Trimming the backlog

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

In an effort to get through my backlog, I played a lot of my games in the last couple months. I found most of them boring and didn’t give them much time, but some were entertaining for a while. Let’s look at some of the games I tried and decided to stop playing.

Tyrian 2000

Tyrian 2000 is a scrolling shooter with nothing special about it. It didn’t grab my attention at all.

Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit

I’d call this a run ‘n’ gun game, but I guess that’s not really a genre. It’s like a fast-paced Contra, only not as good as Contra. I do like the visual style, but there’s too much happening on the screen all the time. You control a rabbit who’s the prince of hell, and you travel around killing enemies in bloody ways. I know it’s trying to be over the top, but it felt too over the top.

Ben There, Dan That

This point-and-click adventure game obviously draws inspiration from Lucas Arts. It references a number of early, pioneering games of the genre, which I think is neat. From the few minutes I spent with it, I feel like it could be a good choice if you’re craving a point-and-click adventure game with some chuckles, but it wasn’t doing enough for me.

Time Gentlemen, Please

This is the direct follow up to Ben There, Dan That. As the first didn’t interest me, I didn’t give the second more than a minute or so before decided it didn’t interest be either.

Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel

This point-and-click adventure game was translated from a Russian game based on a Russian sci-fi detective novel (at least according to Wikipedia). It seemed very forced, like the game was dragging from to each scene, and nothing seemed particularly engaging. The voice-acting was odd too. Reviews claimed it was very anti-climatic, and it seems that some pretty major plot points were changed with negative consequences from the original novel. I decided to pass on this.

Limbo

While I probably put less than an hour into Limbo and don’t feel like playing it more, I’m glad I experienced it. This screenshot alone does a decent job of summarizing the feel of the game. It’s a strange puzzle platformer game that’s a bit eerie. Deaths are definitely gruesome as well without having too much gore and shock value. From what I understand, it’s a fairly short game too, which is nice.

Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami reminds me of Grand Theft Auto in a number of ways. You commit crimes, you beat people senseless, and it’s pretty brutal. It has an arcade vibe that I liked, but I just didn’t feel like I was getting enough out of it. My friend Michael loves the game though, which does push me a little bit more toward putting more time into it. I just don’t quite care enough.

Nidhogg

Duncan bought this simple game on his PS4. It doesn’t quite fit in this list because I didn’t really give up on it. There’s a single-player that mimics multiplayer, but it’s basically a multiplayer game. And I played it a bunch! In a pixelated, stylized setting, two players engage in sword duels in relatively quick matches. It’s great when people are at the house and has lots of settings you can change to mix the gameplay. It also supports tournaments if you have more than two players.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

I’m not really sure how to describe Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP. It’s definitely visually and aurally beautiful. From what I played, it was mostly an intellectual game. There is combat, but the game is mostly about exploring, figuring out what to do, reading minds, and dreaming. Oh, and music is important too. Yeah, it’s a strange game. Compared to most of the other games I discussed, this game appealed to me a lot more.

Snapshot

Snapshot is a neat idea for a platformer. You control the character with the keyboard but are able to cut and paste objects using the mouse. That’s it. That’s the idea. The visuals are neat, with a cute main character too. If I didn’t have so many other things asking for my time, I’d probably play this one a bit more.

More Papers, Please

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

Two minor things I wanted to mention after talking about Papers, Please recently.

First, Collin shared this video with me. It’s fantastic. Glory to Arstotzka!

Second, there’s a mod for Sid Meier’s Civilization V that adds Arstotzka as a nation. I don’t play Civ V, but the mod seems interesting to me anyways. It’s created by Snakeeater337 and can be found on Steam as Arstotzka (Requires BNW) for Sid Meier’s Civilization V).

Papers, Please: Complicit in tyranny through paper-pushing

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

Every day is exactly the same. “Papers, please.” She slides her papers to me – hopefully all of them. I look at her passport. I check the Entry Permit. I validate her Work Pass. I verify her Certificate of Vaccination. I compare the papers, looking for discrepancies. Just when I’m about to approve her for entrance to Arstotzka, I realize her Work Pass expires before her Entry Permit. She seems so sincere about it being a mistake that I’m torn; for her sake, I want to grant her entry, but I’ll get fined if I do, and I desperately need money. Putting my own well-being first, I could deny her entry.

But if I’m going to think of myself, I could have her detained. I get a kickback when I detain people.

Choices like this are the crux of Papers, Please by Lucas Pope. You’re awarded a job as an immigration inspector in the labor lottery. While the job starts simply with only a few pieces of information, the rules become more complex as political tensions grow.

Do you look out for your self and family, uphold the ideals of Arstotzka, or work to undermine the totalitarian government? Papers, Please is filled with fascinating moral choices. Unlike most games that have choices that either don’t matter or are quite obvious, you’re presented here with ambiguous situations. Is it right to let a suspected sex trafficker into Arstotzka if his papers are in order? If he really is a sex trafficker and you grant him entry, you’re harming people. If you deny him entrance, you help people, but you get fined, and you desperately need money. And what if he’s not really a sex trafficker at all? It’s scary to me to think that real people have to make decisions like these every day. By playing Papers, Please, it gives you perspective on how one becomes so complicit under a corrupt government. The job seems so dull but can have vast impact. And as you mundanely follow your orders, just being a good citizen, you allow corruption to spread.

While it sounds like such a simple game, Papers, Please has an exciting story with many endings. With so much ambiguity, I don’t even want to talk about the major story branches of the game, but there are some drastically different turns with a handful of successful (albeit very different) endings and a multitude of failures. After beating the game, you also unlock the endless mode, which didn’t interest me as much.

Papers, Please has been one of my favorite games since I first played it. I sunk more than 40 hours into it and earned all the achievements. Writing about games isn’t very difficult, but writing about games I love is. It’s hard to do the great games justice. (Note the lack of a post on Portal.) However, it seems appropriate that my 100th published post on this site is about a game I truly love.

Glory to Arstotzka.

Lifeline for iOS gets you texting with a stranded astronaut

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

Lifeline is a piece of interactive fiction released on iPhone and Apple Watch recently by 3 Minute Games. It’s told entirely through incoming text messages from Taylor, an astronaut who crashes on a far away moon. You shape Taylor’s survival by choosing one of two replies whenever he or she (the game doesn’t specify) asks you a question. It tells a intriguing story through a very interesting method.

Sometimes Taylor just wants to chat, but other times Taylor asks something more important. Once I was asked if a certain amount of radiation was safe. Taylor asked me to look it up. I did, and I gave my answer, helping Taylor to survive that night. Other times the choices are less significant. Taylor nervously jokes like a real person might, even acknowledging the absurdity, and sometimes just asks which way you think he or she should walk.

It takes Taylor real time to do things too, which helps makes the game feel like Taylor’s someone with whom you’re actually communicating. If Taylor says it’ll take an hour to walk somewhere, you’ll have to wait an hour to hear what happens. This isn’t like those terrible Facebook games that make you pay to boost through an artificial delay; these delays add to the story. In addition, there’s no in-app purchases, DLC, ads, or anything else unsavory. You simply buy the game for $2.99 and enjoy it.

In addition to touching a notification to jump into the game, you can also choose a reply directly from the notifications and even from the lock screen. This isn’t always perfect, because if you missed a lot of messages from Taylor, only the most recent handful will be displayed. Your choices can sometimes be cut off too, but it’s still pretty neat to be able to do that. You can start there and if you need to click through, click through.

As a fan of both interaction fiction and sci-fi, this was pretty perfect for me. The story was more interesting than I expected as well. It was $2.99 well spent.

Chip’s Challenge 1 & 2 releasing on Steam next month

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

Chip’s Challenge being released on Steam would be big enough news, but the bigger news is that Chip’s Challenge 2 is releasing as well. Shortly after finishing Chip’s Challenge, Chuck Sommerville created the sequel. Unfortunately, the copyright holder wanted him to front the money for publishing, so it was never released. CC2 has been simply a legend, a myth to fans. It’s really exciting to know that we’re going to be playing it soon!

I’ll have to get used to the graphics. It seems like most fans played Chip’s Challenge on Windows, but I played it on the Lynx, which features different graphics. I’m sure I’ll learn to love the new graphics as well.

My autographed copy of Chip’s Challenge is the highlight of my game collection. Yeah, I’m definitely excited.

You can read the full press release below:

25 years later Chip’s Challenge 1 & 2 come to Steam in May

Twenty-five years have passed since Chip’s Challenge 1 was released on the Atari Lynx & Windows 3.1, a game fondly enjoyed by millions. However what’s not commonly known is a sequel was also created by Chuck Sommerville shortly after, but never released.

Chuck created Chip’s Challenge 1 in just ten weeks, he then spent two years designing Chip’s Challenge 2. However disaster struck, on finishing the development, Chuck found the trademark had been sold and the new owners wanted him to fund the publishing. Having just spent two years working onChip’s Challenge 2, Chuck couldn’t afford this, so with colossal personal sadnessChip’s Challenge 2 was shelved.

“When I couldn’t release Chip’s Challenge 2, it hit me really hard. Not only had I spent two years perfecting it, I also felt I’d let down the fans too.” Chuck Sommerville said. “I generally thought the only way Chip’s Challenge 2 was ever going to see the light of day was by having my wife leak it on the internet on my death.”

However two decades later, with fans continually pleading with Chuck to release Chip’s Challenge 2 and nearly five years of negotiation with the trademark owners, Chip’s Challenge 2 can now finally be released in all its original glory with every unseen levels and game elements on Steam, along with Chip’s Challenge 1.

“I’m so excited about getting to finally release Chip’s Challenge 1 & 2 on Steam, it’s defiantly one off the bucket list.” Chuck Sommerville said. “We are now just adding some additional Steam features such as Trading Cards & Steam Workshop to the original code. Oh and the ability to save your game progress, rather than using the old code system.”

Chip’s Challenge 1 & Chip’s Challenge 2 will be available on Steam on 29^thMay:

Chip’s Challenge 1 is $1.99 on Steam for PC:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/346850

Chip’s Challenge 2 is $4.99 on Steam for PC:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/348300

Chip’s Challenge 2: Editor as DLC for CC2 is $2.99 on Steam for PC:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/356630

Or all three are available as a bundle at 50% off the combined price for $4.99.

YouTube – Chip’s Challenge 1 – Trailer – https://youtu.be/tJZfuei-psU
YouTube – Chip’s Challenge 2 – Trailer – https://youtu.be/drZgseY2_Jk

About Chip’s Challenge
Before Chip can join the Bit Busters computer club and hang out with the girl of his dreams, Melinda the Mental Marvel, he must solve all 144 challenging puzzles.

Your bird’s-eye view can help Chip rush through the puzzles and mazes before he’s deleted by monsters, traps and the passage of time. Show Chip how to use blocks of soil to overcome water traps and cherry bombs, find keys, and pick up the computer chips which Chip needs to solve some puzzles.

Can you help Chip win the cold heart of his one true love and become an official Bit Buster? If you can’t, no one can!

Niffler Ltd.
Niffler is an independent games studio founded by Chuck Sommerville and friends, which believes video games should not simply be a passive experience. Their aim is to create games that are fun for the player to both play & make, with the make component being as easy to use as playing the game themselves.

For further details please contact PR@Niffler.co.uk

Groove Coaster, Taito’s iOS music game

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

This piece was originally published as a review on Game Boyz on 8/7/2011.

Groove Coaster was released on the iOS last week, and I’ve had trouble staying away with it. Following in the footsteps of Space Invaders Infinity Gene, Groove Coaster is Taito’s newest offering. At only $2.99 it delivers a fantastic music experience that I highly recommend.

