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[Gustav]

Future Wars

I am not quite sure how somehow managed to make the Advance Wars formula as uncompelling as this. It starts with little things like the combat animations that simply don't feel satisfactory or the overall style not really being interesting to look at. I guess the basic gameplay premise is solid, but they simply didn't manage to make it fun to play. A variety of technical issues I had with the camera in Window mode didn't help either.

I started it up 3 times to give it a serious try, but it simply doesnt get better. Unfortunate.

Haha - I helped out on this game. Too bad my name is in the credits.

 

[Toma]

Haha - I helped out on this game. Too bad my name is in the credits.

Sorry to hear. Must be a bad feeling reading such comments about games you worked on. May I ask what you exactly worked on in this game? My main problem with it that it simply came together in an unappealing way. Really could have used a better director/producer.

I remember another person having similar feelings as you about working on Eternities child. Future Wars is not even as close to being as bad as Eternities child, so ... you could have had it worse

 

[Gustav]

Sorry to hear. Must be a bad feeling reading such comments about games you worked on. May I ask what you exactly worked on in this game? My main problem with it that it simply came together in an unappealing way. Really could have used a better director/producer.

I remember another person having similar feelings as you about working on Eternities child. Future Wars is not even as close to being as bad as Eternities child, so ... you could have had it worse

I was working on another team as a game designer at the time, so my contribution was minimal. Future Wars had an abysmal budget and a small team. A few weeks before completion the producer approached me because the game was nowhere near complete and/or any good. So I played it for 2 days straight and wrote an analysis of all problems and suggested quickwins we could pull of in the remaining time. I also got a level designer to rebuild the introductory levels. We managed to put the game together but it was clearly sub par when we shipped. The irony was that it got a few better reviews at the time than the game my team was working on (Drakensang: River of Time), although Drakensang was an objectively better game.

PS. If I remember correctly I am "only" in the Special Thanks section of Future Wars' credits.

 

[Toma]

Greed: Black Border

Time played: ~2 hours

Hum. It feels a bit weird saying this between all the other top down shooters that are seemingly shit (still need to try the Alien Breed games), but.. this game is fun.

The initial premise and setting is as generic as it can be, you are called to a Spaceship with problems and noticed that the crew has been transformed by some virus. Additionally, since no one on board gave you official clearance to enter the space ship, you also have to fight all the ships defense roboters.

Immediately after starting up, you also might not have the biggest fun in trudging through the first, boring rooms, but do continue reading this post/playing the game at this point. After the introduction is over and the fighting begins, the game is starting to get fun. Since it uses a checkpoint system, I also had a few "DONT DIE, DONT DIE" moments, when I was just trying to get to the next checkpoint with a low amount of health, which was rather fun since it added a healthy amount of suspense.

The control scheme isnt the best/most precise in the world and might be another reason to be initially turned off by the game, but cleverly enough the devs definitely realized this and made up for it with an interesting mechanic. If you get hit, you don't lose health immediately, but instead lose a few points off a regenerating shield. After the fíght is over, said shield regenerates, leaving your health points untouched if you managed to avoid having the shield below 0%. This sounds like a lazy design choice, but actually feels slighty "tactical" even ingame, since I caught myself quite a few times where I was considering to take some hits just to get a certain enemy down, then retreating and take out the other enemies from distance.

Other aspects I very much enjoyed are the loot and upgrade systems

Of course, no one should expect Diablo levels of loot whoring here, but the systems that are actually in place (inventory + possibly socketed helmets, armors& weapons) actually go a long way of ensuring that your venture into the spaceship doesnt feel like a boring walk, but rather an interesting expedition, where sidetracking could net you one or the other neat upgrade for your armor.
The upgrade/levelling system also looks decent enough so far. You have about 15 different skills you can level (currently only unlocked 1) and 5 different passive offensive abilities and 5 different passive defensive abilities. Unfortunately, you are bound to only having ability each (1 skill, 1 passive offensive, 1 passive defensive) at a time. I would have preferred giving the player the choice to use the 3 available slots in any combination he wishes, since 1 skill simply feels a bit..too restricting. However, it works fine and even though neither the loot aspect, nor the upgrades are too fleshed out, they somehow manage to come together in a rather compelling way.

Another really interesting aspect are the environmental puzzles, like the one you see in the first picture in this post. I really hope they manage to come up with more different ideas for these throughout the game, but I enjoy having some puzzles to solve in between the shooting.

One additional complaint: I think the game doesnt tell you how to stand still while shooting. I was about to give up on the game when I constantly clicked NEXT to an enemy while fighting and my character walked there instead of continuing to shoot at enemies. While playing this, SHIFT IS YOUR FRIEND.
There also hasnt been a whole lot of variety in the enemy designs yet, and some rooms can get a bit annoying with a "another wave..." syndrome, but thankfully Greed just manages to throw in a new enemy pattern before you are too fed up with the game to continue.

