters showing up once in a while. Rosenfeld plans on pursuing music within the gaming industry for as long as possible. With the success of Minecraft and a fan-base for his music, it'd be great for him to continue. If you like his music, be sure to visit his site up on top and purchase his soundtracks!
Source: Youtube Channel UndisciplinedStallio
Daniel Rosenfeld (known to most people simply as C418) was asked to do music for Minecraft when chatting with Markus "Notch" Persson (former Lead Developer of Minecraft" on an IRC server. C418's work on Minecraft is more subtle and atmospheric as players would spend hundreds of hours in the world and wouldn't want a certain tune to play over and over again. But because of this, the music is definitely a "Background" music used for the game. I honestly couldn't really get into the music for Minecraft, but it worked well while playing...for the most part. There's a lot of slowed down tempo piano-only tracks with an occasion of some synth pads and leads with very subtle beats on a few of the songs. It's not so slow where it's sad, but lonelier. It makes sense though since the game is mostly one guy building things within a world with zombies and those green exploding monsters showing up once in a while. Rosenfeld plans on pursuing music within the gaming industry for as long as possible. With the success of Minecraft and a fan-base for his music, it'd be great for him to continue. If you like his music, be sure to visit his site up on top and purchase his soundtracks!
Monday, December 5, 2011
GameOn - Indie Game Composers - Danny Baranowsky
Official Site: http://dbsoundworks.bandcamp.com/
Source: Youtube Channel IndieGameMusicHD
I'm going to talk about some pretty awesome people who compose and produce music for the indie game development scene this week. First up for this week's GameOn event is Danny Baranowsky. I first took notice of Baranowsky's work when Super Meat Boy released as a full fledged game on Steam and Xbox Live Arcade. At first, I only thought the music for Super Meat Boy was "okay" and somewhat "catchy". As I played for longer durations of the game, I realized one of the greatest aspects that made me keep playing the game was the music! I've taken quite a liking to Baranowsky's style of semi-retro/electronic upbeat tracks with a complex melody. It kept the game at a frantic, fast-paced frenzy if not a haunting and daunting mood from all the death traps littered throughout each level. When the developers of Team Meat moved on to create "The Binding of Isaac", an Action dungeon crawler with Rogue-like RPG elements, Danny Baranowsky once again joined in and created a morbid feeling track that really accentuated the grotesque theme and art style.
Source: Youtube Channel 8BallsEmperor
In terms of listening, I think Super Meat Boy's tracks are more fun to listen to. But what really got me liking the music in "The Binding of Isaac" is how effective it was in the game. The impact it had on the game's environment and the player's mental state was a large part of the experience while playing. The tracks are a mixture between some orchestration with dark electronic synths and pads which make it sound eerie. You can check out Baranowsky's site on the top and listen to samples of his other works and even buy them. I'm very excited to see what he works on next.
Source: Youtube Channel IndieGameMusicHD
I'm going to talk about some pretty awesome people who compose and produce music for the indie game development scene this week. First up for this week's GameOn event is Danny Baranowsky. I first took notice of Baranowsky's work when Super Meat Boy released as a full fledged game on Steam and Xbox Live Arcade. At first, I only thought the music for Super Meat Boy was "okay" and somewhat "catchy". As I played for longer durations of the game, I realized one of the greatest aspects that made me keep playing the game was the music! I've taken quite a liking to Baranowsky's style of semi-retro/electronic upbeat tracks with a complex melody. It kept the game at a frantic, fast-paced frenzy if not a haunting and daunting mood from all the death traps littered throughout each level. When the developers of Team Meat moved on to create "The Binding of Isaac", an Action dungeon crawler with Rogue-like RPG elements, Danny Baranowsky once again joined in and created a morbid feeling track that really accentuated the grotesque theme and art style.
Source: Youtube Channel 8BallsEmperor
In terms of listening, I think Super Meat Boy's tracks are more fun to listen to. But what really got me liking the music in "The Binding of Isaac" is how effective it was in the game. The impact it had on the game's environment and the player's mental state was a large part of the experience while playing. The tracks are a mixture between some orchestration with dark electronic synths and pads which make it sound eerie. You can check out Baranowsky's site on the top and listen to samples of his other works and even buy them. I'm very excited to see what he works on next.
Friday, December 2, 2011
NewNews - North America's gonna get Xenoblade Chronicles
Official Site: Xenoblade Chronicles on Nintendo Wii
Source: Youtube Channel NintenDaanNC
Many RPG fans, including myself, were excited hearing about and watching trailers to Xenoblade Chronicles. Not only that, it was one of the more major reasons to getting back onto the Nintendo Wii which seemingly has a smaller library of major titles this year other than a few made by Nintendo themselves. When Nintendo of America announced that they wouldn't be bringing the title over to North America back in June this year, it was a sad day for a lot of Wii owners and RPG fans. It was a huge surprise this morning seeing the headlines of gaming news everywhere rejoicing in the localization of Xenoblade Chronicles to North America with an expected launch date of April 2012.
Xenoblade Chronicles is a single-player Action-RPG utilizing a real-time battle system for a more fast-paced and modern RPG experience in contrast to its predecessors. It's also more open-world with games like Monster Hunter Tri (this one was really good I heard) or Valhalla Knights: The Eldar Saga (which is pretty bad, I'm playing that right now). So players can freely wander the world and fulfill quests to gain experience and currency. The story won't be as vague as the two I mentioned just now as the Xeno series has always had a deep plot that entices the player's attention to the environment, dialogues, and characters. I'm really happy to hear that it will be brought over to North America. I just hope The Last Story and Pandora's Tower follows suit and gets brought over, because I really want some good games on my Wii to play.
Source:
-Gamasutra: Nintendo's Xenoblade Chronicles Finally Comes To America
Source: Youtube Channel NintenDaanNC
Many RPG fans, including myself, were excited hearing about and watching trailers to Xenoblade Chronicles. Not only that, it was one of the more major reasons to getting back onto the Nintendo Wii which seemingly has a smaller library of major titles this year other than a few made by Nintendo themselves. When Nintendo of America announced that they wouldn't be bringing the title over to North America back in June this year, it was a sad day for a lot of Wii owners and RPG fans. It was a huge surprise this morning seeing the headlines of gaming news everywhere rejoicing in the localization of Xenoblade Chronicles to North America with an expected launch date of April 2012.
Xenoblade Chronicles is a single-player Action-RPG utilizing a real-time battle system for a more fast-paced and modern RPG experience in contrast to its predecessors. It's also more open-world with games like Monster Hunter Tri (this one was really good I heard) or Valhalla Knights: The Eldar Saga (which is pretty bad, I'm playing that right now). So players can freely wander the world and fulfill quests to gain experience and currency. The story won't be as vague as the two I mentioned just now as the Xeno series has always had a deep plot that entices the player's attention to the environment, dialogues, and characters. I'm really happy to hear that it will be brought over to North America. I just hope The Last Story and Pandora's Tower follows suit and gets brought over, because I really want some good games on my Wii to play.