In Groove Coaster, your avatar follows along a set line. Icons on the line set to the music indicate when you should tap the screen. As the game progresses, the complexity increases as well. Besides regular tap notes, Groove Coaster introduces holds, sliding holds, flicks, and more. The game gets especially crazy and fun when a fast song is playing and the line begins to plummet into the screen, forcing you to pay attention to the music since the graphics are too simple to indicate depth. Interestingly, Groove Coaster also features notes called ad-libs. The game doesn’t penalize you for tapping if there’s no note near. Because of this, you’re free to tap along to the music even if there’s no icon. While doing this you can sometimes find hidden ad-lib notes! This system rewards paying attention to the music rather than just the screen.

The simplistic graphics suit the game quite well. Groove Coaster features the same style as earlier iOS game, Space Invaders Infinity Gene (another awesome iOS game). Throughout the game, you can unlock additional skins to change the appearance, keeping the graphics simple but giving it a bit of flavor. The whole game has that HD retro look, even though it’s not a remake. It is, however, absolutely gorgeous. The music is exactly what you’d expect as well – electronic, techno, with a bit of pop and hip-hop. It’s the perfect blend. The soundtrack, by Taito houseband Zuntata, is available on iTunes already.

A variety of tracks are available in Groove Coaster, each with three difficulties. The game also features leaderboards and achievements. Additional avatars, skins, and items are available as DLC, but these seem overpriced to me. While another song for $0.99 isn’t terrible, items that provide a benefit for a single track just don’t seem worth it.

The game is short and not very challenging, but I definitely don’t mean that as a negative. Taito doesn’t seem to be setting out to create a challenge or long game. Groove Coaster is a wonderful music experience. It’s definitely one of the “must plays” of the iOS, and at only $2.99 on the App Store, you should go grab it right now!

Peggle Blast for iOS is fun but flawed

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

This piece was originally published as a review on Game Boyz on 2/13/15. Each Game Boyz review is structured with sections for introduction, graphics, sound, gameplay, and conclusions.

Peggle Blast for iOS is the latest game in the Peggle series by Popcap, now owned by EA. Peggle was a minor addition to the Orange Box that ended up being a pretty big deal to me. The mechanics were simple, but it was so addicting and fun! I went on to play Peggle DS, which contained Peggle and Peggle Nights. There was even an addon to play Peggle within World of Warcraft. I skipped Peggle 2 because it wasn’t released on mobile platforms, but I was ready for more. I purchased the iOS port of the original Peggle as soon as it was released. I paid a flat price, and I received a game that I could play. It was a good deal. Peggle Blast, on the other hand, is completely free! Good deal? No, pretty bad deal actually. While I’d be more than happy to pay for a new Peggle, Peggle Blast does the typical microtransaction mechanics of having time-locked aspects that can be unlocked immediately for real money. You can buy power-ups for real money too, and it certainly feels like the game pushes you to use them. But I’ll get into that shortly.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics and sound haven’t really been improved in Peggle Blast, but the series didn’t need improvement in this regard. Colors are bright, the Peggle Masters are cartoony, and the music supports the graphic style in its cheery way. It’s just fine in presentation.

Gameplay

Let’s start with the good, shall we? At it’s core, the gameplay is much the same as previous Peggle incarnations, and that’s a good thing. Line up shots, watch the ball bounce around pachinko-style, and use power-ups. Not everything is the same old same old though.

There are some new mechanics that are quite fun and add some new, interesting challenges to the game. One I particularly like is sludge-covered pegs. These halt the ball’s momentum. That can be bad if you don’t want your ball to stop, but it can also be used to control your shots. Another feature are eggs; some levels task you with breaking eggs open by hitting them multiple times. If the egg falls off the bottom of the screen before you break it open, you lose, but if it falls into the bucket, it’s saved. There are also levels in which you need to collect gems. These objectives add new life to the series. They’re a welcome addition and quite fun.

Unfortunately, everything’s not great with the new Peggle. First, there are now lives, and I don’t mean the multiple balls you get per level. Each time you lose a level, you lose a life. Lives recharge, but if you run out of them, you can’t play until at least one recharges – or you purchase more. This can be pretty annoying, because it means that while I might be in the mood to play more Peggle Blast, I have to wait. On the other hand, I’m the type of person that always has a lot to do. I don’t really find myself bored, so it’s pretty easy for me to switch to another task.

Sadly, it gets worse. You have to wait for lives to charge, but you also have to wait hours to unlock a world after you complete the levels leading up to it. At least with lives you’re forced to wait only when you run out of lives by losing. By gating additional levels behind a time delay, Peggle Blast is punishing the player for completing levels. Again, you can pay money to skip the wait.

Peggle Blast prompts you to spam your friends too, but I avoided that. There’s still one more problem though. You can purchase power-ups. Anyone familiar with the phrase “pay to win” probably understands the problem here. Peggle Blast is designed with being able to purchase power-ups in mind. The levels get insanely hard, and the difficulty in many later levels depend more on chance than skill. Peggle Blast is significantly more difficult than previous iterations of Peggle, and I have a feeling it’s because EA wants us spending money to overcome those challenges. One new mechanic I didn’t mention earlier were bombs. They need to be hit in a certain number of turns or the explode, causing you to lose unless you purchase additional time. And how about boss battles, in which you must score more points than the Peggle Master competing against you? It doesn’t sound too bad except for the fact that they’re basically multiple stages in one. If you lose on the final stage, you’ve lost the whole level and have to start again (or you have to pay for additional balls).

I was willing to watch video advertisements for power-ups, but I refused to spend any money on the game. That’s unfortunate for EA, because if the game didn’t have any pay to win features but simply had a static cost, I would have gladly purchased it. Yes, I had to let my lives recharge, and yes, I had to stop playing for hours (eight, I believe) each time I got to a new world. Some levels I played over and over, waiting for the lucky shot that would let me win. It took me a long time and many attempts, but I finally beat the last level. Well, let me save you some trouble: you don’t get anything for beating the game. I don’t mean no credits, and I don’t mean no cutscene. I mean nothing. After beating the final level, I was shown the level select screen. It didn’t even indicate that the last level was completed. Thinking it was a bug, I even beat it a second time. Nope, nothing registers. Thanks a lot.

Conclusion

EA has taken a great franchise and buried it in unfair difficulty to push microtransactions. It’s sad, considering Peggle Blast introduced new, enjoyable mechanics. To be fair, I did have some fun with it. I didn’t beat it for review purposes; I beat it because I enjoyed playing it. However, I put up with a lot to get that little bit of enjoyment out of it. I can’t recommend Peggle Blast, and it seriously hurt Popcap’s reputation with me.

I am MrDevee on Apple’s Game Center and @TheUser on Twitter.

Friday the 13th

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

Today’s Friday the 13th, so I thought I’d urge you to play Amnesia. I’ve spoken about it extensively in the past, and I still feel it’s one of the best games I’ve played. Most of the game is spent utterly alone, but once in a while shambling enemies will grace you with their presence. You spend the game attempting to keep your own sanity while you struggle between using light while attracting enemies and staying in the dark while losing sanity.

One of the best aspects of the game is the effect of losing sanity. Eventually you’ll begin to hear monsters approaching, but you won’t be sure if a monster is really approaching or if it’s due to your lack of sanity. Coupled with your possible real (player) paranoia, it’s a big source of fear.

I love this game, although I definitely play it alone!

Trimming the backlog with the AGS Bake Sale, Part 1

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

In an effort to get through my backlog, I’ve played a lot of games recently. I own a lot of games that I’ve even tried, so I decided to try as many as I could. Honestly, I prioritized games that I thought I wouldn’t enjoy so I could try them and cross them off my list quickly.

I owned a bundle of adventure games from the AGS Bake Sale from Adventure Game Studio, and I had never tried any of them. It seemed like a good place to start. Here’s my thoughts on the first half of them!

As these are all indie games, I feel the need to preface this post with an apology to some of the creators in case they happen to find this. I really do realize that I didn’t give many of these games more than a couple minutes of play. I own a lot of games that just aren’t my cup of tea, so sometimes I judge quickly.

9 Months In

9 Months In is the most interesting game of the AGS Bake Sale that I’ve tried. This adventure games stars a woman in prison who claims she’s been set up. The title comes from the fact that she’s pregnant. I like the art style, and I quickly found that I was interested in the starring character. I’m leaving this title on my backlog and plan to come back to it.

Escape the Barn

In Escape the Barn, you find items, clicking to add them to your inventory at the bottom of the screen and then figure out what items to use on what other items to escape the barn. It was pretty boring, but as it only took five minutes to beat, I decided to finish it.

Entrapment

Someone’s been repeatedly framing you for murder, and you have to get away and figure out who is doing it. It’s a much better premise than Escape the Barn, but it still pique my interest enough to get me to keep playing it.

Ben Chandler, Paranormal Investigator – In Search of the Sweets Tin

Honestly, I can’t really remember much about this AGS Bake Sale title except that it didn’t hold my attention more than a couple minutes.

Barn Runner: The Rich Dame Who Cut The Cheese

This is a pretty interesting world that’s been created. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic future in which humanity is contained to enclosed cities in which almost all work is done by robots. There are 11 titles in this series as of writing this according to this page. I like the idea of the setting, but I played for about five minutes and got bored.

Abner

In Abner, you play a character who appears to think he’s a heroic knight. It’s definitely full of comedy even though it starts with a tragedy – all the world’s color is gone! It was a cute idea and style, but it didn’t hold my attention.

Falling Skywards

Let’s end this half of AGS Bake Sale games on a high note. Falling Skyward is gorgeous. It’s set in the future after an asteroid has struck the Earth, launching chunks of cities into the sky where many still orbit. You play a young boy who scavengers these ruins that are, as the game describes, “perpetually falling skywards.” I only played for a couple minutes, but I couldn’t cross it off my list. I’ll need to return to play it more!

Papers, Please, Gamer’s Edition is full of collectibles

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

The Gamer’s Edition of Papers, Please was just announced, coming with a Steam key for the game, a keyring, a full set of Arstotzkan password and paperwork, Arstotzkan stamps, a Glory to Arstotzka poster, a suitcase, ink pad, approved and denied stamps, an inspector’s pin, and an immigration rule book for Arstotzka. Amazing. You can see an idea of what they believe it’ll all look like above. Note that I took the image from Gamer’s Edition.

Papers, Please is the 2013 game simulating work as an immigration officer in Arstotzka, a fictional, totalitarian country borrowing concepts of Eastern Bloc countries as well as dystopias such as that of the government in 1984. It’s one of the best games I’ve ever played, leaving the player wondering if each action they take is good or bad. For a game based on paperwork, it’s fun and really opens your eyes.

Gamer’s Edition is a new site that aims to deliver “the ultimate version of great digital games,” similar to the collector’s editions that tripe-A, physical titles get. It was designed primarily with indie games in mind, but the important requirement is that it’s a digital game. I think it’s a neat idea.

The Gamer’s Edition of Papers, Please costs $70, and they’re only producing the number that are ordered. I wish I had more money to spend right now, because I don’t have the money to spend on something like this right now. However, Gamer’s Edition seems to be a site worth watching.

Glory to Arstotzka!

The Last Arcade on the Planet’s finale party

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

The Last Arcade on the Planet is a private collection of arcade games owned by Juan Sanchez that he opens for public parties once a month or so with his girlfriend, Satu. I’ve written about it previously, and it’s really awesome. Saturday night was the last party; Juan’s going to turn his warehouse into a workspace to fix up the machines and sell many of them.

I wore my Space Invaders t-shirt from Threadless because it seemed appropriate. And don’t worry, I played a lot of Space Invaders.

Edward came with me, and you can see him in this photo playing High Speed. Sadly, the next two pinball machines over were both out of service – Pin·Bot and The Machine Bride of Pin·Bot. The Machine Bride of Pin·Bot is my favorite machine, so it was bummer that it was out of service. gem and I played it extensively on previous trips.

Luckily, Jack·Bot was working. It’s such a gorgeous machine, although I still prefer the rotating box of The Machine Bride of Pin·Bot representing your quest to improve her.

Juan collects machines from 1986 or earlier and charges a $10 cover charge for the parties with everything on free-play. He knows what he’s doing with them too. Throughout the night, he could be found working on them and keeping the machines running smoothly.