Other small things I like: The animations of doors shattering, machines vibrating, enemy walking/dying animations

Conclusion: The game definitely has some problems, and all the single game mechanics arent really well fleshed out taken for themselves, but coming together in this game they make for an oddly compelling experience.

Edit: Oops at the length of my impressions. That came out longer than expected. Guess fitting to my experience which was better than expected!

A surprised 4/5.

 

[Toma]

I was working on another team as a game designer at the time, so my contribution was minimal. Future Wars had an abysmal budget and a small team. A few weeks before completion the producer approached me because the game was nowhere near complete and/or any good. So I played it for 2 days straight and wrote an analysis of all problems and suggested quickwins we could pull of in the remaining time. I also got a level designer to rebuild the introductory levels. We managed to put the game together but it was clearly sub par when we shipped. The irony was that it got a few better reviews at the time than the game my team was working on (Drakensang: River of Time), although Drakensang was an objectively better game.

PS. If I remember correctly I am "only" in the Special Thanks section of Future Wars' credits.

Yeah, that sounds like a mess Unfortunate that you got dragged into this. Thanks for explaining though! Interesting to read.

 

[Dice]

Greed: Black Border

Did you get this in the bundle with Trapped Dead? That's how I got them and I think they seem to have a similar system. The games do seem tactical, which is a really interesting take to me. I haven't played them yet but I'm running through Avadon right now.

 

[Toma]

Did you get this in the bundle with Trapped Dead? That's how I got them and I think they seem to have a similar system. The games do seem tactical, which is a really interesting take to me. I haven't played them yet but I'm running through Avadon right now.

Probably that bundle, yeah.
I'd say those games don't actually feel all that similar. I agree that in both games you need to take a more tactical approach to the situation, but Greed: Black Border definitely strikes me as the better polished game of the two with a more fluid fighting approach. I still have to form a proper opinion on Trapped Dead which I am trying to like, but it didnt come around as rewarding. Trapped Dead also tries to be even more slower and more tactical, encouraging you to be stealthy but there was simply something.. weird about it.

TD definitely feels more like Survival Horror and G:BB like an action oriented approach if you compare them directly, despite both being a bit more tactical than the average top down shooter, but I cant tell you yet whether I approve of TD overall. I definitely don't mind a slow and tactical approach, buts its not quite a Commandos game quality wise, as it has been advertised.

 

[Dice]

"Left 4 Dead meets X-COM!" -Site you have never heard of

 

[Toma]

"Left 4 Dead meets X-COM!" -Site you have never heard of

Yeah, that basically. TD stumbles over the expectations the devs set by advertising it with such comments, whereas Greed:Black Border manages to be a neat little game in its own right, without needlessly trying to measure up to something it is not.

 

[Toma]

GridRunner Revolution or "Holy FUCK, what did I just play?!?¿╫▌╒▄┐"

Alright. So. How to start this..

Lets talk about the genre! Thats a good and easy start. Its a SHMUP. Now that was easy, wasnt it Toma?

Now onto the.. setting. I assume its set in space considering your ship designs look like spaceships. The sound effects while destroying enemies are water splashes... in... space. What. Oh there is a sun in most levels that is used as a level element to mix things up a bit by shooting at you and changing the trajectory of your shots, neat! Sort of makes sense in space even. But when shooting at it, I can see its ...face... and it looks like a ... taurus? Apparently, I also have that very taurus face shot at me during various points in the level and the upgrades are looking like sheep, that even try to AVOID me.

Despite all its weirdness and a countless amount of ship designs, it fails to mix things up enough. The core concepts are interesting, although the graphics border on sensory overload, but in the end I dont see why I should play more of it. Though it CERTAINLY was an "experience". The insanity from countless levels of this madness isnt even enough, it even has unlockable other modes, which are the only reason I'd continue playing the main game (to see whether I can unlock more of them) and apparently can look like this:

I... uh...think I'll close this post with a pic of sheep powerups flying off in space:

 

[Dice]

I hate how all arcade shooters are moving to these type of visuals. I can't make out shit when it's all neon blurry and bloomy and 80% of the particles are just from explosions not bullets or units.

 

[n8]

I hate how all arcade shooters are moving to these type of visuals. I can't make out shit when it's all neon blurry and bloomy and 80% of the particles are just from explosions not bullets or units.

Meh, I can't really blame Jeff Minter (the creator) for he had done these crazy shooters nearly his whole 30+ year career. He is practically the grandfather of trippy shooters.