Source:
-Gamasutra: Nintendo's Xenoblade Chronicles Finally Comes To America
Thursday, December 1, 2011
GameLight - Dungeons of Dredmor
Official Site: http://www.dungeonsofdredmor.com/
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
When the game first released on Steam, I didn't much of it because I was hoping for an Action-RPG dungeon crawler (remember, I'm in the Top-down Action RPG phase right now) but saw the trailer and it looked so boring...Still, I kept my eye out for the game and was ready to try it out (even though it was only $5). This past Sunday was the last day of the fall sales on Steam and Dungeons of Dredmor was at $2.49 and so I picked it up hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. I think the trailer could've done better in highlighting the game as it's surprisingly really fun. Dungeons of Dredmore is a "Tactical" rogue-like RPG. Games like Shiren: The Wanderer, Izuna: Legend of the unemployed ninja, Desktop Dungeons, and maybe even (but very loosely considered) Pokémon Mystery Dungeon come to mind. Rogue-like RPGs have a lot to do with risks/rewards, unexpected surprises, and getting smarter/stronger. When I started the tutorial, I already started worrying about whether I'd enjoy the game as the music (though catchy at first) started to get annoying, there was a lot to take in, and the stats system was convoluted. When I finally started the game, it gave me the choice of 3 difficulty levels (I picked the hardest one to test the game out), the choice to play with Perma-death (once you die, your character is gone, which I have choice to play with every game so far), and 7 skills to play with. Just choosing from the large array of skills started to get me interested. There are so many combinations I could play with. After my first playthrough and dying on Level 3-4 (I don't remember since I didn't know about "levels" yet, I just went where ever I saw was open) from a boss monster, all I could think about was getting more out of the game. I did even better my second time around (only because I played on easy difficulty the 2nd time) but still died because of a boss monster. 3rd time, I died in the first time from being mobbed by a bunch of weak enemies. It made me laugh and I loved the unexpected situation I had got into. Each time I played, the levels changed. Yup, the game randomly generates the dungeons for an infinite amount of gameplay. As I retry each playthrough, I understand more about items, how the stats system works, and trying out new builds. It's so satisfying getting stronger and killing monsters so hard that they explode from a single strike or to burn in a pool of fire that you had set. But the game also keeps you on edge with traps each step of the way, a crazy boss monsters on the other side of the door, or a huge buff in abilities for the player to dominate the enemies with.
To make short of everything, the game is pure tactics, action, and item management. There won't be cinematics getting in the way of your killing, long-winded tutorials on how to do things (though the optional tutorial did feel somewhat long), and there seems to be something new for each play through of the game. I'm really hoping I can get 50+ hours out of this game, because it really is that fun! I haven't beaten it yet, and I plan on playing no perma-death mode one of these days just to beat it once. This is just a vague preview of the game and I don't feel ready to give it a full review yet, but I'm enjoying the game a lot so far!
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
When the game first released on Steam, I didn't much of it because I was hoping for an Action-RPG dungeon crawler (remember, I'm in the Top-down Action RPG phase right now) but saw the trailer and it looked so boring...Still, I kept my eye out for the game and was ready to try it out (even though it was only $5). This past Sunday was the last day of the fall sales on Steam and Dungeons of Dredmor was at $2.49 and so I picked it up hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. I think the trailer could've done better in highlighting the game as it's surprisingly really fun. Dungeons of Dredmore is a "Tactical" rogue-like RPG. Games like Shiren: The Wanderer, Izuna: Legend of the unemployed ninja, Desktop Dungeons, and maybe even (but very loosely considered) Pokémon Mystery Dungeon come to mind. Rogue-like RPGs have a lot to do with risks/rewards, unexpected surprises, and getting smarter/stronger. When I started the tutorial, I already started worrying about whether I'd enjoy the game as the music (though catchy at first) started to get annoying, there was a lot to take in, and the stats system was convoluted. When I finally started the game, it gave me the choice of 3 difficulty levels (I picked the hardest one to test the game out), the choice to play with Perma-death (once you die, your character is gone, which I have choice to play with every game so far), and 7 skills to play with. Just choosing from the large array of skills started to get me interested. There are so many combinations I could play with. After my first playthrough and dying on Level 3-4 (I don't remember since I didn't know about "levels" yet, I just went where ever I saw was open) from a boss monster, all I could think about was getting more out of the game. I did even better my second time around (only because I played on easy difficulty the 2nd time) but still died because of a boss monster. 3rd time, I died in the first time from being mobbed by a bunch of weak enemies. It made me laugh and I loved the unexpected situation I had got into. Each time I played, the levels changed. Yup, the game randomly generates the dungeons for an infinite amount of gameplay. As I retry each playthrough, I understand more about items, how the stats system works, and trying out new builds. It's so satisfying getting stronger and killing monsters so hard that they explode from a single strike or to burn in a pool of fire that you had set. But the game also keeps you on edge with traps each step of the way, a crazy boss monsters on the other side of the door, or a huge buff in abilities for the player to dominate the enemies with.
To make short of everything, the game is pure tactics, action, and item management. There won't be cinematics getting in the way of your killing, long-winded tutorials on how to do things (though the optional tutorial did feel somewhat long), and there seems to be something new for each play through of the game. I'm really hoping I can get 50+ hours out of this game, because it really is that fun! I haven't beaten it yet, and I plan on playing no perma-death mode one of these days just to beat it once. This is just a vague preview of the game and I don't feel ready to give it a full review yet, but I'm enjoying the game a lot so far!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Retroview - Depths of Peril
Official Site: http://www.soldak.com/Depths-of-Peril/Overview.html
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/23600/
Source: Youtube Channel SoldakEnt
It's been a little over 4 years since Depths of Peril released, but I've honestly never heard of it until this year. I bought it off steam a month ago for $5 during one of the daily deals as I'm going into a Top-Down Action RPG phase of sorts at the moment with games like Titan Quest, Diablo 2, and Torchlight all in wait of Diablo 3. Depths of Peril is an RPG/Strategy game which sounds confusing at first, but makes sense when put into play. There are a number of factions (that can be adjusted by the player) in a town who can either ally with each other or eliminate each other anytime during the play. The game is almost like an MMO, but played as a single-player game. The player chooses the settings of difficulty level, character class, and special rules like Hardcore mode (perma-death) in the beginning of each new game and a randomly generated world is created. A player can play in any way they want as long as it benefits them in dominating over all the other factions. The game is played a lot like Diablo, with elements of World of Warcraft, the strategy is a lot like Total War or Civilization, and the on-going persistence of everything happening around the player is like many MMORPGs out now. The player can fulfill quests for NPCs in-town, recruit party members, create diplomacies with other factions, fight bosses, learn any skills from their class (no tier tree, so no pre-reqs for new skills), and raid other factions.