Here’s gem playing Asteroids in her Asteroids t-shirt back in September!

This was the first night I had a chance to talk to Juan and thank him for the good times. I’m glad I got to talk with him, because he’s a really interesting person. He works as an animator at Turtle Rock Studios. His latest work can be seen in February’s Evolve. I haven’t had the chance to play it yet, but I posted about it back in February 2014 when I first saw the trailer because it looked so awesome. Juan plans on keeping some of the machines and wants to continue doing some kind of events. He talked about the ideas of Arduino workshops or game jams as well as some personal projects. I’d love to attend some of these events, so I’m looking forward to learning what happens.

I’m sad to see The Last Arcade on the Planet go, but I’m glad Juan’s moving on to his next projects. Good luck, Juan!

Destroy villages and hoard gold as a dragon in the RTS, Hoard

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

This piece was originally published as a review on Game Boyz on 5/31/11. Each Game Boyz review is structured with sections for introduction, graphics, sound, gameplay, and conclusions. Hoard was reviewed using two downloaded copied provided by Big Sandwich Games. The game got little-to-no attention but was quite fun!

Developer: Big Sandwich Games
Publisher: Big Sandwich Games

Features:
1 – 4 Players
Four game modes
Over 100 Steam achievements
Leaderboards

Big Sandwich Games recently provided me with two copies of their awesome new game, Hoard. To understand Hoard, I’d like to consider an RTS game. Villages grow and become cities while farms increase in size to feed the villagers. Carts of gold travel along the roads. Castles rise, training knights to eliminate the dragons the terrorize the country. Now consider controlling the dragon.

Graphics

Hoard features a colorful, fantasy look. Maps look like they are placed on a wooden table. This drives a feeling of fun over realism. Multiple tilesets are included, giving you the ability to change the feel of the maps. The world is sparse and simple. While this makes the background a bit too plain, it makes aspects of the world you can engage really pop. While the graphics won’t win any awards, they set the tone and mood of the game well.

Your health and carrying capacity, two very important statistics, are prominently displayed over and under your dragon. This allows them to be seen easily at all times. Your fire-breath on the other hand, which is also an important statistic, is displayed at the top of the screen along with your dragon’s color and score. Because it’s out of the way, it’s hard to keep in mind. Of the three, it’s the least important to see at a glance, so I understand the decision, but I wish I could see it more easily. Keeping it out of the way, however, also keeps the interface uncluttered so you can keep a good view on the game.

Sound

The music and sound effects work very well in Hoard to set the mood. The music is simple yet exciting, giving that extra drive in competitive matches. The cheerful, light-hearted sound effects contrasts with the music wonderfully, reinforcing that the game is about fun even when you’re trying hard to win. I especially love it when the princesses call for help or cry out. It really adds that goofiness into the game.

Gameplay

The goal in Hoard is simple – collect the largest amount of gold to win. The primary way to gain goal is to burn villages, farms, and gold carts and carry the gold back to your hoard. There is some strategy to this though. Letting towns and farms grow bigger will yield larger hauls. Do you want to destroy the towns quickly to maximize your gold early in a match, or do you want to let the towns grow a little, giving you more gold but sacrificing progression at the start of the match? It’s hard to decide.

In matches with multiple dragons, if you deal enough damage to villages without destroying them, they’ll become fearful of you. Once they reach this state, they will periodically bring carts of gold straight to your hoard. To keep them doing this, you’ll want to make sure no other dragon deals more damage to them, otherwise they will become fearful of the rival dragon instead of you!

Thieves will also visit your hoard, attempting to get away with your hard-earned (or hard-stolen, I suppose) gold. If you can get back to your hoard in time, you can kill them before they make it away. Mage towers will periodically rise in the land, attacking you with magic. Destroying them causes a gem to appear worth a large amount of gold. Similar to villages, if you leave the mage towers alone, they’l grow more powerful but will drop more gold. Letting them live can be quite the gamble, however, because too many can prove too much to handle. Another fun way to make gold is to kidnap princesses. Once you return to your hoard with a princess, you’ll have to keep those pesky knights away for a preset amount of time in order to collect your ransom.

You can only hold a set amount of gold before needing to return to your hoard to drop it off. You also replenish HP when at your hoard. Gold also acts as experience; when you collect enough gold, you gain a level and can increase your stats. You have four stats that can be raised – speed, fire-breath, carrying capacity, and armor. What you raise first can really change how you play at the start of the match, leaving this a great example of the complexity of strategy inherent in the game.

Hoard features four different game modes. In the Treasure mode, which is the primary mode, you must collect the biggest hoard of gold to win. Princess Rush tasks you with kidnapping the most princesses. In Hoard (survival), HP doesn’t replenish. Instead, you’ll need to kidnap princesses to regain health while attempting to survive as long as possible. Finally, in Co-op you share a gold hoard with the other dragons! Hoard doesn’t have a campaign or story mode at all. All the modes are played in short skirmishes either alone, with AI-controlled dragons, or multiplayer!

Hoard is a fantastic game because of the complex strategies available that have been boiled down into 10 minute chunks of gaming. Multiplayer is a great way to spice it up, but AI dragons provide fun when no one’s aound with whom to play. While it lacks any kind of campaign mode that can give that “ahh, I’ve beat the game” moment and feeling, it’s great because you can play as many rounds as you feel like playing, and it’s always a bit different. Similar to how multiplayer, arena-based first-person shooters contrast story-driven first-person shooters, Hoard fulfills the same relationship with story-driven real-time strategies. Hoard is a complex RTS dressed up as a tabletop, miniatures wargame and served in small portions. It’s $10 on Steam and definitely worth the pricetag.

Anomaly: Warzone Earth, a reverse tower defense (tower offense?)

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

This piece was originally published as a review on Game Boyz on 5/2/11. Each Game Boyz review is structured with sections for introduction, graphics, sound, gameplay, and conclusions. Games are scored on graphics, gameplay, sound, tilt, and overall, each on a 10-point scale. Anomaly: Warzone Earth was reviewed using a downloaded copy provided by 11 bit studios. I still find this game under-appreciated.

Features:
Single-player campaign and two assault modes
Steam Achievements
Steam Leaderboards
Steam Cloud
Controller Enabled

Anomaly: Warzone Earth is a fantastic new game available on Steam for both PC and Mac. Provided to me by 11 bit studios, Anomaly is a tower defense game… of sorts. Perhaps it’s better to call it a reverse tower defense or a tower offense game. Or better yet, we could just call it a strategy game! In Anomaly, you see the layout of turrets in the level while controlling a line of assault vehicles. You strategize by planning the best route, deciding which vehicles to use and upgrade, and using special abilities. If you plan carefully, your units can destroy the turrets, get through the defense, and reach the end of the level!

Graphics

Anomaly looks great on my great on my PC. I’m running Windows 7 Professional on an Intel Core 2 Duo 64-bit 2.53 GHz processor with 6 GB RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT graphics card. Even with my less than stellar graphics card, the game ran fine on maximum video settings and looked fantastic. Everything looked clean and easy to see. Enemies are outlined in red and friendly units are outlined in blue. Simple health bars appear over units’ heads. On the left side of the screen, icons representing various abilities are present with the amount available appearing adjacent to them. An elegant tactical map screen can be pulled up at any time, and the unit upgrade and purchase screen is also sleek looking and simple to use. In the main menu screens, small amounts of the screen were cut off from the edges of my non-widescreen monitor. I could manage to read everything, so it wasn’t a terrible error. It’s also a known bug that 11 bit studios is fixing.

Sound

Like the graphics, the audio was also great, and I definitely don’t have any complaints. Both the music and sound effects were good. I enjoyed the dialogue quite a bit. Despite being a little cheesy, it was very fun. Sometimes holding the speed-up button, which speeds up the game for those stretches where you’re waiting for combat, caused dialogue to cut out. It was a minor annoyance, but I had to remember to stop holding the button if I was approaching a goal at which I expected dialogue.

Gameplay

As I mentioned previously, Anomaly: Warzone Earth is a reverse tower-defense game. You control up to six vehicles and a commander. The vehicles travel along roads on set paths. Bringing up the tactical map pauses the game and allows you to control which direction the convoy will turn at each intersection. You can’t stop, reverse, or deviate from the path. The map shows the entire level, any power ups available to be picked up, and all enemies as well as your own units. Because different enemies have different types of weapons and ranges, it becomes very important to plan your route carefully on the map screen. For example, some enemies can only shoot directly in front of them. You’ll want to drive past these turrets rather than down streets heading straight toward them. Another trick is loop around repeatedly, slowly picking off enemies. You’re awarded money for destroying enemies, and you can also find minerals that are worth money. You can then spend your earnings on new units (up to six) or on upgrading your current vehicles.

Besides planning your route and upgrading, there’s another huge aspect to the strategy involved in Anomaly. Your commander doesn’t follow the set paths and can go anywhere. Unlike the vehicles, he deals no damage; rather, he deploys special abilities! You have a set number of each ability but can find more throughout the level with them usually appearing where some enemies were destroyed. When an ability is deployed, it lasts for a small amount of time. The first ability introduced is the Repair. Any friendly unit within the circle that appears is repaired as long as it’s within the circle. Next there’s the Smoke Screen, which lowers the accuracies of all enemies within the circle. Similar to the Smoke Screen, the Decoy will cause all enemies within the circle to target the decoy. (Using the Smoke Screen and the Decoy at the same time works quite well!) The final ability is the Airstrike, which drops a bomb on the current location. When the commander dies, he respawns at the same location after a short delay and is invulnerable for a couple seconds, letting you get back to safety.

The strategy involved comes from a few different aspects. First, you’ll want to plan a good route. Most likely you’ll be bringing the map up repeatedly throughout each level, adjusting your path as you go. Next, you’ll want to plan which units to use and which order to put them in your convoy. For example, I like to start with a high-armor unit, and I include two shield generating units in my convoy. These shield units provide shields around themselves and the two adjacent vehicles. You’ll also want to correctly use your commander’s abilities to help your vehicles survive. Finally, you’ll need to upgrade your units wisely. There are three difficulties available with which to challenge yourself. You’re awarded points for destroying enemies (more for destroying them without too much delay between kills) and having abilities at the end of the level. Each level has its own leaderboard, providing a lot of competition.

Let’s not forget the story! There is a reason for the vehicles to be fighting those turrets! An alien ship crashes in two spots on Earth, Baghdad and Tokyo. Strange domes, anomalies, appear over the crash sites, and appear to be some sort of shield. Inside these anomalies are the alien ships and turrets. After investigating, the military finds them quite aggressive and decide to neutralize the enemy. Before and during missions, characters talk, giving you some background on what’s happening. This is ample motivation to give a reason to the actions in the game and also provides some interesting twists along the way.

11 bit studios has made a fantastic game with Anomaly: Warzone Earth. It’s definitely a change to the tower defense genre. With a compelling story mode, achievements, leaderboards, and two assault modes, there’s plenty to do for people looking for high replay value. I find Anomaly: Warzone Earth incredibly cheap at $9.99 and worth every penny. If you’re interested in strategy games, I highly recommend you pick this one up and keep your eyes on 11 bit studios in the future!

Best part of World of Tanks

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

World of Tanks requires a pretty decent amount of skill and strategy, but there’s a mode that let’s you forget about all that. It’s my favorite mode, and it also happens to be the only time I can successfully play World of Tanks without solely following my friend Joe’s orders. Check it out.

Gemini Rue, the fantastic sci-fi noir adventure game

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

This piece was originally published as a review on Game Boyz on 2/23/11. Each Game Boyz review is structured with sections for introduction, graphics, sound, gameplay, and conclusions. Games are scored on graphics, gameplay, sound, tilt, and overall, each on a 10-point scale. Gemini Rue was reviewed using a downloaded copy provided by Wadjet Eye Games. I loved Gemini Rue when I first played it, and it’s still one of my favorite games.