 

[Family Fry]

Zen Bound 2

Time Played
32 Mins

Summary

I noticed this on my list and thought, lets give it a go it sounds Zen like.
Going in expecting some crazy Zen like puzzle experience, it turned out to be tie a rope around an object to paint it 100%, pretty simple or so I thought.
It actually became very relaxing to play and I did end up in the zone going for 100% on each object, haven't found my Zen like status yet, think it will be difficult to master but I will definitely give it some more play time.

Score
4 rope burns out of 5 for me.

Good thread by the way.

 

[Toma]

Meh, I can't really blame Jeff Minter (the creator) for he had done these crazy shooters nearly his whole 30+ year career. He is practically the grandfather of trippy shooters.

Not blaming anyone,but I really do prefer SEEING the oncoming bullets in a shmup. I sort of got used to Beat Hazard (on the lowest Sensory overload setting) and this is certainly doable as well. Its not a "bad" game, and definitely has solid core mechanics, but I'd rather put my time in other shmups if I am in a mood for such a game.

Edit: Although I need to admit that unlocking more funky modes is enticing. I might need to look up how many of those modes the game has. Finishing a level doesnt take long, so I might try it.

 

[n8]

Not blaming anyone,but I really do prefer SEEING the oncoming bullets in a shmup. I sort of got used to Beat Hazard (on the lowest Sensory overload setting) and this is certainly doable as well. Its not a "bad" game, with definitely solid core mechanics, but I'd rather put my time in other shmups if I am in a mood for such a game.

Oh I can understand. I really haven't really played the game myself and nearly invisible bullets can be quite the plunder on shooters.

 

[Toma]

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

Time played: 90 minutes

A linear first person Action Roleplaying Adventure. I think the closest comparison I can think of is the Thief series. I had a difficult start with this game, first and foremost due to my motion sickness. Thankfully, I noticed soon enough that you can turn off the headbobbing, which made the game far more enjoyable for me. I still get slight MS, but thats hardly the games fault.

In theory this game is good. You have quite a bit of choices in how you want to play/which skills you want to level, lots of traps to kill your enemies with, VISCERAL combat animations, hidden areas/rooms that you need to unlock that have more powerful items in them, and I just compared it to Thief in the first paragraph. However, the game comes a bit apart when looking closer at those single elements.

The several skill trees, like close combat, bows, magic, stealth make it seem like the game allows for different approaches to a situation, but it feels like you need to be proficient in close combat anyway, no matter what else you are doing to start a fight, since you cant rely solely on other skills. I just fought a room with 6 guys, and tried it 5 times to get it done in a different way except taking out 1 guy sneaky and then needing to dispose of the others by close combat. This game invites to try out other ideas like throwing oil at the floor, and incinerating it by an enemy who stands in the oil, but its simply not effective enough. Everything I tried felt more cumbersome than simply block/powerstrike, which is more or less the win button here in every normal encounter. You block, the enemy staggers, you take a big hit, and block again. Repeat.

The aforementioned room with the 6 guys actually had a trap set up so that I could dispose more of the guys at once. Setting up environmental hazards for your enemies sounds fun as well, and it was the first few times. However, since you KNOW that there will be a certain trap in a room with more than 2 enemies, it somehow feels more gimmicky than anything else and that the game sort of requires you to either use a trap or the instant win block/powerstrike combination instead of allowing you to be a bit more inventive with your other skills, which is really a pity. Not like there wont be any situations where you can effectively use your skills, but the game will let you know where to use them. You can theoretically freeze the floor, and kick an enemy above the ice to let him slide into his death. Of course that only works in certain locations where the game sort of expects you to do that, on a cliff for example. It feels like any inventive ideas you could come up with are spelled out to you, sort of ruining the fun and reward for me. Despite all these seemingly vast possibilities, the game feels too predictable.

The death animations are the best thing about the actual close combat, but only since the usual Block/powerstrike combination that I used 90% of the time was so boring. I liked finding hidden rooms though. That was rewarding, especially with a better than average item waiting there for me. The indoor graphics still looked rather nice, but outdoors it could look really bad. And the comparison to Thief.. well Thief worked pretty well because it made you feel like an assassin, DMoM&M tries to make you feel like a jack of all trades, but ends up making you feel like a master of none, or rather a master of the Instant Win button, which is either the trap that COINCIDENTALLY hangs above the enemies, the block/powerstrike combination or probably any of the other fully upgraded skill trees.

Conclusion: Its not a bad game per se, and I enjoyed SOME elements at least, but if I am honest, all it really did was making me want to play Thief instead.

 

[Toma]

Duke Nukem Forever

Time played: A bit more than 1 hour

Oh boy, I think the nicest thing I can say about it is that it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. But my expectations were VERY low, so that wasnt too hard.