My first two reactions when starting the game was: "wow, the graphics are ugly" and "man, this is confusing". It's one of those games where it drops the player into the world with little to no explanation on what to do. The objective is simple: dominate all other factions by either diplomacy or by destruction. There is a tutorial or sorts in the very beginning, but it's long-winded and still confusing afterwards. It does take a while to learn how to play, but the fun starts rolling when you know what to do. To go back to the graphics: the models are so blocky and the colors are so convoluted that it's difficult to navigate. Objects blended with the environment around it, NPCs were hard to find, and it gets really messy during large mob battles. After a few hours, I got used to the maps and was able to semi get around. I still thought the graphics weren't too much to look at though. And if you like music in your RPGs, well you'll only hear like one of them in-town.
With the aesthetics of the game lacking in polish or quality, everything boils down to the gameplay. Fortunately, the game is pretty fun. After getting a few levels to grab a few skills, recruiting a party member, and figuring out how quests work the game can get pretty fast-paced and hectic. Enemy faction leaders will do quests and fight monsters like the main player would and sometimes finish quests that the player had which denies the reward for the player. Boss monsters are in the middle of a field and can create quite a mob when spawned enemies decide to join the party. I do hate some of the quests (as I often do in a lot of RPGs with "quests" or "sidequests" in them) such as the delivery ones as it never specifies where the NPC is other than which field they're residing in, and even then it can be an easter egg hunt to no avail. There are time limits to a lot of quests, so it puts the player even more on edge in trying to complete a quest. When the player feels ready, they can raid another faction and their party members to destroy their main crystal. The game almost feels like playing World of Warcraft in a matter of hours by creating a strong team, leveling the character, grabbing effective gear, and going on a Raid or PvP. After I dominated all factions for the first time, it allowed me to create new settings with the character with levels, skills, and equipment intact so that a new game began with new factions. Quests will continually be added, new boss monsters will keep spawning throughout the world, and new equipment can be obtained as the player levels up and attempts to raid more factions. The game is truly unique and has a certain charm to it that makes it stand out from the crowd. The game was a very nice distraction and I wouldn't mind going back to it once in a while just to experience a "raid" once again.
Soldak Entertainment (the developers of Depths of Peril) has a few other games such as Din's Curse. Although a lot of their RPGs kind of look the same, their gameplay are different (Din's Curse allows for 141 class combinations). If you're into Action-RPGs and don't mind experience a unique twist to it, I'd recommend grabbing it on Steam when it's less than $5.
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/23600/
Source: Youtube Channel SoldakEnt
It's been a little over 4 years since Depths of Peril released, but I've honestly never heard of it until this year. I bought it off steam a month ago for $5 during one of the daily deals as I'm going into a Top-Down Action RPG phase of sorts at the moment with games like Titan Quest, Diablo 2, and Torchlight all in wait of Diablo 3. Depths of Peril is an RPG/Strategy game which sounds confusing at first, but makes sense when put into play. There are a number of factions (that can be adjusted by the player) in a town who can either ally with each other or eliminate each other anytime during the play. The game is almost like an MMO, but played as a single-player game. The player chooses the settings of difficulty level, character class, and special rules like Hardcore mode (perma-death) in the beginning of each new game and a randomly generated world is created. A player can play in any way they want as long as it benefits them in dominating over all the other factions. The game is played a lot like Diablo, with elements of World of Warcraft, the strategy is a lot like Total War or Civilization, and the on-going persistence of everything happening around the player is like many MMORPGs out now. The player can fulfill quests for NPCs in-town, recruit party members, create diplomacies with other factions, fight bosses, learn any skills from their class (no tier tree, so no pre-reqs for new skills), and raid other factions.
My first two reactions when starting the game was: "wow, the graphics are ugly" and "man, this is confusing". It's one of those games where it drops the player into the world with little to no explanation on what to do. The objective is simple: dominate all other factions by either diplomacy or by destruction. There is a tutorial or sorts in the very beginning, but it's long-winded and still confusing afterwards. It does take a while to learn how to play, but the fun starts rolling when you know what to do. To go back to the graphics: the models are so blocky and the colors are so convoluted that it's difficult to navigate. Objects blended with the environment around it, NPCs were hard to find, and it gets really messy during large mob battles. After a few hours, I got used to the maps and was able to semi get around. I still thought the graphics weren't too much to look at though. And if you like music in your RPGs, well you'll only hear like one of them in-town.
With the aesthetics of the game lacking in polish or quality, everything boils down to the gameplay. Fortunately, the game is pretty fun. After getting a few levels to grab a few skills, recruiting a party member, and figuring out how quests work the game can get pretty fast-paced and hectic. Enemy faction leaders will do quests and fight monsters like the main player would and sometimes finish quests that the player had which denies the reward for the player. Boss monsters are in the middle of a field and can create quite a mob when spawned enemies decide to join the party. I do hate some of the quests (as I often do in a lot of RPGs with "quests" or "sidequests" in them) such as the delivery ones as it never specifies where the NPC is other than which field they're residing in, and even then it can be an easter egg hunt to no avail. There are time limits to a lot of quests, so it puts the player even more on edge in trying to complete a quest. When the player feels ready, they can raid another faction and their party members to destroy their main crystal. The game almost feels like playing World of Warcraft in a matter of hours by creating a strong team, leveling the character, grabbing effective gear, and going on a Raid or PvP. After I dominated all factions for the first time, it allowed me to create new settings with the character with levels, skills, and equipment intact so that a new game began with new factions. Quests will continually be added, new boss monsters will keep spawning throughout the world, and new equipment can be obtained as the player levels up and attempts to raid more factions. The game is truly unique and has a certain charm to it that makes it stand out from the crowd. The game was a very nice distraction and I wouldn't mind going back to it once in a while just to experience a "raid" once again.
Soldak Entertainment (the developers of Depths of Peril) has a few other games such as Din's Curse. Although a lot of their RPGs kind of look the same, their gameplay are different (Din's Curse allows for 141 class combinations). If you're into Action-RPGs and don't mind experience a unique twist to it, I'd recommend grabbing it on Steam when it's less than $5.