Gemini Rue, formerly known as Boryokudan Rue, is a new PC game developed by Josh Nuernberger. Published and provided to me by Wadjet Eye Games and Dave Gilbert, Gemini Rue was a 2010 Independent Games Festival Student Showcase Winner. Nuernberger has created a wonderful point-and-click adventure game featuring a dark, sci-fi future.

The game’s neo-noir narrative takes players through a grim future in which trust should be withheld and the Boryokudan crime syndicate controls the Gemini system. The story kept me at the edge of my seat through the entire game. In fact, not being able to talk about the game while playing my review copy was almost painful! Gemini Rue explores the themes of individuality, identity, ethics, loyalty, and what it means to truly be who you are.

Graphics

Gemini Rue is absolutely gorgeous. As you can see in the screenshots included in the review, it has a retro-inspired look to it that adventure game fans should recognize. While not 3D or pushing anyone’s graphics card to its limits, it’s a stunning game that will leave most appreciators of retro game art with their mouths hanging open. Gemini Rue lets you explore beautifully detailed backdrops while discovering the truth of the world around you. You’re given a closer look at the characters when their detailed portraits appear during dialogue. Throughout the game, small cutscenes play out that are fascinating to watch. Not only do they push the narrative forward, but they also set the mood using well-placed, beautiful scenic views.

Sound

In a lot of games I play, there isn’t a lot to say about the sound. In this case, forgetting to talk about the sound would be leaving a large part of the review missing. The audio in Gemini Rue is amazing. The music always fits the action and story, reinforcing the desolate, dark atmosphere of the game. The sound effects are always clear and realistic, which helps the game feel more real and adds to the immersion. Voice-acting performances were done well. Even though Gemini Rue is an indie game, no corners were cut with the voice-acting. The lines are delivered in a natural way so they don’t feel forced. I could tell the sound was going to be great and a major part of my enjoyment of the game by the first scene during which the characters’ dialogue was delivered over the sound of Barracus’ rainfall.

Gameplay

Gemini Rue has two main playable characters. One is Azriel Odin, a former assassin searching for an old friend in the Gemini system. The other is a man known simply as Delta-Six, a patient in a strange facility that wipes the minds of its inmates. The narrative switches between the two characters throughout the game. Sometimes this happens as preset times, but you can also manually switch characters. This can give you a nice break if you’re stuck with one character. The stories seem far apart from each other, but the characters’ stories slowly come together, culminating in a fantastic and satisfying ending.

As the genre, point-and-click adventure, suggests, you use your mouse to control the game, clicking on various objects to explore the game. Left-clicking causes the character to walk to that point. Right-clicking on certain objects in the scene brings up the action menu, allowing you to choose which action to perform on that spot from the four action-verbs and inventory items in your possession. Clicking the eye allows you to examine something. The hand has you interact with or pick up an object. Using the mouth will have you talk to the target. Selecting the foot causes you to kick the object. The kicking action is interesting because I don’t recall seeing it any previous adventure games. While it’s similar to the hand action, it gives players a second way to interact with the world, which can lead to more involved puzzles. Gemini Rue forces you to use this action very early in the game, making sure you incorporate this less familiar action into your repertoire. Also in the action menu are any inventory items you have. Selecting one will attempt to use it on the spot you originally right-clicked. Right-clicking on an inventory item causes you to examine it. Lastly, double-clicking in the scene will use whichever action was last used, allowing you to save time if, for example, you want to examine many different objects.

I have two small complaints about the control system. First, to examine an inventory item, you have to bring up the menu by right-clicking on a targetable object in the game. Note that you can’t simply right-click anywhere. It seems strange that even though examining an object in my inventory has nothing to do with any item currently in the scene, I still have to choose one object in the scene arbitrarily to right-click on to be able to access my inventory menu. Another small complaint is that interacting with an object on the other side of the screen will sometimes cause the character to walk over to it and interact with it while other times will cause the character to say it’s too far away. Why the discrepancy? It seems like saying it’s too far away would be the best response if there’s some puzzle blocking the path, so this might be a pathing bug. These faults are minor and do not detract very seriously from the enjoyment of the game.

Gemini Rue also contains action sequences featuring shooting. It uses a fun system that rewards being patient and intelligent rather than having fast reflexes. It’s perfect for an adventure game and isn’t overused. Whenever a shooting sequence starts, your character will automatically get into a cover position. Using ‘a’ and ‘d’ causes the character to lean out of cover to the left or right. Pressing ‘space’ shoots, ‘s’ goes back into cover, ‘r’ reloads, and ‘w’ switches targets. Enemies will either shoot at your left or right out-of-cover positions. To successfully defeat enemies, you’ll want to lean out of cover on the opposite side of where your adversary is aiming to shoot at him. Pressing ‘control’ while out of cover will bring up a slowly filling meter. When the meter reaches a sufficient height, successfully shooting an opponent will instantly kill him with a headshot. This is a gamble because you’ll have to be out of cover for longer to wait for the meter to fill. Some people might not like action sequences in their normally slow-paced adventure games, but the characters in Gemini Rue will always get into cover automatically at the start and won’t take damage while in cover. Because of this, the player never needs to worry about being caught unaware. Shooting adds a bit of variety to the game, and let’s be honest: How could this neo-noir thriller be complete without some gunfights?

There are a few other scenes in the game that require gameplay other than normal point-and-click. Interacting with certain boxes allows you to push them around, ‘a’ and ‘d’ used to move them left and right, ‘w’ used to climb on top, and ‘s’ used to climb back down. Also, there are occasional puzzles regarding getting a computer or machine to do what you need it to do. These never distract from the story or take very long. They fit very well with the rest of Gemini Rue and, more importantly, would detract from the game if missing.

One aspect of the game is interacting with the environment – finding items you need and figuring out where to use them. You’ll also need to gather information, sometimes from notes found lying around or computer terminals. You need to think about what you know and what you need to know to reach that satisfying moment where the puzzle suddenly clicks in your head. You’ll also need to get a lot of information from other characters in the game. Dialogues have multiple choices that can lead to the same positive result, giving players more than one way to solve a dialogue puzzle. The dialogue is fascinating and continually adds to the narrative. No character feels needless or like filler content. In fact, Nuernberger does a fantastic job of making sure every scene, character, and bit of dialogue exists for a reason and continues to progress the narrative and enjoyment of the game.

Conclusion

Let’s get this out of the way: I love Gemini Rue. The narrative was gripping, friendly characters were likable, and supporting characters all seemed like they belonged in the world and evoked the correct emotional response. The dark, rain drenched neo-noir setting is perfect for the story being told. Scenes were beautiful, the music fit superbly, the voice-acting was believable, and the sound effects were realistic. Is a person simply the sum of all experiences and outside input or is there more to a person? Gemini Rue explores identity, ethics, and even free will. Like all great pieces of fiction, which Gemini Rue definitely is, it’ll leave you contemplating the questions it poses even if it doesn’t offer a concrete answer. Gemini Rue is available for purchase and download at WadjetEyeGames.com for $14.99, a very low price for what is now one of my favorite games. For those of you who are still unsure, there’s a demo available on that site as well. If you’re an adventure game fan or simply like the themes, setting, and story presented, you owe it to yourself to look into Gemini Rue!

The emotional and thought-provoking worlds of Team Ico

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

My friend Edward introduced me to Shadow of the Colossus, and I loved it. Scaling colossi was exhilarating, Agro was a loyal campaign, and the minimalist story raised more questions as the game progressed. By the end, the arc reaches a conclusion while at the same time the game allows the player to draw his or her own conclusions. Why has Wander traveled to the Forbidden Land? Yes, to save Mono, but who is she to him? Is Wander good? Is Wander evil? Perhaps the same questions could apply to Dormin or even Lord Emon.

What’s surprisingly fascinating is all that exists to explore that isn’t put directly in front of you. There’s so much beautiful world to see in Shadow of the Colossus. There’s realizing all the poetic touches, such as the physical change of Wander, the final fate of Agro, and the relationship between Dormin, the idols, the colossi, and Wander. The game never tells you about fruit or lizard tails. The only thing driving Wander to the top of the temple is the player’s own curiosity.

Like the majority of fans, I played Shadow of the Colossus first, but I soon followed it by playing Team Ico’s first game, Ico. While the gameplay is vastly different, its tone and themes are quite similar. Ico might have a companion in Yorda, but it’s still an isolating experience considering he can’t communicate with her. They might not share a language, but there’s still a small amount of communication. The game can really instill a sense of panic in me when I hear Yorda cry out and I’m not near her. Like Shadow of the Colossus, Ico has a fully whole and satisfying story arc while still leaving many things open to interpretation. Who is the Queen? What of her subjects? Was it just her and Yorda? Why was Ico brought to the castle? Miyuki Miyabe wrote a fantastic novelization of the game called, in English, Ico: Castle in the Mist. I was definitely surprised when I saw it sitting on a table in Barnes & Noble and quickly purchased it. It goes into great detail and provides fascinating background information based on Miyuki’s interpretation of Ico. It might not be canon, but I still highly recommend it to fans.

After playing both games, a whole new chapter unlocked – the relationship between the two. First, I thought about it, but that soon yielded to Internet research. The Queen’s Sword is an unlock in Shadow of the Colossus; does this imply the Shadow of the Colossus takes place later, or is it a fun nod? How about some of the Queen’s architecture found in Shadow of the Colossus? I think it’s likely reuse of art assets, but some people saw it differently. Of course, there’s the rather obvious fact that the baby at the end of Shadow of the Colossus has horns just like Ico. Fumito Ueda, director of both games, sees Shadow of the Colossus as a prequel but leaves it open for players to decide for themselves.

People all over did the world did more than look for relationships between the two games: they also searched for hidden secrets, with the biggest being the idea of a 17th colossus. The title never told players to eat the fruit or lizard tails. There’s no reason for Wander to be able to grab birds and go for a flight. Nothing tells players to climb the temple. There are large amounts of unused landscape. It certainly seemed to many that there was room for and reason to believe in more hidden in that Forbidden Land. It’s now been over nine years since the release of Shadow of the Colossus, and most fans agree that everything to be found has been found. There is no 17th colossus. But there is plenty to see in the game, and exploring for the sake of exploring can still be satisfying. In fact, exploring outside the game can be satisfying as well. Maybe there are only 16th colossi in the game, but there were still scrapped colossi. If they can’t be found in the game, they can be found in sketches and notes. Craig Owens published a great piece on Shadow of the Colossus and fans’ search for its secrets called The quest for Shadow of the Colossus’ last big secret for Eurogamer on February 5, 2013. It was a great read when it was first published, and I’ve enjoyed rereading it multiple times as well.

Team Ico revealed a follow-up, The Last Guardian at E3 2009. It was one of the reasons I purchased a PS3. Many of the development team have left, but as of just a couple months ago, Ueda says it’s in development. Hopefully the PS4 sees it eventually.

Both images taken from their respective games’ Wikipedia articles. Ico’s was uploaded by Wikipedia user Jayteecork and Shadow of the Colossus’ by Wikipedia user The Prince of Darkness.

Pixel Press Floors

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

[Updated on 1/30/15.]

Pixel Press Floors is an iOS and Android game that allows you to make your own platformer levels. I Kickstarted this around June of 2013 because of an interesting hook: you actually design by hand on paper and take a photograph of the paper to import it into the game.

There were a few hiccups, such as the Android version being significantly delayed. As an iOS user, this didn’t bother me. However, two others things did. First, the game changed from a paid game to a free game with in-app purchases. As someone who backed the game early, I got an account in the game that reflected this. Supposedly this would give me bonuses. I don’t know what those are. I thought I was supposed to be able to place enemies in my level (it’s normally an IAP), but I don’t see any option for that currently. [Update: I contacted the developer, and they fixed everything for me within a day. Great customer service!] The second, bigger problem is that the creation mode ended up being iPad only. That’s great if I owned an iPad, but I don’t.

Regardless, I finally had a chance to sit down and make some levels with gem’s iPad, and it was a ton of fun. I’m still annoyed about not being able to create on the iPhone, and I’m hoping they add it. As for the backer bonuses, I don’t know what the deal is there, but I just reached out to Pixel Press to find out.