Theme wise the game is a childish and sexist self-adulation of Duke Nukem, which shouldn't be all that surprising to anyone somewhat interested in this game. But it seems like most shooter fans weren't that fond of this game either and I guess now I know why. On top of the shooting mechanics feeling very lackluster, the level and enemy design being boring, and the graphical quality differing GREATLY between different scenes, the game seems to be something else entirely in large parts. The last 10-15 minutes I spent driving around in a mini car, avoiding obstacles. Earlier I spend about 10 minutes in a room, raising weights, playing basketball and playing a pinball machine and another 10 minutes to maneuer an RC car through an obstacle course(yes, another one). You won't be able to completely ignore this stuff either since it will raise your EGO (your health bar in this game), or may be required to contine the main story.

Conclusion: The game revels in Duke Nukem's piss, which is also literally the first playable scene you are going to see in the game. Don't think I would recommend this game to anyone I know and IF there is someone who genuinely likes this game, I think I don't want to be close friends with him.

 

[SteveWinwood]

DNF is the worst game

Of all time

 

[Toma]

DNF is the worst game

Of all time

Its certainly up there, but its fighting for the top spot with another game I own on Steam, which I cant name at the moment since someone is not supposed to read it.

2 Gaffer gifted me DNF because they thought it would be fun if they could laugh about me owning this game in my library. I'll get back at them when the game I might dislike even more than DNF goes on sale.

 

[Dambrosi]

Hi guys, I'm BAH-HAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Well, now that I'm back from my week-long vacation (ahem), I'll just get to posting a few of the mini-reviews of the games I played during my time off. Two per post should be enough, I think, and I'll space them out timewise, too.

Okay, first up:

Time played: about 30 minutes (enough to "traverse" Worlds 2 and 3 and beat the first boss)

Before I played this game, I'd heard about Jonathon Blow and his arrogant, blowhard (...sorry) ways with the gaming media, about how he was unbearably pretentious and unlikeable in person, and all sorts of FUD about his character that, to be honest, just sounded like the jealous screeds of rival indie devs. However, having played the first set of levels of Braid for the first time tonight, I can more easily believe the charges of pretension against him. The narrative reads like a reply to a Dear John letter in the third person, a strangely detached way to approach a very personal subject matter, all tied up with the concept of "undoing mistakes without consequence" (in-game, through time manipulation). The whole thing left me going hmmmm, not in the good, appreciative way Blow might have hoped, but in a squinty, chin-scratchy "...what, really?" kind of mild disapproval.

That's not to say it's a bad game, though; far from it, even though the Marioesque gameplay comes through thick and fast from the start. The main differences are that main character Tim's jump is utterly pathetic, and the cause of more deaths than is wholly necesary, and the time-rewinding mechanic that is first introduced when you die due to the aforementioned crappy jumping. Soon enough, I learned that I could steal keys from the hedgehog-like baddies by jumping at them, dying, then rewinding time and retreating to a safe distance, key in hand. Which was satisfying, in a small way. Just like this game, I'd opine.

I'll have to play further to see if there are any power-ups like a double jump, since I saw some collectables that couldn't be gotten any other way (that was obvious), or if I'm missing something in the game mechanics that would alow further progress. Either way, I'm sure I've still got some ways to go with this game yet. After all, I can just ignore the story...if it will let me.

Oh yeah - 360 controller support: good. No resolution or windowed support: very bad.

Rating: Sorry, I don't do numbers.
Play again?: Yes, for a little bit at least.

Time played: 1 hour + (completed Infantry, Base ops and Armour tutorials)

Oh God, i HATE first time start-up sequences in Steam. Don't get me wrong, I know why it needs to happen, but constantly re-installing custom versions of DirectX and Visual Studio 2005 must be doing my PC no good at all.

Heh, just tried to register the game with THQ, told me that the game was unavailable. Odd. Oh well, the game still works, so no biggie.

What, another goddamned online account? Whatever. No, you can't have my personal details. No, I don't want your adverts in my IRL mailbox or my email inbox. Go away.

Ah, finally in-game. Now, I knew this game was an RTS when I bought it, but seeing as I generally don't like RTS games, I can't for the life of me remember why. Maybe a GAFfer was involved in its making? Something like that. Either way, it seems a lot more accessible than I first thought it would be from playing along with the tutorials. You almost exclusively use small squads or tanks, with a heavy emphasis on defence and cover mechanics in terms of combat, and maintaining supply lines and capturing /creating forward bases in terms of overall strategy. The game structure makes sense to me, which is a Very Good Thing for an RTS n00b like myself. It certainly seems much more accessible than something like Command & Conquer or StarCraft 2, which just seem to overwhelm the new user with info and confuse more than help.

Two niggling gripes: the game started in windowed mode for me, even though I had not set it to do so, and panning the camera with the mouse was a hit-and-miss affair - sometimes it worked, sometimes not - which could get frustating in the long term, even with the quick-links to objectives on the left hand side of the screen, a genius addition.
Overall, though, this is a very competently put together game indeed, and an absolute bargain for the price I paid for it. As are most Steam Sale daily deals, really.