Monday, November 28, 2011
VGCulture - Cyber Monday Deals
Cyber Monday Deals are still going on Amazon with lots of new games on the list:
-Battlefield 3 for $40
-Dark Souls for $35
-Mortal Kombat for $30
-RAGE for $30
-El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron for $30
-Gears of War 3 for $35
And more on Amazon.com!
-Battlefield 3 for $40
-Dark Souls for $35
-Mortal Kombat for $30
-RAGE for $30
-El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron for $30
-Gears of War 3 for $35
And more on Amazon.com!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
VGCulture - Happy Thanksgiving (2011)
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
VGCulture - Steam Autumn Sale (2011)
Official Site: http://store.steampowered.com/
Bwahaha, I was right! Steam's Autumn Sales has begun with currently 1638 items listed with a discount. Each day, there will be featured sales with a even greater price cut. If you don't see your game of choice on the featured sales today, maybe it will appear in one of the other days. If by Sunday you still don't see it, then getting it at its current discount price will be the most you'll get out of it (until winter sales come in).
-Men of War: It's an strategy game, not much else to say about it.
-Duke Nukem Forever: This one's a hard choice for me. I'm not sure if it's worth getting even at $6.79. If I do get it, I hope that it's at least somewhat entertaining (look at the metacritic score and you'll know what I mean).
-Sam & Max Complete Pack: If you enjoy adventure games, this would be a good pack to get as point-n-click adventure games are rare these days.
-Renegade Ops: It's a top-down action game and it got some pretty good reviews. I'm reluctant to try it out, but perhaps if it drops down to only a few dollars I'll give it a spin.
-Dejobaan Collection: They make weird games that can be somewhat entertaining. For only $10 you get 4 games.
-Test Drive Unlimited 2: Anyone notice that Deadmau5's Ghosts 'n Stuff is used in the trailer?
-Mass Effect Franchise: If you haven't played this awesome Action-RPG yet, then this would be a great time to get them for a price of merely $5 each.
-Portal 2: A puzzle-platformer that can be play cooperatively with a friend online.
-Orcs Must Die!: This is an Action-Tower Defense game. You can say it's kind of like Sanctum, but with swords and crossbows.
-The Oddboxx: It has the original Oddworld back from 1997 up to the newest one from 2010.
-Call of Duty: Blacks Ops: Just a warning that if you get this, it'll be mainly for the Campaign mode and zombie mode. When Black Ops came out last year, the community for Modern Warfare 2's online multiplayer died pretty quickly.
-Risen: An Action RPG with a sequel coming out sometime next year.
More to come in the upcoming days.
-Duke Nukem Forever: This one's a hard choice for me. I'm not sure if it's worth getting even at $6.79. If I do get it, I hope that it's at least somewhat entertaining (look at the metacritic score and you'll know what I mean).
-Sam & Max Complete Pack: If you enjoy adventure games, this would be a good pack to get as point-n-click adventure games are rare these days.
-Renegade Ops: It's a top-down action game and it got some pretty good reviews. I'm reluctant to try it out, but perhaps if it drops down to only a few dollars I'll give it a spin.
-Dejobaan Collection: They make weird games that can be somewhat entertaining. For only $10 you get 4 games.
-Test Drive Unlimited 2: Anyone notice that Deadmau5's Ghosts 'n Stuff is used in the trailer?
-Mass Effect Franchise: If you haven't played this awesome Action-RPG yet, then this would be a great time to get them for a price of merely $5 each.
-Portal 2: A puzzle-platformer that can be play cooperatively with a friend online.
-Orcs Must Die!: This is an Action-Tower Defense game. You can say it's kind of like Sanctum, but with swords and crossbows.
-The Oddboxx: It has the original Oddworld back from 1997 up to the newest one from 2010.
-Call of Duty: Blacks Ops: Just a warning that if you get this, it'll be mainly for the Campaign mode and zombie mode. When Black Ops came out last year, the community for Modern Warfare 2's online multiplayer died pretty quickly.
-Risen: An Action RPG with a sequel coming out sometime next year.
More to come in the upcoming days.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
VGCulture - Thanksgiving Sales
Hey gamers, keep an eye out for sales throughout the next two weeks for Black Friday and Cyber Monday (which has extended to a week or month beforehand for some stores).
Besides retails at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, and others, there's online stores as well:
-Steam: I'm pretty sure Steam will have a Thanksgiving sale
-Amazon: Lots of deals on physical copies and over 200+ for digital downloads
-Newegg: Sometimes they have game sales, but I'd go to them for your PC gaming needs
And many more. Get ready for the Holidays!
Besides retails at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, and others, there's online stores as well:
-Steam: I'm pretty sure Steam will have a Thanksgiving sale
-Amazon: Lots of deals on physical copies and over 200+ for digital downloads
-Newegg: Sometimes they have game sales, but I'd go to them for your PC gaming needs
And many more. Get ready for the Holidays!
Monday, November 21, 2011
GameLight Review - Brink
Official Site: http://www.brinkthegame.com/
Source: Youtube Channel BethesdaSoftworks
Developer: Splash Damage
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: May 10, 2011
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Pros:
-Unique team-based gameplay that demands the cooperation of the whole team
-The parkour concept makes for an interesting way of getting around, escaping, or attacking
-The art style is colorful, clean, and refreshing in a genre so used to muddy brown and cloudy grey
Cons:
-Uncooperative team mates can make for a frustrating and unpleasant experience
-The game is meant for multi-player as single-player is an emulated multiplayer with ally bots being really dumb
-Missions will require cooperation, but the game design doesn't exactly encourage it in the right way
-Multiplayer is officially dead; you're too late if you want to try it now
If you're a console player, don't get Brink. It's not because it's a "bad" game per se, but because the community for the game is dead now (absolutely 0 people online). If you're a PC gamer, you might still have a chance. Out of all the First-Person Shooters I looked forward to from the beginning of 2011, Brink was the one I had most faith in. It sadly disappointed me in so many ways that that I almost regret buying it, but am glad I did only because it helped me learn so much about game design. The game had a lot of potential that was hurt by its own design choices, which should have made it better, as some concept flaws weren't foreseen. If Splash Damage were to develop Brink 2, a sequel, and change everything that went wrong to make it right, then there still might be a chance for this franchise. As of right now, I have to recommend NOT getting this game for console as you won't find a multiplayer experience OR a single-player experience for that matter.