As for making levels? Fun! You don’t get to change any of the physics or design your own sprites, but you still can set the layout of levels. Even though what initially piqued my interesting was designing on paper, I did the whole thing on the iPad. You can watch the video embedded above to see my level, appropriately named The Adventures of Peter. And hey, I published it around 1:30 today and it already has 77 plays!

If you like platformers, you might want to give this a try. As mentioned, it’s free. There are a ton of community-created levels, and you can search for mine as well.

Fully clearing the board in Dr. Mario Express

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

When I get down to the last virus in Dr. Mario Express, sometimes I like to keep trying to clear the extra pills so that I can fully clear the level. Usually there are leftover pieces. This is the first time I’ve managed to clear every last pill along with that pesky virus! Woo!

Finished Gears of War 3

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Peter (Devee)

Yes, I’m behind, but I started 2015 by beating Gears of War 3. I really enjoyed it! I suppose there are going to be some minor spoilers here, but I won’t spoil the big points.

The opening of the game on the CNV Sovereign is cool because it’s nice to see the ship and Michaelson, leader of the COG Navy. He was a major character in the novels, but this was his first appearance in game. Unfortunately, I felt like major changes from the books were changed rapidly. Michaelson is only in the very beginning of the game, likely because people who didn’t read the books wouldn’t care about him. The former Chairman Prescott returns early in the game too with his MacGuffin. It makes sense from a story standpoint, and by the end of the game, it all makes sense, but it still feels weird.

From there the game progresses well. There are more characters that follow Marcus, which makes it more varies and interesting. Anya, Sam, and Jace are all major characters now too. There are floating gas barges that are pretty cool, but at one point you’re forced into combat using one. Similarly, you later control the guns on a submarine. I don’t play Gears of War to do these things. I feel like these levels are the modern equivalent to the “obligatory mine cart” level. I’m not sure what to call them, but I don’t want to take control of some larger contraption with a totally different feel.

Getting through some less-than-amazing parts get you to Anvil Gate, another major location from the novels, so I suppose it’s worth it. We also get to see Colonel Hoffman and Bernie, so that’s pretty cool too! Dom seems a little more reserved and depressed after the events of the second game, which makes for some interesting character development. He has a really amazing moment during the game. The Carmine in this game is a bit more badass too.

The end of Gears of War 2 had gameplay that differed a bit from the main game. It felt anti-climatic regarding gameplay even if the story itself was quite climatic. This wasn’t a problem in Gears 3. The last battles felt really climatic and awesome, which is one of the most important things in a game besides actually being fun.

Now I just have to resist the urge to spend money on Gears of War: Judgment until I beat some of the other games I own!

2014 in review for Polygons and Pixels

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,800 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 7 trips to carry that many people.

It’s nice to see that things are relatively “on target” with engagement in interesting places. The strange tale of “bob’s game” is still my most popular piece, but I also got a lot of traffic from goofans.com about World of Goo because of Backing up Android’s World of Goo saves.

Click here to see the complete report.

The McElroy brothers “play” Elegy for a Dead World

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

A couple weeks ago, Griffin and Justin McElroy recorded a video while “playing” Elegy for a Dead World. The game lets you float through a backdrop of a desolate, alien world and provides writing prompts. You can complete the prompts and publish your story as well as view others’ stories. I don’t think anything I’d ever be able to write could compare to their work though! Check it out on Polygon.

Spending Christmas with Diamond Trust of London

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

How did you spend your Christmas? I played some Diamond Trust of London, a game I funded on Kickstarter a few years ago and first wrote about in November of 2012. Sadly, I never played it until now. What really made me interested was the fact that it’s an indie DS game released on an actual cartridge. The game is about the diamond trade in Angola in 2000.

DTOL is a turn-based strategy game in which the two players choose their actions at the same time, and once they’ve made their decisions, the results are shown. The goal is to have the highest number of diamonds at the end. Each turn, you can move your agents to various regions, bid on diamonds, sell diamonds, and bribe opposing agents. If you bribe an agent with more money that your opponent pays them, you’ll get to see their planned actions and modify your own actions.

One thing that’s cool is that it only takes about 20 minutes to finish a game. You can change the AI difficulty or play against another person. It’s a pretty fun game, although I haven’t had a chance to play it against a human opponent. It’s really interesting that someone managed to release an independent game made by two people as a full retail release.

Chip’s Challenge NES prototype

Posted on December 12, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

There’s an eBay auction currently in progress for an unreleased prototype of Chip’s Challenge for NES. I didn’t even realize that existed. At $1091.77 with 47 bids, it’s a little out of my price range. Interesting nevertheless. Thanks to Retro Treasures for posting about it!

via Unreleased Chip’s Challenge NES Prototype, Gnome, Retro Treasures, 12/12/14.

Source: UNRELEASED NES Prototype EPROM Card CHIP’S CHALLENGE DEMO NTSC 1992 NINTENDO, 93tomegatherion, eBay,

Offspring Fling!

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

Offspring Fling! is a cute puzzle platformer on Steam that I tried recently. It was very enjoyable, and just look at that art! What you can’t hear, because I’m not including it, is the great music.

When this mean looking dinosaur shows up, your babies scatter. It’s up to you to rescue them!

You can run and jump as well as pick up and fling your babies. As you carry more babies, you won’t be able to jump as the high. Each level tasks you with getting your babies to the door. Some of the stages definitely took some thinking, but I was never really stumped. You won’t find yourself losing repeatedly like in a platformer such as Super Meat Boy or N+, but you will have to think about the puzzles.

It’s a neat little game with adorable graphics. There are still extras to unlock if I choose to keep playing, but it only took me about four hours to beat the base game. It was definitely worth it.

Atom Zombie Smasher

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

Atom Zombie Smasher is an interesting little real-time strategy game I played recently. You run a country’s military as it’s being overrun with zombies and must attempt to rescue civilians and fight back the infected.

There’s sort of two main spheres of strategy. First, there’s the map of the country. It’s procedurally-generated, so the game’ll be a little different each time you play. To beat the game, you need a certain number of points, and one way you earn points is by controlling territory. Your map shows you what territories the zombies have taken and what territories you’ve fully cleaned. Each day, which is basically a level, has different soldiers available. You need to decide when to attack each territory considering the state of the board, how strong the enemies are, and what soldiers you have available.

During a battle for a particular territory, you’ll have differents tools as your disposal with a variety of victory conditions. In this level, you can see purple infected, yellow civilians, and blue scientists. Scientists are basically currency for addition unlocks. Along the bottom, you’ll see the tools I have – a helicopter to rescue civilians, explosives, blockades, and snipers. What I really like is that you’re always given the option of trying a level again before continuing, even if you succeed. Sometimes I win but think I can do better.

You can set up games of varying lengths dependent on the number of points required for victory. A long campaign can be quite complicated, but you can also make a short campaign capable of being finished in under hour. It’s definitely a fun little game!

Roguelikes, the Flipboard magazine

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

Nellistos has an online magazine about roguelikes aptly called Roguelikes that might be worth reading if you’re interested in the genre. It uses Flipboard, a magazine-like aggregator. Basically, he collects articles about roguelikes on his Flipboard. I found out about it because he included my earlier article on Fatal Labyrinth from June. I really should have mentioned this sooner!

The Last Arcade on the Planet

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

Saturday night I went to the Last Arcade on the Planet, a private arcade in Santa Ana. From the outside, you’d think it was just another typical warehouse. On the night of a party, people lounge outside near food vendors while the inside is packed with people and games.

Juan Sanchez owns a great selection of arcade games and pinball machines from 1986 or earlier. In other words, no games younger than me! He periodically throws parties, charging a $10 cover with all the games on free-play. I’d been meaning to attend for a while, but when I learned that the parties are coming to a close by the end of the year, I made sure to visit. Juan’s going to be getting them into top shape so he can sell the games.

I’ll apologize for the bad photos right now. The lighting conditions obviously weren’t fantastic, and taking photos wasn’t my priority. gem was smart enough to wear this cool t-shirt of a t-rex playing Asteroids, so she posed in front of the Asteroids cabinet. This time it was for me, but she was actually asked for a photo on her way inside the party when paying the cover. Pretty cool!

Woo, high score! We set a few high scores that night, but of course, many games reset their scores when power is lost.

I love the screen on Space Invaders. There’s no actual color of course. The display is reflected from below. A lot of machines used this, and it’s pretty smart. I’ve always loved Space Invaders, probably as an icon for gaming as much as I do for the game itself. In fact, the Space Invaders Extreme games were fantastic modern takes on the series. I also can’t help but think of the episode of Futurama, Anthology of Interest II, in which Fry asks the What-If Machine what life would be like if it was more like a video game.

Zoo Keeper was a pretty fun game with which I wasn’t familiar. Animals bounce around a box representing their cage, slowly breaking out of it. As you run around it, you rebuild the walls. You can also jump over animals and collect food for more points. It’s simple but pretty fun. I was the fifth and ninth best keeper that day, and gem was the tenth!

We also played some other games I didn’t photograph – Mario Bros., Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Tron, and Discs of Tron to name a few. I played Donkey Kong 3 for a bit. I don’t think I’d played it previously, so that was interesting. It felt like Galaga basically, but maybe that was also because I had just played Galaga. Star Wars was another interesting game, a first-person space combat simulator using a yoke rather than joystick. It was pretty cool.

All that game playing made us hungry, so we headed outside. I had nachos with cheese sauce and jalapeño, lumpia, and a quesadilla. It was tasty, and everyone was pretty nice!

Our bellies full, we continued to pinball! We started with some Jack•Bot, a beautiful machine. With the combination of fun, illustration, story, energetic sound effects, physical clanks, responsive lights and colors, and tactile feedback, it’s hard not to love pinball. Aesthetically, Jack•Bot was my favorite pinball machine.

gem sent me this Snapchat of myself playing. I’m no pinball wizard, but I appreciate the reference!

We ended the night by taking turns on The Machine Bride of Pin•Bot, the second of three Pin•Bot pinball machines ending with Jack•Bot. Despite not being as pleasing to the eye as Jack•Bot, I enjoyed the mechanics of The Machine Bride of Pin•Bot more as we attempted to complete the Bride and then make her human. (It’s amazing how much story Pinball makers can cram into a pinball machine.) We didn’t succeed, but I feel like I could make another post in the future just about this machine.

The Last Arcade on the Planet is truly an awesome collection. It’s great of the owners to open it to parties (and offset the costs a bit I suppose). I’m glad I had the chance to check it out while the option still exists!

Ace Ferrara and the Dino Menace for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action Games, Space Sims, Philipp Seifried, Bulkypix

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

Ace Ferrara and the Dino Menace for iOS makes you a pilot, defending humanity against the space-faring dinosaur threat! The game’s developed by Philipp Seifried and published by BulkyPix. Dinosaurs are returning to take over the Earth using their spaceships, and players are tasked with stopping them! The game gives you control of Ace Ferrara as you engage in space combat and cartoon fun.

…

Ace Ferrara and the Dino Menace contains great space combat adjusted with superb controls for a phone. It has a silly storyline that I enjoyed. It’s not so gripping that I was constantly hankering to find out what happened next, but it definitely entertained me and gave motivation to move forward into each next mission. Check out the trailer if you want to see more. If you decide you want to stop the Dino Menace, you can pick up the game for $3.99 on the iTunes Store.

via Ace Ferrara and the Dino Menace for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action Games, Space Sims, Philipp Seifried, Bulkypix.

The PAX Pokemon League

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

Did you know that there’s a PAX Pokemon League with gym leaders, badges, Elite Four, and champion? I didn’t until my friend, Alex, posted a link on Facebook to a Kotaku article on it. It’s such an amazing idea.