Play again?: Sure, as soon as I can get more RAM for my PC (running low with 4GB).

Next up: Gemini Rue & Ghostbusters - with a very special guest!

 

[Toma]

Could you post a single review per post? Easier to link them.

 

[Shadow Hog]

I'm pretty sure Braid has windowed support. At the very least, I distinctly recall running it in a window.

Resolution, though... about all I remember is that you can halve it (well, quarter it, but that's getting technical).

 

[n8]

No resolution or windowed support: very bad

Easy fix. Right click on braid while on steam and go to properties > set launch options
Type in...

-windowed -width <x> -height <x>

Type your dimensions where x is and if you don't want windowed then don't type it.

 

[Of All Trades]

DNF is the worst game

Of all time

It really isn't, which is a shame because that would make it more interesting. Mostly it's just cobbled together, with some elements being good (there's a section with a shrunken Duke in a kitchen that was pretty fun), some being bad (many levels, anything involving women, the driving sections), and some being plain old mediocre (90% of the game). The term "all over the map" was meant for DNF.

The weirdest part is how the game seems to ping-pong between praising Duke and attacking Duke for his/the game's behavior... at least in the first half of the game, because after that I want to say that almost any objectionable content just vanishes (and the game gets really ho-hum). I'd be curious as to who was creating which sections, because if I assume that 3DRealms was not trying to dismantle Duke, then when Gearbox got a hold of the content some people there must have appalled at what they saw and tried to shift direction. But the idea that it's the worst game ever actually elevates the game far more than it deserves; if the development legacy was removed it would just be forgettable.

 

[InertiaXr]

2 Gaffer gifted me DNF because they thought it would be fun if they could laugh about me owning this game in my library. I'll get back at them when the game I might dislike even more than DNF goes on sale.

Whatever you throw at me I can more than handle, I will both complete and enjoy it.

Spoiler

I never thought you'd actually install and play it...the joke went too far...

 

[SteveWinwood]

It really isn't, which is a shame because that would make it more interesting. Mostly it's just cobbled together, with some elements being good (there's a section with a shrunken Duke in a kitchen that was pretty fun), some being bad (many levels, anything involving women, the driving sections), and some being plain old mediocre (90% of the game). The term "all over the map" was meant for DNF.

The weirdest part is how the game seems to ping-pong between praising Duke and attacking Duke for his/the game's behavior... at least in the first half of the game, because after that I want to say that almost any objectionable content just vanishes (and the game gets really ho-hum). I'd be curious as to who was creating which sections, because if I assume that 3DRealms was not trying to dismantle Duke, then when Gearbox got a hold of the content some people there must have appalled at what they saw and tried to shift direction. But the idea that it's the worst game ever actually elevates the game far more than it deserves; if the development legacy was removed it would just be forgettable.

I'd agree with that.

And no the kitchen parts were not fun.

 

[Dambrosi]

Could you post a single review per post? Easier to link them.

That's a lot of posts, but fine, if that's how you want it.

Time played: 20 - 25 minutes (got to the apartment building)

Well, isn't this old-school - even down to the lack of resolution, options or otherwise! Looked blurry as hell on my poor 1440x900 monitor (...yeah, I know, I'm buying a new one soon, shut up) as a result, which didn't help my impressions of the game. Also of no help is that I'm not overly fond of point-and-click adventures, which is why I'm somewhat thankful that I got this as part of an indie bundle (can't remember which). Machinarium is the same thing to me - an unwanted part of a bundle deal - so I might give that a go as well later on, if I feel like it.

So, I'm beginning the game, and some dude is standing under a bus shelter in the pissing rain, waiting for his bud. He's some sort of off-world copper, and this ain't Earth, even though you're in "Pittsburg". Okay, so far, so grim sci-fi, so let's take a look at the gameplay here. we have a cursor, which changes shape when it passes over something interesting, and has a right mouse button menu. This gives you options to look at, interact, speak to or (presumably) kick anything you want to in the gameworld. I'm also told there's a battle system, but I haven't gotten that far in yet.

Well, unsurprisingly, the space-pig's bud doesn't show up, so he goes looking for him, There's a terminal, but hey, he needs an ID card he doesn't have to use it, so he walks along the street to find one. A friendly vendor gives him one after a short convo, so he goes back to the terminal, gets the address of his buddy, and returns the ID card to the vendor. He passes a couple of shady-looking "agents" who harrased him, but he eventually made it to the apartment building. There, he told the receptionist he was looking for his "brother", but the stuck-up little bitch demanded his ID and refused to give him his buddy's apartmant number. And that, dear reader, is where I got royally stuck, and stopped playing.

Play again?: Nope.avi - this always happens to me with point-&-click adventures, we just do not get along. Sorry, Lucasarts fans.