Aesthetics - Graphics, Audio, and Presentation
What I liked about Brink from the get go was the bright and colorful environment it had (much like Mirror's Edge). The characters do look odd, but they're believable as people. One of the problems with the customization of characters is that they can wear all sorts of different colors, even if the team colors are "Blue" and "Red". This makes identifying friendly and hostile in a split-second decision a bit more difficult. It might be more realistic to have individualism with what the player wants their character to wear, but this is a game and it hinders on the gameplay if allies and enemies keep getting confused for one another when getting shot at. The HUD system is clean and pretty straight-forward. The objectives menu took some getting used to, but it's easy to get around once a player knows how to use it. The voice-acting was alright, but the volume balance for it wasn't set right. I can barely hear the characters speaking during cinematics. The gunfire sfx was alright and being able to identify between each weapon was easy enough. I was kind of confused why everyone had an Australian or Jamaican accent, but I liked it anyways. One of the things I could not stand at all was hearing "our command post has been captured, GET IT BACK" or "the command post has been stolen, STOP THEM!" or something of that nature. I'll explain that under "concept". The game really looked good and feels pretty good the first time you play it. The art style was different, colors were clear and brilliant, menus and HUDs were clean, and gameplay felt smooth. There's the occasional texture blinking and disappearing and some things kind of meld in together with the environment (including enemies), but the game looked and sounded really nice for a frantic First-Person Shooter. Aesthetics: 9/10
Buttons - Controls
The key mappings to Brink is slightly different from other First-Person Shooters. One of the main keys being sprinting. Since the same key used for sprinting is the same one used to perform wall runs, climbs and other stunts, it is mapped to the L2 button rather than L3 (for PS3) so that the player doesn't accidentally jump over cover when moving around. Everything else is about the same: R3 to melee, Square to reload, Triangle to switch weapons, Circle to crouch, Cross to jump, R1 to fire, and R2 to throw a grenade. The problem with the key scheme falls in when interacting with anything. The player has to leave their right thumb stick to hold the square button. This makes aiming for the object and interacting with it difficult when under gunfire. This probably doesn't pertain to PC players as both hands will be on movement and aim while the interact key is probably the "E" key. A better mapping would've probably been having R3 as interact and reload, and square as melee or grenade. Even better, it would've been better if the player could remap the keys to their liking. Input is alright, but there might be some things that people won't like. When climbing, the player's character can't do anything in-between the sequence they moment they start until they are done. It might be only one second, but that's enough for any enemy right above you to take you out. When aiming-down-sight, there's a slight delay going into it. This means that you can't fire for that 0.75 seconds or so until you're fully aiming down. It also has that delay getting out of ADS as well. Those who are used to fast ADS in Call of Duty, Battlefield, Halo, or whichever FPS you play, it might be bothersome. The player still slows down to a crawl when in ADS. A melee attack (also has a slight delay) knocks an enemy back for a chance to shoot them; however, they're able to shoot back when on the floor. When performing a melee attack, the player can't shoot for a second or two. This leaves the player at a disadvantage. For a game boasting in fluidity and fast-paced action, the controls feel clunky and unruly at times. Just trying to interact with objects is a really big problem. The game controls feel very standard, even with the ability to perform parkour moves. Buttons: 6/10
Concept & Content - Design
I need to break this down because there's a lot that makes this game shine but also fail at the same time.
Seamless single-player and multiplayer:
When I purchased Brink, I did so for the single-player experience as the community had dwindled for the multiplayer. To my surprise, Single-player, co-op and multiplayer versus were all the same thing. Each level was actually a mission for each of the sides. Single-player consisted of playing one of 4 challenges or up to 4 players in co-op while the main game is an assortment of capturing command posts, taking an item (capture the flag), escorting, defending a wall, trying to blow it up, etc. Single-player is essentially a pseudo multiplayer where the player goes against bots with bots on their side of the team as well. At first, it's pretty interesting since there's still that team-work aspect still there when playing the game; however, there will be many encounters when ally bots will be very uncooperative and won't fulfill the main objective or end up dying. It's frustrating because the enemy bots are well organized, have dead-aim all of a sudden when you least expect it which kills off your entire team and eventually yourself, and just plain plays much better than the bots on your own team. Earlier, I mentioned that I hated hearing the game announce that a command post has been captured. Not only is it irritating hearing it every other minute, but it also causes ally team mates to run over to re-capture it when the attention is needed on the main objective. This happens with both bots and players. Command posts give a team advantage, but it isn't necessary for victory. Versus mode is how the game is meant to be played, yet bots exist to fill in the void for each game session. The community is dead now, so single-player, co-op and versus all end up being single-player for consoles now.
Adding a story to multiplayer and giving purpose:
This is a double edged sword that made the game interesting but also killed it. The story of the ark and its inhabitants gave reason to the fight between the sides and created the setting of the world for the player. Along with cinematics are dossiers of voice recordings and profiles of the people involved with the fight. It set the time and place of the world, but it didn't really build up to anything interesting. Worse yet, since all the levels are missions that tell each part of the story, a player feels "complete" after accomplishing the task for that particular level. Going back to a level to replay it feels like playing a game that's already completed and relies more on "versus" mode to keep the game fresh (which most people probably finished in co-op). I'm really not sure how the story could have evolved better, but I didn't find any purpose to replay any level after I found out what each mission was about.
Persistent character progression, upgrading, leveling, and acquiring new items to customize:
The core game is very much like Valve's Team Fortress 2 with the movements of Mirror's Edge's parkour gameplay and Call of Duty's (or any other typical current gen FPS) weapons and customization system. Splash Damage combined the level progression of Call of Duty games into Team Fortress 2's team-based combat to create a multiplayer experience with a deep story and character progression. This was a great idea as it gave players a purpose beyond just killing players and performing tasks. All the previews and trailers presented a dynamic weapon customization system that allows for a variety of unique effects and appearance. In Call of Duty (at least for the Modern Warfare series), the player is frequently rewarded little by little as they continued playing the game online. In Brink, players acquire weapons in bulk by completing 3 levels of 4 challenges. The player (if skillful enough) could acquire all the weapons in the game within an hour or so which ultimately defeats the concept of "player progression" other than gaining levels for new clothing or abilities. Even with all the weapons, their differences are meager and the customization being limited to a few attachments. There's essentially 6 weapons with all the extra ones having minor differences: Assault, SMG, Gatling, shotgun, sniper, and launcher. All guns share the same scopes, customized mags, and add-ons, so customization doesn't go as far as making a few statistical changes. I actually don't have much to complain about the upgrading and leveling system for new abilities as it closely follows how Battlefield: Bad Company 2 does it by leveling and acquiring new abilities (though they're items in BFBC2 such as med-packs and ammo). The difference is that in Brink, you can choose what new skill to acquire as long as its within the player's "rank" to do so. So with the incentive of getting more abilities, there's very little content to keep the player going beyond that.