At PAX, volunteers are acting as gym leaders and can be identified by green scarves (hopefully they don’t mind me borrowing the image used at the top). People can challenge them to Pokemon battles in Pokemon X and Y to earn their badges. There are a few basic rules, but it boils down to “don’t be cheap, and have fun.” The gym leaders can award badges at their own discretion, so you don’t necessarily have to defeat them to earn the badges.

It’s a neat event that embraces the fun and dedication of fans. Alternate reality games like this one are particularly interesting and engaging, bringing some real world activities to otherwise virtual games. It reminds me a bit of the WoW quests I’ve seen at Anime Expo years ago (that were subsequently banned) or even the Geeky Hooker’s CritterDrops, in which she drops crocheted critters and leaves tips on Twitter so people can find and adopt them. (I didn’t manage to get any at SDCC, but there was a lot of competition.)

It’s too bad there wasn’t something like the PAX Pokemon League at SDCC; I would have loved to participate. On the other hand, it’s good on my wallet because it would have made me purchase the game. It’s a great idea, and I hope more things like this continue to happen.

PAX Pokemon League official site
Meet The People Who Are Pokémon Gym Leaders In Real Life, Patricia Hernandez, Kotaku, 8/21/14.
The Geeky Hooker

Teaser for The Behemoth’s Game 4!

Posted on August 21, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

The Behemoth is one of my favorite game developers with a pretty stellar record so far. Alien Hominid, Castle Crashers, and their latest, BattleBlock Theater, are all fantastic games. They’ve been wonderful with the inclusion and focus on playing cooperatively with local friends as well, which is something I really value. Their booths always attract me, and I absolutely love their arcade cabinets. I’ve even been to local events.

Game 4 is their newest game; The Behemoth just debuted the teaser trailer for it. I love it. And I love Will Stamper’s voice work. Game 4 will be playable soon at Pax Prime. I can’t wait to find out more about it.

Source: First Look at Game 4, danp, The Behemoth Blog, 8/20/14.

Fatal Labyrinth, Genesis roguelike

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

While going through the games I hadn’t tried in Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection, I stumbled upon Fatal Labyrinth. It started with a corny story for a minute or so before the action started (and even that minute of story could be skipped). Despite showing its age (bad music; can’t go back one level in the menus, so you have to close the menu), it was a very enjoyable game. Not only are the levels randomly generated, but the items are described by colors with each color corresponding randomly to a specific spell. On one play, a blue cane might do blizzard damage; on the next, it might confuse the enemy.

I’ll admit that I used save states to determine what each color did so I wouldn’t waste any items. I never did manage to get the best armor or sword in the game in spite of fully clearing every level. There were are also a couple of interesting tricks I found on GameFAQs. Cursed weapons are very weak, and a curse removal item can remove the curse, allowing you to unequip the weapon. If you remove the curse before equipping the item, it’ll say it has zero power while actually being devastating to enemies. Similarly, if you equip two bows back and forth, your armor will decrease by three each time until rolling over to an ungodly amount of armor. I tried the tricks because I was curious but restored a save because it made me too powerful.

Food was an interesting in the mechanic. While your HP will slowly regenerate, your food value will slowly decrease. You don’t die when you reach zero, but you’ll begin to lose HP. This would lead me to think that I should collect all the food I find, but too much food causes the character to move slower, and if a certain amount of food is eaten, the character die on the spot. Overeating is the number two killer of knights, you know (just after dragons).

It’s been a while since I’ve played a fun roguelike. It reminded me of Azure Dreams, one of my favorite PlayStation games. After playing the game on and off for the past four days, I beat it last night.

The only thing I care about from the third day of E3 is dating birds

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

I think dating sims and cliche high school games that aren’t anything like my real experience are exceptionally fun, so it’s no surprise that I’d be interested in Hatoful Boyfriend. You play a young woman who goes to school, manages her time, and goes on dates. You’re also “the last human girl in the world.” I’m not sure if you’re the last human or just human girl, but either way, you apparently decide to start dating birds. Of course. It’s a PC and Mac game aiming at a release this summer. Assuming it’s cheap enough, I’m pretty much sold.

– Bird dating sim Hatoful Boyfriend is a bizarre delight, Megan Farokhmanesh, Polygon, 6/12/14.

Also, this comment:

E3 Day Two

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

There were a few tidbits that interested me today.

The Last Guardian

Yoshida of Sony remarked that The Last Guardian isn’t canceled. He also said that when they do cancel a title that’s already been announced, they’ll tell their fans. It’s nice to see that reiterated, but I’m still annoyed that when I bought my PS3, I did so under the impression that I’d get to play The Last Guardian on it.

– If we ever cancel The Last Guardian, we’ll tell you, Sony’s Yoshida promises, Brian Crecente, Polygon, 6/11/14.

The Last of Us, Shadow of the Colossus, and Diablo 3

There will be a nephalem rift in Diablo 3 Ultimate Evil Edition with references to The Last of Us. This is sort of interesting although I haven’t played The Last of Us and prefer D3 on PC. What’s slightly more interesting is that there will be armor based on Shadow of the Colossus. After reading the first part of an article about the inclusion of The Last of Us, I was really hoping for more than just armor. Could you imagine fighting a Colossus in Diablo? Oh well.

– The Last of Us and Shadow of the Colossus guest star in Diablo 3 on PS3 and PS4, Owen S. Good, Polygon, 6/11/14.

LittleBigPlanet 3

Another reminder of a game I own and still need to play – LittleBigPlanet 2 in this case. LBP 3 still includes Sackboy but has three new characters as well: Oddsock is a dog-like character that moves faster. He’s adorable, and I’m excited. Toggle is a large, heavier sack-person that can move heavy objects and use his weight to solve puzzles. Lastly, Swoop is a flying bird. I’ll admit it; I’m interested.

– LittleBigPlanet 3 has some new friends for you to meet, Colin Campbell, Polygon, 6/11/14.

Devil’s Third

Here’s a game that I skipped yesterday until my friend talked to me about it today. It was announced as a Wii U exclusive. The trailer shows the main character as some sort of ninja, sniper, assassin cool guy with an attitude that also plays the drums, cusses a lot, and drinks. Honestly, it seemed over the top, and not in the good way like MadWorld or No More Heroes. It just seemed like Nintendo wanted to show that they can have mature exclusives, when that should be obvious by the titles I just mentioned. This just looked silly.

– Devil’s Third Trailer (Wii U), GamesHQMedia, YouTube, 6/10/14.

Destiny

Lastly, I watched a new Destiny gameplay video. I’m fairly certain others had already been released, but I didn’t know much about the game. A friend of mine has compared it to WoW a number of times. He’s never played WoW, and that’s incredibly clear after watching the video. It might still be a fun game, but it’s not really in the same market at all.

– Destiny gameplay video and interview, E3 2014, Polygon Staff, Polygon, 6/11/14.

E3 Day 1, Nintendo’s day

Posted on June 10, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

It seemed like Nintendo announced new entries in most of their franchises. Many of them looked pretty great. Hopefully it’ll be enough to substantially increase their install base. I suppose I’ll talk about the games for which I’m least excited first. I didn’t put a ton of thought into the order besides wanting to end on high notes.

Super Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros. is still coming out. It’s not one of my favorites, so I don’t have a lot to say. I’m sure I’ll play it and enjoy it, but Smash is usually a game I play a bunch for a day or two and then leave. Creating custom fighters with miis could be interesting.

amiibo

Nintendo has figures called amiibos that work like the Skylanders toys. I’m really not sold on this idea. Okay, they can into my game, but can’t I already bring things into games using, I don’t know, DLC, without having to store a bunch of figures? They mentioned that as an amiibo fights in Smash, it’ll get better, and I could then bring it a friend’s house. Again, I feel like you could just save this to an account. Now, I’m not against figurines. If they’re really cool, that’s great, but it seems needless.

Star Fox, Project Giant Robot, and Project Guard

A new Star Fox is being designed by Miyamoto. I was shocked that the Wii didn’t have a Star Fox or a Pilotwings, so I’m glad to see a new Star Fox coming to the Wii U. I’m not clear on how it controls, but it requires you to watch the TV, which displays what looks to be a familiar view for a Star Fox game, as well as the gamepad, which is used for aiming and shooting. I don’t know. That sounds terrible.

Miyamoto is also designing Project Giant Robot, which also uses the TV and gamepad. The TV gives you a larger view of what’s happening while the gamepad has a first-person perspective. You control a giant, slow-moving robot. The sticks control the arms while tilting the gamepad controls the robot’s balance. It was compared to sumo wrestling. I’m more open to this than the controls of Star Fox.

His third game is Project Guard in which players control security cameras defending a base. The TV displays feeds from all the security cameras while the gamepad shows a map. You use both to see enemies approaching your base and to plan your defense.

Zelda

Link’s going to do some running around on the Wii U in a new Zelda game soon that’s supposedly going to be much more open and focus on exploring. That’s good and bad. I liked going into side dungeons back in A Link to the Past to find better weapons to help. It was nice being able to obtain some at any time. On the other hand, sometimes if I spend too much time playing around in an open game without making progress, I feel demoralized. I’ve also been annoyed at the increasing long tutorials in Zelda games. I hope we get started quickly and that Link gets his sword within the first two minutes. It does look really beautiful! I’m not sold on it yet, but I do really love the Zelda universe.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse

A new Kirby game is coming as the successor to Kirby’s Canvas Curse called Kirby and the Rainbow Curse. At first I thought it said “Course” and was excited in the hopes that it was a sequel to Kirby’s Dream Course. Come on, Nintendo! I didn’t play Kirby’s Canvas Curse, so I don’t know what to expect here. Also, there are plenty of other Kirby games I missed that I could play cheaper (or already own) – Dream Land 2, Dream Land 3, 64, The Amazing Mirror, Epic Yarn, Mass Attack, Return to Dream Land, and Triple Deluxe.

Yoshi’s Woolly World

Yoshi’s Woolly World looks like a combination of a Yoshi game with Kirby’s Epic Yarn. It looks like a lot of fun, but it also reminded me that I didn’t play Kirby’s Epic Yawn. And then I realized that there was a recent Yoshi game, Yoshi’s New Island, with which I wasn’t familiar at all!

Splatoon

Splatoon is an interesting third-person shooter that involves squids shooting ink. The goal is to cover the map with your color, and the ink they shoot has consequences in the game. You move faster through your own ink (and refill your ink), and you move slowly through the opposing squids’ ink. It looks like it could be fun.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

Last night I was playing Super Mario 3D World, and as I played a toad level, I realized that they’re a lot of fun and wondered if Nintendo would ever release a game based on it. Apparently they would, and it’s going to be called Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. I can only imagine it’ll be fun because I love the puzzles in Super Mario 3D World.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong

Speaking of puzzle games, a new Mario vs. Donkey Kong game was announced for the Wii U. I played and loved the first two, but this announcement did make me realize that I missed the last three titles in this series.

Mario Maker

Mario Maker is the game that makes me giddy. Mario Maker is to Mario levels as Mario Paint is to pictures and music. As far as I could tell, there was no information released on sharing your levels. I really hope I can share them online with my friends. It looks like a blast.

Final thoughts

Before I jump back into Nintendo, I should also mention that a feature-length Sonic the Hedgehog movie was announced blending animation with live-action. I bet it’ll be terrible, and I’ll definitely enjoy watching it!

As for Nintendo, they had a very strong showing, but there’s still a problem. I’m not sure how many of these I’m going to purchase. I hope that they get strong sales, because I want Nintendo to succeed. When I have so many games that I own and haven’t finished, I shouldn’t be buying new games. Some of these games would be ones I’d be super excited to play except for the fact that they reminded me that I’ve already missed entries in their series I could play cheaper. I have Kirby’s Dream Collection and Kirby’s Epic Yarn, for example. There are also similar platformers I missed such as Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze (or non-Nintendo series such as Epic Mickey and its sequel).

I would have been interested in purchasing Star Fox if it wasn’t for that control scheme. It might not be so bad, but I’ll need to wait and see. Considering that Mario Kart is one of my favorite series and I’ve resisted buying Mario Kart 8 in an effort to save money and play what I own, I’m not sure I’ll be buying many of these.