Easy fix. Right click on braid while on steam and go to properties > set launch options
Type in...

-windowed -width <x> -height <x>

Type your dimensions where x is and if you don't want windowed then don't type it.

Ooh, thanks. Good to know.

 

[Dambrosi]

Time played: 1 hour (completed tutorial and Sedgewick Hotel mission)

I keep hearing that this game is a poor rendition of the classic '80's movie franchise, and a painfully average game all around, but I beg to differ - from the little of it I've played, I think this is the best Ghostbusters game available up to this point! That said, the only other one I even liked was the Megadrive version, and please don't get me started on Sanctum Of Slime, so that's coming dangerously close to damning with faint praise. This game does not deserve that, or its 74/100 Metacritic rating, in the least.

From the start, I found a lot to like about this game - the atmosphere, look and feel of everything in the game world, as well as the excellent vocal performances of the original cast (bar one or two missing members, if memory serves), all drew me in as I assumed the mantle of "Rookie" as the new boy at the ol' Firehouse. One thing, though - even though I'd started the game with the X360 controller, and navigated the menus with same, the game defaulted to keyboard and mouse controls in-game, forcing me to change them to pad in the options screen - bad game, bad! *slaps with rolled-up newspaper*

Once switched on, though, the controls were butter smooth. Everything took only a few minutes to get used to, there were no framerate issues to speak of (except at the beginning of levels, or after loadind, but that cleared up almost instantly), and the game still looks good today. The initial loading time before the tutorial is a little on the long side - I honestly thought the game had crashed for a second - but after that, everything ran smoothly, even during the hectic chase after StayPuft, which is where I quit out for the night.

Play again?: Yeah, probably not yet, though - it's not really a priority. Someday, though.

 

[Dambrosi]

Time played: around 10 minutes

"Gratuitous" eh? That's a good word, indeed. It's a word that doesn't really deserve to be associated with this game, which is a tactical space warfare simulator of sorts. The game goes like this - you choose a battlefield, then you choose the space destroyers, fighters and Death Stars that comprise your fleet, then you deploy them...and just watch as your ships duke it out with the enemy ships, with no further input from you required. If you win, you earn Glory points, which you can spend on flashier, more destructive gear for the ships you can't even fly yourself. Rinse and repeat ad nauseum.

And suddenly, I'm so glad I got this in a bundle, because I'd be crying if I paid good money for this.

Play Again?: Nah, I won't be going back to this.

 

[Dambrosi]

Time played: 12 minutes (lost first tutorial battle)

Ah, a card-based strategy game - I like trading card games (not "love", though, just "like"), and as soon as I start, I'm presented with a board, with tiles and different terrains and mana bonuses and spell cards and all sorts of innane and stupid rules thrown in just for the fuck of it, apparently. This ain't no Magic: The Gathering, folks - it ain't even the Pokemon Trading Card Game. What it is, is too difficult to grasp by half for a card game.

In fact, I'm somewhat convinced that this isn't really a card game at all - it's a traditional turn-based SRPG which just uses cards in lieu of pieces and tokens and d20s, and overcomplicates everything in the process. Battles are especially not fun, with way too many phases just to inflict a single attack, and a Hero unit that's way too vulnerable at this stage of the game (seriously, he can get one-shotted by a Goblin? What is this, Dark Souls: The Trading Card Game?), making for a slightly frustrating experience.

I say "slightly" because, all the way through the tutorial, I was realising that I could be playing something similar but much better instead, like Duels of The Planeswalkers 2012 or, better still, Elemental Monster Online on my PS3 - the best 79p I ever spent on a game. No, really, if you have a PS3, just get EMO - it's really, really good. Much better than this piece of crap, anyway. Or, hell - just play Pokemon TCG Online or Shadow Era for free in your browser!

Play again?: Aww, hell no! I don't waste my time for fun, y'know!

 

[Dambrosi]

Time Played: 30 minutes (completed Act 1)

For all the horror stories I keep hearing about this game, I can't help but think that people are setting their standards too high - this has turned out to be a fine little B-game, well worth the...what, £3.99 it is normally? That's chump change, even for poverty-stricken old me, and the recent 99p sale should have been a no-brainer.

That said, the game does have "Xbox Live Arcade" writ large across its water-obsessive demeanour - somewhat stodgy controls hampered further by janky character animations, making what looks like a nimble and fit young waif feel like she's three times her weight, for one thing. Plus, there's rather a lot of collectibles strewn throughout the environs, and I can see the OCD bastard in me crying out in impotent agony at having missed one datacard because it was 100 feet down a flooded elevator shaft I can't get back to. Sucks, homie.

Another complaint is the fact that that you don't even get a weapon of any sort until right at the end of the first act - it's all just climbing, swimming, jumping and adventuring up until that point. Kind of an underwhelming first impression, to be honest.