Class and team-based gameplay concept:
The developers probably didn't foresee this happening, but the team-based concept is quite a problem when trying to actually fulfill a mission. How each mission works is the team gets a main mission and usually requires a certain "class" to fulfill them. A Solider can blow up obstructions and provide ammunition, Medics can heal and resurrect fallen comrades, Engineers can build turrets and repair items, and Operatives can disguise as the enemy to get behind enemy lines to captures posts and hack computers. So all four classes are necessary for a successful mission and their dependency relies on each other. The "class" system falls apart though when put into another perspective. Most players play First-Person Shooter online to compete against other players and thus are used to "death matches". But there is no such mode in Brink and is an assortment of modes put together. Another problem with the class system is that it is mainly used for "fulfilling" a mission and doesn't limit their abilities to "kill". A player can have any body type (Heavy, medium, light) utilizing any weapon they want. This makes every class capable to kill another player. What happens then is that players will forget their main objective and focus on the "killing" aspect of the game. Soldiers will use their abilities to refill their own ammo to consistently kill. Medics will keep themselves in the fight by healing themselves and focus on the fire-fight. Engineers will set up turrets and mines around while racking up kills. Operatives will try to use the disguise to get behind enemies to shoot from there. There are lots of abilities that limit classes from only buffing their team mates, but the main ones are usable on themselves which breaks some of that reliance of team mates and allows one to solo it out. Even with such a dynamic design of team-based gameplay, there will be players who will play the game like a "death-match" and ultimately kill the experience for everyone else. To point out one of the examples, Team Fortress 2's medic can't heal themselves and don't do much damage. So the reliance on a team mate to protect them while they heal them is necessary. In Brink, it's very easy for a player to solo in a fire-fight as everyone possess the same guns to fight. I'd blame the players for this problem if it was possible, but there aren't any players left online to blame for it.
Modes and Map Design:
I personally liked how each mission was an assortment of capturing, defending, attacking, and planting as it promotes team work more than "Team Death match" does. The problem is not everyone feels that way, and so there will still those who will play the game like a death match rather than a capture mode. This actually isn't a problem with the mode selections, but more to do with the way the "class" system is set up. If you can't encourage team-work past class specific objectives to fulfill, no one will fall in to play their part. The maps were designed to be able to perform various parkour moves, but they can be very confusing. Map flows are obscure, maze-like, and difficult to navigate. I eventually got used to a few of them, but it was still difficult to find my way around some areas which wastes time.
Parkour:
This was one of the main attractions to the game, especially after the appeal Mirror's Edge had. Throughout the game, the tutorials will tell the player to "move" around a lot as it is the only way to survive. In the trailers, you see the player sliding into enemies, chasing them through several platforms, and leaping into a fray of enemies. The problem? Guns shoot far, and they will reach you no matter where you run to unless there's cover. This concept of "running around" and "Parkour" was to hopefully diminish the amount of "camping" that happens within FPS games, but it doesn't work even in Brink. Running will only expose yourself to gunfire unless there's cover nearby, and climbing up walls slows your character down with the delay which gives free reign for an enemy to shoot you. Running and Parkour is great for getting to where you need to go, but not for combat. In the midst of battle, the most effective way to get through a gunfight is by moving up slowly with the entire team and finding cover. Sliding into an enemy and shooting them may look cool in the videos, but in the actual game you'd probably get shot by the enemy or their team mates before being able fire.
The game is innovative, and it truly has a lot of potential that it could still work with. The game just simply doesn't work well right now for a true "team-based" multiplayer experience, but it might still have a chance of redeeming itself if the problems are addressed and fixed. Concept & Content: 5/10
Duration - Pacing, length, and Replay Value
I finished all the missions (except for Day 6 of the enforcers, that accursed mission) in about 10 hours or so in replaying some of the missions. Each mission takes an average of 30 minutes depending on the situation. If the team is defending and loses the first point, they need to defend the next point which adds time. If they successfully defend the first point, the mission ends within 10 minutes. Single-player and co-op don't have much lasting appeal, and so the reliance on Versus mode to keep the game's replay value high is necessary. Unfortunately, the game's online community is dead. So as of right now, it has little to no replay value unless you really like to play with bots or doing those challenges. But I got about 12-15 hours of gameplay for $10, so I'm alright. This score would've been very different if there were still people playing this game. Duration: 5/10
Fun - First/Last Impression, Entertainment Value
When I first started, I liked it. Being able to freely climb up high place, jump off walls, and sliding around was fun and made me look at the levels differently. I didn't think much of the weapons as they were exactly what I expected out of an FPS. I thought it was interesting to add a life-bar over player's heads. It made priority a little easier to decide. As I got farther into the game, I started to become very frustrated. Human players would leave their characters online to "hopefully" have the computer AI win for them as well as gaining points to level up. Ally computer AIs were dumb and uncooperative which really made me feel like I was playing a single-player game as I had to switch between classes and fulfill the tasks myself. After awhile, it was more of a chore than an exciting experience for me. When I finally finished all the missions and saw the ending cinematic, it ended in a very sad whimper leaving me unsatisfied and upset with the game. I found out there were a lot of dossiers I haven't unlocked, but got bored really fast after listening to a few of them. The story no longer interested me, and the gameplay was too frustrating to go back to as human players no longer exist on it and bots were too dumb to withstand. I was very glad I played the game in a bad way for the game itself as I learned so much about what didn't work in a team-based multiplayer game. I put the disc back in its box and placed it with the rest of my finished games to remind me what the game has taught me. It was sort of fun while it lasted, but I'm done with Brink. Fun: 6/10
Overall
The game had a lot of potential and it still does for a sequel should the developers decide on doing so (though Bethesda might not want to back them up on it), but I the game is officially dead within the same year it was launched. I was hoping it would give me the satisfaction of a single-player experience, but it even failed at that. I still have some faith in the franchise and think it could evolve into something better, but I have to be honest with this first one and say that it wasn't as fun as I had hoped it'd be. Overall: 6.2/10
Source: Youtube Channel BethesdaSoftworks
Developer: Splash Damage
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: May 10, 2011
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Pros:
-Unique team-based gameplay that demands the cooperation of the whole team
-The parkour concept makes for an interesting way of getting around, escaping, or attacking
-The art style is colorful, clean, and refreshing in a genre so used to muddy brown and cloudy grey
Cons:
-Uncooperative team mates can make for a frustrating and unpleasant experience
-The game is meant for multi-player as single-player is an emulated multiplayer with ally bots being really dumb
-Missions will require cooperation, but the game design doesn't exactly encourage it in the right way
-Multiplayer is officially dead; you're too late if you want to try it now
If you're a console player, don't get Brink. It's not because it's a "bad" game per se, but because the community for the game is dead now (absolutely 0 people online). If you're a PC gamer, you might still have a chance. Out of all the First-Person Shooters I looked forward to from the beginning of 2011, Brink was the one I had most faith in. It sadly disappointed me in so many ways that that I almost regret buying it, but am glad I did only because it helped me learn so much about game design. The game had a lot of potential that was hurt by its own design choices, which should have made it better, as some concept flaws weren't foreseen. If Splash Damage were to develop Brink 2, a sequel, and change everything that went wrong to make it right, then there still might be a chance for this franchise. As of right now, I have to recommend NOT getting this game for console as you won't find a multiplayer experience OR a single-player experience for that matter.