Mario Maker looks amazing, and I’ll probably be picking that up. If Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is cheap enough, I could see getting that. (If it’s a retail release, I’ll likely pass.) That’s not to say that I’m not interesting in the others. Many of them I’ll likely play in the future, either picking them up cheap, borrowing them from friends, or possibly just caving to my cravings. This is all really a reflection of where I am with gaming and not their announcements, I suppose. I don’t think Nintendo could have had a stronger showing honestly. It’s not enough to simply release good games, because there isn’t enough time to play every good game. They have to be better than whatever else one would do with that free time. Let’s hope these announcements help Nintendo!

E3 Day 0 Recap

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

It might be easiest if I make this a bulleted list.

Okay, that was easy.

Some mainstream franchises that get sequels once a year will keep getting sequels. Hopefully tomorrow is more interesting to me.

Happy 30th, Tetris

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

Today marked 30 years since the original release of Alexey Pajitnov’s amazing puzzle game, Tetris. To celebrate, I quit Dr. Mario Express on my DSi for the first time in months and played some good old Tetris DS.

Most of my Tetris playing over the years has been on Nintendo handhelds – Tetris, Tetris DX, and Tetris DS. It’s funny, but each time a new one was released, I was very resistant. I remember hating the look of Tetris DX at first, but I got over it. I still think that the lack of a similar puzzle game with the same longevity still hurts iOS. Nothing else really comes close.

I also have a ton of great memories playing TetriNET, an unofficial, online Tetris game. Besides playing like normal Tetris, it also had modes with powerups. If you cleared a line with an item in it, it went into your inventory, and you could press a number key to use the item on that player. For example, you could add a line, remove a line, jumble the blocks, switch fields, etc. It was a ton of fun, although maybe I shouldn’t talk too much about a game that’s infringing on the real Tetris.

The original designer, Alexy Pajitnov, designed other games as well. Most notably, he designed Hexic and Hexic HD, which was pre-loaded on all Xbox 360 consoles. I had no idea that Hexic HD was his game, but I played it a ton when the 360 was new.

Countless nights I’ve stared at the ceiling in bed, seeing falling tetronimos under the Tetris effect after playing a lot of Tetris. It’s definitely an amazing game created by a talented designer. Thanks for all the fun, Pajitnov.

Another month, more games crossed off my list

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

My backlog is now down to 314 unfinished games and 269 unplayed games, down from 323 unfinished games and 277 unplayed games from my last post on April 25. Slow and steady wins the race.

SQUIDS Odyssey

I was given a download code for this game to review for Game Boyz. You can read the review, if you’d like. It’s a port of the first two games in the series with additional content. Fun game. This increased my backlog count by one, and I haven’t crossed it off yet because I’m not quite done with it.

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria and Cataclysm

As usual, I won’t spend too much time talking about WoW. I’ve been playing three characters. First, I’m still doing some LFR for transmog on my main, Devee, the troll priest. I’ve also been playing Voidgazer, my undead warlock. Voidgazer’s in his 50s now. Lastly, I made a pandaren monk named Sleepypaw that recently joined the Alliance. I have some friends that play together every Friday night Alliance-side, so I thought I’d try to catch them. Sleepypaw is 12 or so, and my friends are approaching level 30.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All

I’m currently in the third case. I don’t spend a lot of time in this because I only play while I’m walking at lunch at work. It’s fun though!

Dr. Mario Express

I just can’t stop playing this. My high score is currently 55,200.

Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic 2

This game was part of Sonic Mega Collection Plus, and it was about time I finished it. I’ll admit, I didn’t go for the Chaos Emeralds. There was some pressure to reload save states when I failed the special stages, but at this point, I need to decide whether something is worth my time and provides enjoyment. I hated those special stages, so too bad. The game was fairly fun, but I wish the stages were updated more for Knuckles. There were many places in which I climbed and then suddenly hit an invisible wall. Also, I remember there being better enemy and pit placement. If I’m moving fast, as expected of you in a Sonic game, and in a ball, I shouldn’t roll right into a spiky enemy. The game should reward you for going fast. Even so, I like Sonic 2.

Sonic Drift, Sonic Labyrinth, Sonic Blast,The Ooze, Flicky, and Dynamite Headdy

Here’s a nice set of games in Sonic Mega Collection Plus or Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection that were just bad. I was glad to cross them off my list. I jotted some notes down in my backlog after I tried them; I’ll reproduce them here.

Sonic Drift: “Wow, this is bad. I’m glad that they improved the formula by the time Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing was released.” It’s a racing game but just barely.

Sonic Labyrinth: “I finished one level. It’s nothing like a Sonic game and quite boring.” It’s like an even worse version of Sonic 3D Blast.

Sonic Blast: “Played one zone. It’s so slow and bad.” Surprisingly, this isn’t like Sonic 3D Blast. It’s just a really slow, bad Sonic game.

The Ooze: “What? No. Just no.” I don’t know how to explain this one. You’re a puddle of ooze, and you ooze around in a boring fashion.

Flicky: “More fun than I expected, but I’m not going to keep playing it.” You play as a flicky bird, and jump between platforms gathering up your little chicks.

Dynamite Headdy: “Cute style but weird game. I don’t want to keep playing.” You fling your head around or use it as a bomb. Reminds me a little of Vectorman.

Streets of Rage and Streets of Rage 2

I own Streets of Rage in Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection and thought it was about time to give it a try. It seemed boring as beat ’em ups go. I decided to stick with it until I either beat it or got game over. I was on the last round with I reached that game over screen. I’m crossing you off the list, Streets of Rage.

Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection contained Streets of Rage 2 as well (and I also own it on iOS). I went it with the same mindset as the first game and actually liked it a bit more. This I managed to beat.

Ecco: The Tides of Time

Here’s another Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection game. I think the Ecco series contains some really interesting and eerie games. I’m very glad to have experienced them, but I don’t think experiencing more of this game is worth the time put into it. Unfortunately, I’m crossing it off my list.

Shining Force

Okay, one last Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection to mention. It’s interesting to me how old RPGs spend such little time building the story at the beginning. It’s seems less realistic to have you mission and be on your way within two minutes, but at the same time, it’s refreshing to jump into the game. I was also expecting a menu-driven RPG and not a map with a grid. I didn’t realize it was a tactical/strategy RPG. I played it a little, entering a few battles, but I don’t think I’ll play it more.

Rock N’ Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings

I didn’t play either of these, but I added them to my backlog because Blizzard added them to everyone’s Battle.net accounts. Unfortunately, that causes my backlog account to increase by two.

SQUIDS Odyssey for Wii U reviewed on Game Boyz

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

The SQUIDS franchise consisted of SQUIDS and SQUIDS Wild West for iOS, but now it’s getting bigger with the release of SQUIDS Odyssey, a downloadable title for the Wii U and 3DS by The Game Bakers. SQUIDS Odyssey is a port of the first two games with new, additional levels and content. You can read my previous reviews of SQUIDS and SQUIDS Wild West if you’d like, as much of them are still applicable. This review is based on the Wii U version. I suspect that the 3DS version is very similar, especially considering that the 3DS, like the Wii U, consists of one touchscreen and one normal screen…

SQUIDS was one of the first games for iOS about which I was truly excited, looking forward to sequels. The Wii U version didn’t let me down. It’s available on the Wii U eShop for $14.99. Not only is it fun, but it’s also very beautiful. While I’ve played the iOS games before, it was still great to jump back into the ocean-world of SQUIDS on my Wii U. This time I had the opportunity to let people watch me easily, which isn’t something I could do on my iPhone. I’d definitely recommend SQUIDS Odyssey to strategy fans who like light-hearted fun and will be waiting to see what The Game Bakers do with the series next.

via SQUIDS Odyssey for Wii U | iPhone/iPod, Wii U, Nintendo DS , DSI, Reviews, Strategy.

I have a new review of SQUIDS Odyssey up at Game Boyz. It’s my first console game review for the site actually.

“bob’s game” Kickstarter succeeds

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

Yesterday morning, I checked the “bob’s game” Kickstarter with low hopes. As I expected, it was only about half way to the goal with 12 hours remaining. I knew it was over, but I intended to check back later.

I was quite surprised to see a comment by Anonymouse informing us that someone donated a huge chunk, giving the project the amount it needed to complete. This is pretty exciting for fans of “bob’s game.” It’s also a bit of a turning point. He has some of our money now. I only gave $20, and it was a gamble I was willing to make. However, what happens if the game doesn’t materialize soon? Obviously I still believe in Pelloni, otherwise I wouldn’t have backed the Kickstarter. This seems like his last chance, and I bet he knows it too. Will we be playing “bob’s game” soon? Let’s wait and see.

Trying a new batch of games

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

My backlog at Backloggery is now down to 323 unbeat (277 unplayed) from 338 unbeat games from my last post on the subject. That’s a nice bit of progress, but keep in mind that I don’t mind marking games as null, thus removing them from the unbeat count, if I get sick of them and decide they’re not worth more time. I played some games that I thought I’d enjoy like I normally would, but I also played some that I thought I wouldn’t like with the intent to cross them off my list quickly.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

I usually open with WoW mainly because I don’t want to talk about it here. I already talk about WoW much more at Kor’kron 501st. My warlock has reached his 40s and just finished the Hinterlands.

DC Universe Online

I also started playing DC Universe Online. Again, I talk about it at Kor’kron 501st because it’s an MMO, but I’m playing a mentalist hero, and I just beat the Scarecrow.

Super Mario 3D World

I’m enjoying this a lot, but I still liked Super Mario 3D Land a lot more. I’m currently in World 4.

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

While I don’t have much to report, I began playing this again. I put it down a long time ago now, so it’s nice to get back into it.

Rhythm Heaven

I beat one level. Does that count as progress?

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star

I have some terrific news about Tiny Death Star: I stopped playing it. Good bye.

Chuck’s Challenge 3D

I finished the fifth bundle, Eclair, in Chuck’s Challenge 3D. It was a lot of fun; I really love this game.

Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls

I picked up the Collector’s Edition of Reaper of Souls when it was released and have been having fun with it. I’m taking my time, so I haven’t finished the new act yet.

Ticket to Ride Europe

Thanks to Collin for letting me know that this was available for free. I never played the board game, but the iOS game is fun. Unfortunately, it’s pretty easy, but I still enjoyed it.

Scotland Yard

Here’s a DS game I wasn’t expecting to like as much as I did. I was looking for a quick game to cross off my list as boring, but I ended up needing to beat it. It’s a board game as well, so I might need to check out the physical game. Scotland Yard involves multiple detectives and one criminal, Mr. X, taking turns moving around a board. Mr. X wants to last until the turns are expired without being caught while the detectives want to land in the same space as him.

Mystery Tales: Time Travel

One…

Hidden Mysteries: Salem Secrets

…two…

Murder in Venice

…and three bad hidden object games I was able to cross off my list quickly.

Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Osborne House

Here’s another I thought would be bad. It seems to be a lot like Layton although they don’t explain the goals of the puzzles. That could be a little annoying, but it was fun enough that I’ve decided I’ll return to it later.

Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Mummy

Oh, another Sherlock Holmes game. This is bound to be like the last one, right? No. This one was a terrible first-person exploration game with dismal controls. Next.

Naval Warfare

Naval Warfare is a Steam game that’s basically a “twin-stick shooter” using keyboard and mouse. I can’t say for sure whether I’ll want to play it to completion, but it’s worth keeping in my backlog.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

I’m not usually a big fan of RTS games, but this was decently fun. I highly doubt I’ll beat it, but here’s another I’ll leave on my list.

Again

Speaking of “again,” I find myself leaving a game on my backlog again. Again is a DS game about the FBI. One agent can see the past and must match the present to look like the past to unlock scenes of what happened. It could be decent!

The full bob’s game now on Kickstarter

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

[Updated on 5/23/14.]