I am aware that the incidence of combat ramps up significantly from this point on, though - to the annoyance of some, I hear! - and that the strangely-voiced heroine (seriously, what is that accent? Someone help me here) gains some kind of powers along the way, so I'll reserve proper judgement for a further playthrough. If it ever comes, that is.

Play again?: Eh, maybe. It's not bad enough to bin, anyway.

 

[Dambrosi]

Time played: about 10 minutes

I got this game in the first Indie Gala bundle, and was intrigued by its sparce, Tron-in-the-sun aesthetic. I've been burned by such decisions before (goddammit Final Fantasy VIII, why do you haunt me so?), so I really should know better, but I don't seem to learn from my mistakes. inMomentum seems like a game I'd really like, too, if only its controls weren't so horrible, and its use of shadow weren't so confusing. See, the problem is that you can't see the edges of platforms when you're going at speed, so more often or not you end up falling to your death as you try to double-jump to safely.

I'm not even going to try to imagine what this game's multiplayer is like, jeez.

You know what would solve this game's problems? Cel-shading and controller support! Both of which the forthcoming Best Non-Valve/From Software Game On Steam shoe-in Jet Set Radio HD has! And that's why that game will be my go-to app for my virtual parkour needs, thanks very much.

Play again?: No thanks, I already own Mirror's Edge.

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I'm not done - loads to CTRL-C, CTRL-V yet - but that's it for tonight. More tomorrow.

 

[Blizzard]

Time played: about 10 minutes

I got this game in the first Indie Gala bundle, and was intrigued by its sparce, Tron-in-the-sun aesthetic. I've been burned by such decisions before (goddammit Final Fantasy VIII, why do you haunt me so?), so I really should know better, but I don't seem to learn from my mistakes. inMomentum seems like a game I'd really like, too, if only its controls weren't so horrible, and its use of shadow weren't so confusing. See, the problem is that you can't see the edges of platforms when you're going at speed, so more often or not you end up falling to your death as you try to double-jump to safely.

I'm not even going to try to imagine what this game's multiplayer is like, jeez.

You know what would solve this game's problems? Cel-shading and controller support! Both of which the forthcoming Best Non-Valve/From Software Game On Steam shoe-in Jet Set Radio HD has! And that's why that game will be my go-to app for my virtual parkour needs, thanks very much.

Play again?: No thanks, I already own Mirror's Edge.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not done - loads to CTRL-C, CTRL-V yet - but that's it for tonight. More tomorrow.

Just in case people get the wrong idea, inMomentum is NOT a parkour game, unlike Mirror's Edge. It is a potentially low-gravity, potentially speedy, moon jumping game. Also, if anyone finds the controls awkward, by all means experiment with changing them, since some people might like jumping with the keyboard, others jumping with a mouse button, and so forth.

inMomentum clicked for me when I got to an area that had a lot of pillars and no floor. You can't parkour that, but since you have a walljump (doublejump?) thing you can basically keep flying through the air as long as you have walls to touch.

Some things can be annoying, however, specifically giant ramps or climbing tall single isolated pillars.

I wrote up a bunch of my own notes on it a while back but I still haven't formatted them into a GAF post. Side note, the developer seems to have kept updating the game with bug fixes and/or some new levels, so that's nice.

Oh, and I don't remember having that shadow problem so I'm wondering if you had a graphics driver issue -- I had flickering shadows, maybe. Could you post a screenshot?

 

[Dambrosi]

Just in case people get the wrong idea, inMomentum is NOT a parkour game, unlike Mirror's Edge. It is a potentially low-gravity, potentially speedy, moon jumping game. Also, if anyone finds the controls awkward, by all means experiment with changing them, since some people might like jumping with the keyboard, others jumping with a mouse button, and so forth.

...

I wrote up a bunch of my own notes on it a while back but I still haven't formatted them into a GAF post. Side note, the developer seems to have kept updating the game with bug fixes and/or some new levels, so that's nice.

Oh, and I don't remember having that shadow problem so I'm wondering if you had a graphics driver issue -- I had flickering shadows, maybe. Could you post a screenshot?

Sorry, but it's already uninstalled, and I'm not reinstalling it just to take a screenshot. For what it's worth, the shadows looked like they were supposed to be there, so I don't think there was any fault with them. Like I said, I found that I couldn't see the edges of platforms and kept falling to my death. Frustration does not a happy Dambrosi make, so it was gone.

That said, it's good to hear about the dev's continuing support for the game. Hey, devs - CONTROLLER SUPPORT! How hard can it be?

 

[Blizzard]

Sorry, but it's already uninstalled, and I'm not reinstalling it just to take a screenshot. For what it's worth, the shadows looked like they were supposed to be there, so I don't think there was any fault with them. Like I said, I found that I couldn't see the edges of platforms and kept falling to my death. Frustration does not a happy Dambrosi make, so it was gone.