Aesthetics - Graphics, Audio, and Presentation
What I liked about Brink from the get go was the bright and colorful environment it had (much like Mirror's Edge). The characters do look odd, but they're believable as people. One of the problems with the customization of characters is that they can wear all sorts of different colors, even if the team colors are "Blue" and "Red". This makes identifying friendly and hostile in a split-second decision a bit more difficult. It might be more realistic to have individualism with what the player wants their character to wear, but this is a game and it hinders on the gameplay if allies and enemies keep getting confused for one another when getting shot at. The HUD system is clean and pretty straight-forward. The objectives menu took some getting used to, but it's easy to get around once a player knows how to use it. The voice-acting was alright, but the volume balance for it wasn't set right. I can barely hear the characters speaking during cinematics. The gunfire sfx was alright and being able to identify between each weapon was easy enough. I was kind of confused why everyone had an Australian or Jamaican accent, but I liked it anyways. One of the things I could not stand at all was hearing "our command post has been captured, GET IT BACK" or "the command post has been stolen, STOP THEM!" or something of that nature. I'll explain that under "concept". The game really looked good and feels pretty good the first time you play it. The art style was different, colors were clear and brilliant, menus and HUDs were clean, and gameplay felt smooth. There's the occasional texture blinking and disappearing and some things kind of meld in together with the environment (including enemies), but the game looked and sounded really nice for a frantic First-Person Shooter. Aesthetics: 9/10
Buttons - Controls
The key mappings to Brink is slightly different from other First-Person Shooters. One of the main keys being sprinting. Since the same key used for sprinting is the same one used to perform wall runs, climbs and other stunts, it is mapped to the L2 button rather than L3 (for PS3) so that the player doesn't accidentally jump over cover when moving around. Everything else is about the same: R3 to melee, Square to reload, Triangle to switch weapons, Circle to crouch, Cross to jump, R1 to fire, and R2 to throw a grenade. The problem with the key scheme falls in when interacting with anything. The player has to leave their right thumb stick to hold the square button. This makes aiming for the object and interacting with it difficult when under gunfire. This probably doesn't pertain to PC players as both hands will be on movement and aim while the interact key is probably the "E" key. A better mapping would've probably been having R3 as interact and reload, and square as melee or grenade. Even better, it would've been better if the player could remap the keys to their liking. Input is alright, but there might be some things that people won't like. When climbing, the player's character can't do anything in-between the sequence they moment they start until they are done. It might be only one second, but that's enough for any enemy right above you to take you out. When aiming-down-sight, there's a slight delay going into it. This means that you can't fire for that 0.75 seconds or so until you're fully aiming down. It also has that delay getting out of ADS as well. Those who are used to fast ADS in Call of Duty, Battlefield, Halo, or whichever FPS you play, it might be bothersome. The player still slows down to a crawl when in ADS. A melee attack (also has a slight delay) knocks an enemy back for a chance to shoot them; however, they're able to shoot back when on the floor. When performing a melee attack, the player can't shoot for a second or two. This leaves the player at a disadvantage. For a game boasting in fluidity and fast-paced action, the controls feel clunky and unruly at times. Just trying to interact with objects is a really big problem. The game controls feel very standard, even with the ability to perform parkour moves. Buttons: 6/10
Concept & Content - Design
I need to break this down because there's a lot that makes this game shine but also fail at the same time.
Seamless single-player and multiplayer:
When I purchased Brink, I did so for the single-player experience as the community had dwindled for the multiplayer. To my surprise, Single-player, co-op and multiplayer versus were all the same thing. Each level was actually a mission for each of the sides. Single-player consisted of playing one of 4 challenges or up to 4 players in co-op while the main game is an assortment of capturing command posts, taking an item (capture the flag), escorting, defending a wall, trying to blow it up, etc. Single-player is essentially a pseudo multiplayer where the player goes against bots with bots on their side of the team as well. At first, it's pretty interesting since there's still that team-work aspect still there when playing the game; however, there will be many encounters when ally bots will be very uncooperative and won't fulfill the main objective or end up dying. It's frustrating because the enemy bots are well organized, have dead-aim all of a sudden when you least expect it which kills off your entire team and eventually yourself, and just plain plays much better than the bots on your own team. Earlier, I mentioned that I hated hearing the game announce that a command post has been captured. Not only is it irritating hearing it every other minute, but it also causes ally team mates to run over to re-capture it when the attention is needed on the main objective. This happens with both bots and players. Command posts give a team advantage, but it isn't necessary for victory. Versus mode is how the game is meant to be played, yet bots exist to fill in the void for each game session. The community is dead now, so single-player, co-op and versus all end up being single-player for consoles now.
Adding a story to multiplayer and giving purpose:
This is a double edged sword that made the game interesting but also killed it. The story of the ark and its inhabitants gave reason to the fight between the sides and created the setting of the world for the player. Along with cinematics are dossiers of voice recordings and profiles of the people involved with the fight. It set the time and place of the world, but it didn't really build up to anything interesting. Worse yet, since all the levels are missions that tell each part of the story, a player feels "complete" after accomplishing the task for that particular level. Going back to a level to replay it feels like playing a game that's already completed and relies more on "versus" mode to keep the game fresh (which most people probably finished in co-op). I'm really not sure how the story could have evolved better, but I didn't find any purpose to replay any level after I found out what each mission was about.
Persistent character progression, upgrading, leveling, and acquiring new items to customize:
The core game is very much like Valve's Team Fortress 2 with the movements of Mirror's Edge's parkour gameplay and Call of Duty's (or any other typical current gen FPS) weapons and customization system. Splash Damage combined the level progression of Call of Duty games into Team Fortress 2's team-based combat to create a multiplayer experience with a deep story and character progression. This was a great idea as it gave players a purpose beyond just killing players and performing tasks. All the previews and trailers presented a dynamic weapon customization system that allows for a variety of unique effects and appearance. In Call of Duty (at least for the Modern Warfare series), the player is frequently rewarded little by little as they continued playing the game online. In Brink, players acquire weapons in bulk by completing 3 levels of 4 challenges. The player (if skillful enough) could acquire all the weapons in the game within an hour or so which ultimately defeats the concept of "player progression" other than gaining levels for new clothing or abilities. Even with all the weapons, their differences are meager and the customization being limited to a few attachments. There's essentially 6 weapons with all the extra ones having minor differences: Assault, SMG, Gatling, shotgun, sniper, and launcher. All guns share the same scopes, customized mags, and add-ons, so customization doesn't go as far as making a few statistical changes. I actually don't have much to complain about the upgrading and leveling system for new abilities as it closely follows how Battlefield: Bad Company 2 does it by leveling and acquiring new abilities (though they're items in BFBC2 such as med-packs and ammo). The difference is that in Brink, you can choose what new skill to acquire as long as its within the player's "rank" to do so. So with the incentive of getting more abilities, there's very little content to keep the player going beyond that.