Can this really be happening? Pelloni now has a Kickstarter for the full bob’s game for PC, Mac, Linux, and Android. He’s hoping to raise $10,000. At the time of this writing, he’s raised $1,515 with 28 days to go. I think he’s going to do it this time. I’m also a big fan of his reward tiers – or tier, rather. For $20, “You get access to the full single player campaign when it is available, a premium account for the online service, access to a special forum, and other goodies!” I actually have a lot of respect for that.

Is it sad that I actually had a dream that I met Robert Pelloni last night?

There’s a nice, long history written at bobsgame.com as well. You might want to check it out!

Thank you to everyone who continues to check out my site and keep me informed. I received comments about the new Kickstarter on my last bob’s game post by wot is bobs gam, killamo187, and anonymouse, so thanks you three! Also, thanks to gBev for keeping up the Bob’s Game Mailing List.

As usual, I’m going to update my master post on bob’s game here on Polygons and Pixels, The strange tale of “bob’s game.” I’m going to consider this Act X. That’s a nice, round number. It sure would be nice if this is the one that leads to an actual release!

Update, 5/23/14: The Kickstarter succeeded yesterday!

All done with Castle Doombad

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

When my friend Joe told me about Adult Swim’s new iOS game, Castle Doombad (developed by Grumpyface Studios), in February, I immediately bought it. I’m a fan of some of their previous games, so I was excited to play this new one. I don’t intend this post to be a formal review, so I’m not going to worry about going into too many details on the game. However, it’s a tower defense game in which you try to protect your captured princess from heroes. You can beat a stage by ensuring a hero never rescues the princess, but you can also crown a stage by keeping a hero from ever reaching her. You earn currency in the levels and can use it to purchase new traps or upgrade current ones. In addition, there are thirty tasks called “TO-DOOMS” that reward a second type of currency, used for powerful abilities.

Here you can see that I crowned every stage in the first chapter.

And here I crowned every stage in the second chapter.

I couldn’t leave the third chapter incomplete.

Every good game needs an endless mode, and of course, I played that too.

The Summer Slaycation update introduced a new chapter. In this one, there are two princesses you need to protect. I crowned every stage here too.

I had to ensure all my to-dooms were to-done.

If all the levels were complete, I didn’t really need to make my traps more powerful, but I did manage to unlock and upgrade every trap…

…which means that I earned every achievement.

Okay, Adult Swim, I’m ready for another update now.

Typing of the Dead: Overkill went overkill on being bad

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

What a disappointing game. I thought it’d be fun, and it did keep me entertained for the first half of the first level, but my attention declined quickly.

Obviously, the gameplay is simple – type words to shoot zombies. With such a basic mechanic, the levels should be kept short, but instead they continue long after I became bored. TotD:O presents itself in the style of a B-movie, but it’s over-the-top antics felt too forced. It was filled with cliches and sexual innuendo, and I didn’t enjoy it at all.

Modern Dream developed The Typing of the Dead: Overkill, Headstrong Games developed the original, The House of the Dead: Overkill, and Sega published them. I don’t know who’s to blame, but maybe they wanted the game to be sort of meta. As the boring levels and grotesque cliches lumbered forward like a game idea that should have died and but instead was forced into this state between life and death, I can’t help but think the The Typing of the Dead: Overkill has become the very thing you’re tasked with destroying in the game itself.

Whatever. I’m not putting any more time into this game.

Extreme Sims 2 Bundle seems to be missing something

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

Does it seem to anyone else that the Extreme Sims 2 Bundle is missing a certain game series? Of course, I know what they mean, but when I hear “Sims 2 Bundle,” I certainly think first of the Sims 2.

Extreme Sims 2 Bundle, Bundle Stars.

February gaming recap

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

I couldn’t help myself. I bought games in February. I have so many games to play that I know I shouldn’t, but then I always do anyways. My current backlog is at 338 unbeat games, 284 of which are unplayed.

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

I don’t like to talk about WoW too much here since I have a separate blog for it, but we did manage to defeat the Paragons of the Klaxxi last month, putting us at the final boss of the expansion.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

In Cataclysm content, I got through Silverpine Forest on my warlock.

Twitch Plays Pokemon

I’m not sure if you count this as playing, but Twitch Plays Pokemon did take up a decent portion of my gaming time in February! If you’re unfamiliar, you really missed out. Basically, it’s Pokemon Red, but the emulator’s inputs were tied to chat inputs over Twitch. Effectively, everyone was in control at the same time. In the screenshot, you’ll notice people saying “anarchy” and “democracy.” If enough people vote for democracy, it changed into a mode during which it only took input periodically based on what was the most common. It was used to get through puzzles, but usually the game was in anarchy mode. Anyways, it was incredibly fun to watch, and the lore and content that was created by fans along with the game are what really made it amazing.

Poker Night 2

I continued playing Poker Night 2 last month, really getting into the swing of things. I unlocked everything and got every achievement save one – the achievement for having a net $1,000,000. I’m not sure if I’m going to get that or not. I marked this game as beat.

Castle Doombad

I purchased this Adult Swim iPhone game at my friend Joe’s suggestion and have been enjoying it. It’s a defense title in which you set traps to stop heroes from rescuing the princess in your tower. It has three level packs, and I’m in the last one.

Super Monsters Ate My Condo

Here’s another Adult Swim iOS game that I purchased in February. I loved MAMC, and the Super version is similar. Instead of going as long as you can, there’s a time limit. The other big change is that there are power-ups you purchase for coins, and you can buy coins as IAPs. Unfortunately, I don’t like it as much. I feel like I’m not going to get a highscore without the good power-ups, but if I don’t have the coins, I have to grind.

QuizUp

This one’s free, so while it’s a new game I started playing, at least I didn’t have to spend money on it. It’s just doing trivia against random people or your friends in a variety of categories. The game tracks your win rate versus each person, and you can level up by playing. It’s pretty great, especially because there’s a huge amount of categories. I marked this game as beat.

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star

I have no idea why I’m still playing this. Someone stop me.

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

I continued playing this just a tad. I got stuck on a puzzle, so I had to skip it. I feel terrible.

Wii Fit

Wii Fit saw a little bit of use but not as much as January.

Dr. Mario Express

This is still a fantastic game, and it’s a great way to fill a little bit of time.

Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright – Justice For All

I’m still playing this one too in my free time. I’m in the second case.

AVSEQ

AVSEQ is an interesting game that I decided to try from my backlog. It combines music with gameplay, but the game itself basically consists of chaining together atoms of a particular color. Connect all the red, detonate them, then connect all the blue, etc. It looked fun, and I enjoyed trying it, but after playing it the one time, I’m done.

Cause of Death Volume 2 – The Connoisseur

I was near the end of the volume as February started and quickly beat it. Good stuff! I’ll probably move on to volume 3 in the future when I have less things on my plate.

World of Tanks

Here’s another game that I played a little but not much. I’d like to play more. It’s fun with my friends, but they play on Friday nights, and I’d rather go out if I can.

pid

pid is some sort of platformer that looks cute on Steam. I picked it up because it was, for some reason, free, but I haven’t played it.

Hawken

I found this in my Steam library. What is it? No idea. I have no memory of picking it up, and it wasn’t in my backlog.

The String Arcade, game music for string quartet

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

A couple weeks ago I reviewed The String Arcade for Game Boyz. The String Arcade is an album of music arranged for string quartet all based on songs from video games. It’s pretty cool, so I thought I’d share a link to my review here.

Creating a new variation on some classic video game music, the recently release album, The String Arcade, reimagines fifteen video game songs (seventeen if you buy the physical CD) arranged for string quartet. The album was arranged by Dren McDonald and Jason Poss. The proceeds go to the Alameda Music Project, an after-school music program starting in September that features strings, chorus, and percussion for children in grades K-5.

…

You can read more about The String Arcade on their website at TheStringArcade.com where you can also find links to purchase the album. The digital download is $9.99, and the CD is $11.99, which comes with the two bonus tracks – Tron Arcade Medley and Altered Beast Title Theme. Now I find myself wondering how I can find more string quartet music, because I loved The String Arcade. Any suggestions?

via The String Arcade, game music for string quartet | Reviews, Rhythm.

Evolve is looking interesting

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

I saw this trailer for Evolve last week and was immediately intrigued. I’ll admit, the first thing I noticed was the awesome song – Mother by Lissie, originally by Danzig. The game’s developed by Turtle Rock Studios, the developer behind Left 4 Dead.

Evolve is a 4v1 shooter in which four players control human hunters and one controls a monster. It’s sort of like a boss battle if the boss was controlled by a player. The monster can evolve by hiding from the hunters and eating smaller monsters, and as it evolves, it gets stronger. This means the hunters want to find the monster quickly; the monster wants to hide and evolve until it’s strong enough to face the players.

This second video has a little more information about the game itself and includes actual gameplay. I can’t say with any certainty if it’ll actually be good, but it sounds pretty cool!

What happened to Cave Johnson? GLaDOS answers in Poker Night 2

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

I unlocked the Portal felt, deck, and chips in Poker Night 2 recently, which gives Poker Night 2 a little more of a science feel! As a lover of Portal, this made me pretty happy. Of course, when Brock asked GLaDOS about Cave Johnson, I got even more excited.

Here’s a video I found capturing the conversation. Poker Night 2 doesn’t have much a story, so I wouldn’t really consider this a spoiler. However, I recommend avoiding the video if you haven’t beat Portal and Portal 2. The Portal series is my favorite series, and I consider Portal to be the best game I’ve ever played. Please don’t watch it if you haven’t played those games!

January gaming

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

I thought it might be time to recap what I’ve been playing. As I mentioned in my last post, I began playing a lot of Poker Night 2. I found it a lot more difficult than Poker Night at the Inventory but still just as fun.

Surprise, surprise. I’ve also been playing more World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria in Patch 5.4: Siege of Orgrimmar. I won’t go into too many details since I blog in depth about WoW at Kor’kron 501st, but I did make some good progression. I got some pets, hit exalted with the Brood of Nozdormu, finished the introduction zone on my Forsaken warlock, earned Glory of the Hero, obtained the Twilight Drake from OS 3D 25-man, and began running older content with a new WoW buddy. As for raiding, I killed Garrosh in flex and in normal saw a lot of progression – Kor’kron Dark Shaman, General Nazgrim, Malkorok, Spoils of Pandaria, and Thok the Bloodthirsty!

I’ve been spending a couple minutes with Dr. Mario Express almost every night and set a high score.

I can’t explain why Star Wars: Tiny Death Star is so fun, but it is. This screenshot is outdated as well. In January I finished all the non-Imperial floors and got a lot more bitizens. I’m sure I’ll be done with all the floors this month.

For a series I really loved, I was bad at playing the Phoenix Wright games. January saw me finish the first case of Justice for All in the Phoenix Wright Trilogy for iOS.

Cause of Death is a super exciting visual novel about a detective and FBI agent. I continued playing Volume 2 in January. I own five volumes, so I should get on that.

This screenshot is dated, but I’ve also played a little bit of World of Tanks. My highest tank is a tier VI, the TOG II, which is a gold tank. I’ve been working on the US tank destroyer line, and my highest is the M10 Wolverine, a tier V.

And then there was some crap. I tried Tanktastic on iOS, which is basically a World of Tanks clone. It was terrible. I also tried Tiny Tower. It should be great if I love Tiny Death Star, right? Wrong. Boring.

Playing Poker Night 2

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Peter (Devee)

I’ve been playing Telltale’s Poker Night 2 recently and was finding it much harder than the original, Poker Night at the Inventory. I don’t know if it’s actually harder or if I just needed to get into the swing of things. Just as with the first game, the banter in the second is pretty great. Of course, Poker Night at the Inventory didn’t have GLADoS, so it pales in comparison.

Each character has a bounty you can win, although there’s an outline of a fifth – what’s obviously a personality core. I don’t yet know how you earn it, but earn it I shall. I have Sam’s banjo currently. Hopefully I’ll begin to pick up on their tells, but I didn’t really notice any in the original, so I wouldn’t count on it (and I’d rather not look it up).