Class and team-based gameplay concept:
The developers probably didn't foresee this happening, but the team-based concept is quite a problem when trying to actually fulfill a mission. How each mission works is the team gets a main mission and usually requires a certain "class" to fulfill them. A Solider can blow up obstructions and provide ammunition, Medics can heal and resurrect fallen comrades, Engineers can build turrets and repair items, and Operatives can disguise as the enemy to get behind enemy lines to captures posts and hack computers. So all four classes are necessary for a successful mission and their dependency relies on each other. The "class" system falls apart though when put into another perspective. Most players play First-Person Shooter online to compete against other players and thus are used to "death matches". But there is no such mode in Brink and is an assortment of modes put together. Another problem with the class system is that it is mainly used for "fulfilling" a mission and doesn't limit their abilities to "kill". A player can have any body type (Heavy, medium, light) utilizing any weapon they want. This makes every class capable to kill another player. What happens then is that players will forget their main objective and focus on the "killing" aspect of the game. Soldiers will use their abilities to refill their own ammo to consistently kill. Medics will keep themselves in the fight by healing themselves and focus on the fire-fight. Engineers will set up turrets and mines around while racking up kills. Operatives will try to use the disguise to get behind enemies to shoot from there. There are lots of abilities that limit classes from only buffing their team mates, but the main ones are usable on themselves which breaks some of that reliance of team mates and allows one to solo it out. Even with such a dynamic design of team-based gameplay, there will be players who will play the game like a "death-match" and ultimately kill the experience for everyone else. To point out one of the examples, Team Fortress 2's medic can't heal themselves and don't do much damage. So the reliance on a team mate to protect them while they heal them is necessary. In Brink, it's very easy for a player to solo in a fire-fight as everyone possess the same guns to fight. I'd blame the players for this problem if it was possible, but there aren't any players left online to blame for it.
Modes and Map Design:
I personally liked how each mission was an assortment of capturing, defending, attacking, and planting as it promotes team work more than "Team Death match" does. The problem is not everyone feels that way, and so there will still those who will play the game like a death match rather than a capture mode. This actually isn't a problem with the mode selections, but more to do with the way the "class" system is set up. If you can't encourage team-work past class specific objectives to fulfill, no one will fall in to play their part. The maps were designed to be able to perform various parkour moves, but they can be very confusing. Map flows are obscure, maze-like, and difficult to navigate. I eventually got used to a few of them, but it was still difficult to find my way around some areas which wastes time.
Parkour:
This was one of the main attractions to the game, especially after the appeal Mirror's Edge had. Throughout the game, the tutorials will tell the player to "move" around a lot as it is the only way to survive. In the trailers, you see the player sliding into enemies, chasing them through several platforms, and leaping into a fray of enemies. The problem? Guns shoot far, and they will reach you no matter where you run to unless there's cover. This concept of "running around" and "Parkour" was to hopefully diminish the amount of "camping" that happens within FPS games, but it doesn't work even in Brink. Running will only expose yourself to gunfire unless there's cover nearby, and climbing up walls slows your character down with the delay which gives free reign for an enemy to shoot you. Running and Parkour is great for getting to where you need to go, but not for combat. In the midst of battle, the most effective way to get through a gunfight is by moving up slowly with the entire team and finding cover. Sliding into an enemy and shooting them may look cool in the videos, but in the actual game you'd probably get shot by the enemy or their team mates before being able fire.
The game is innovative, and it truly has a lot of potential that it could still work with. The game just simply doesn't work well right now for a true "team-based" multiplayer experience, but it might still have a chance of redeeming itself if the problems are addressed and fixed. Concept & Content: 5/10
Duration - Pacing, length, and Replay Value
I finished all the missions (except for Day 6 of the enforcers, that accursed mission) in about 10 hours or so in replaying some of the missions. Each mission takes an average of 30 minutes depending on the situation. If the team is defending and loses the first point, they need to defend the next point which adds time. If they successfully defend the first point, the mission ends within 10 minutes. Single-player and co-op don't have much lasting appeal, and so the reliance on Versus mode to keep the game's replay value high is necessary. Unfortunately, the game's online community is dead. So as of right now, it has little to no replay value unless you really like to play with bots or doing those challenges. But I got about 12-15 hours of gameplay for $10, so I'm alright. This score would've been very different if there were still people playing this game. Duration: 5/10
Fun - First/Last Impression, Entertainment Value
When I first started, I liked it. Being able to freely climb up high place, jump off walls, and sliding around was fun and made me look at the levels differently. I didn't think much of the weapons as they were exactly what I expected out of an FPS. I thought it was interesting to add a life-bar over player's heads. It made priority a little easier to decide. As I got farther into the game, I started to become very frustrated. Human players would leave their characters online to "hopefully" have the computer AI win for them as well as gaining points to level up. Ally computer AIs were dumb and uncooperative which really made me feel like I was playing a single-player game as I had to switch between classes and fulfill the tasks myself. After awhile, it was more of a chore than an exciting experience for me. When I finally finished all the missions and saw the ending cinematic, it ended in a very sad whimper leaving me unsatisfied and upset with the game. I found out there were a lot of dossiers I haven't unlocked, but got bored really fast after listening to a few of them. The story no longer interested me, and the gameplay was too frustrating to go back to as human players no longer exist on it and bots were too dumb to withstand. I was very glad I played the game in a bad way for the game itself as I learned so much about what didn't work in a team-based multiplayer game. I put the disc back in its box and placed it with the rest of my finished games to remind me what the game has taught me. It was sort of fun while it lasted, but I'm done with Brink. Fun: 6/10
Overall
The game had a lot of potential and it still does for a sequel should the developers decide on doing so (though Bethesda might not want to back them up on it), but I the game is officially dead within the same year it was launched. I was hoping it would give me the satisfaction of a single-player experience, but it even failed at that. I still have some faith in the franchise and think it could evolve into something better, but I have to be honest with this first one and say that it wasn't as fun as I had hoped it'd be. Overall: 6.2/10
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