That said, it's good to hear about the dev's continuing support for the game. Hey, devs - CONTROLLER SUPPORT! How hard can it be?

That's fine. It's not the world's best game or anything. Mostly I wanted to emphasize that it's not parkour like Mirror's Edge, but instead a trick/walljump gravity game (maybe vaguely similar to Crackdown, though I have never played that so I am just blindly guessing).

 

[Dambrosi]

That's fine. It's not the world's best game or anything. Mostly I wanted to emphasize that it's not parkour like Mirror's Edge, but instead a trick/walljump gravity game (maybe vaguely similar to Crackdown, though I have never played that so I am just blindly guessing).

I think you'll find Crackdown is more of a platformer/GTA clone, more like Assassin's Creed with much less street-ninja'ing, no stealth and lots of cars and guns and stuff to collect.

 

[OmegaDragon]

Game: King’s Bounty: Armoured Princess
Time Played: almost 2 hours

The first 15 minutes were not very appealing, but I’m glad I played some more. You are greeted with a rather uninteresting ingame cutscene, that shows a couple of demons chilling just outside your castle. Your father orders you, an “armoured” princess (see pic), to flee with the next ship, but first you have to give your artefact to the arch mage. The mage can use it to teleport to another dimension, to search for the legendary hero that can help against those demons. However our princess doesn’t listen and teleports herself to the other dimension, I guess she will have to find the hero. This entire sequence was told in text form, with little animations if any, not very appealing.

After more text, I was told to pick a pet dragon. I still had little idea what the game was about. I picked the pink one, as he gave me an Int boost (I was a mage) and cause he was pink. Every pet dragon gives a different stat boost and has an ability, but I had little idea what it all meant. When the captain of the guard asked me if I wanted to do a tutorial, I gladly accepted. I already took a look at my character screen and my ‘army’, the amount of things listed was a bit overwhelming. The tutorial was pretty helpful. The princess character doesn’t join the battle, but her stats increase the stats of your army. The first practice battle was a massacre, almost lots all of my starting units.

The battles are pretty fun, although I’m still learning. For every battle you can assemble your army the way you like it: peasant, archers, fairies, priests, plants. Each units has different stats, abilities and the amount of the unit you can control is tied to your leadership, with the tough units being more expensive and thus less numerable. You fight on a hexagonal grid, you and your enemy move your (stack of) units based on initiative. A unit can not only move and attack, but also use a special ability like healing, buffing etc. Each round you can also cast spells or call in your pet dragon to squash the enemy.
There seem to be a lot of factors that influence your units, like morale and certain races don’t get along, but I don’t really know how everything works yet. Enemy info is pretty important, but revealing isn’t as easy as it should be. I also don’t like that when you highlight an enemy to attack, it tells you how much damage you do, but not how much damage the enemies counter attack does.

Outside battle, you can travel over the map, where you can find upgrades, quests, items and of course enemies. You can also buy new/other units. However when you are buying units, you cant quickly checks stats of your current units or switch those in your reserve. It’s all a bit annoying. The game also doesn’t allow you to edit or even see key bindings, pretty mind boggling.

In conclusion, the game seems pretty interesting and I’d like to play more. It’s a pity there are these little shortcomings. And the presentation is not very appealing.

Rating: 4/5
Will play again: Yes

 

[Des0lar]

Should be called "not so Armored Princess"

 

[Toma]

That's fine. It's not the world's best game or anything. Mostly I wanted to emphasize that it's not parkour like Mirror's Edge, but instead a trick/walljump gravity game (maybe vaguely similar to Crackdown, though I have never played that so I am just blindly guessing).

Its actually more like a Quake no-gun level. Only speed jumping.

 

[Blizzard]

Its actually more like a Quake no-gun level. Only speed jumping.

That's kind of what it reminded me of, except my only experience with that was with Enemy Territory: Return to Castle Wolftenstein.

 

[Dice]

I personally couldn't think of a way to do battles worse than King's Bounty.

 

[haikira]

Should be called "not so Armored Princess"

 

[Blizzard]

What has not been mentioned about King's Bounty Armored Princess (and I think the other King's Bounty games too?) is that there is some awesome music.

 

[Toma]

Shadowgrounds

Time Played: 1 hour

Another top down shooter, which seems overall alright, but definitely is less fun for me than other games in the genre, as for example Greed:Black Border. The graphics and animations seem outdated and downright ugly at times. The game still manages to feel a bit scary due to the good use of lighting and that you are, unlike most top down shooters, sort of behind your character, meaning that you cannot directly see what is going on behind you. That sounds like a small change, but it makes a huge difference for the fear the game can induce in the player. I never felt like I was completely in control of the situation, which is a good thing in my opinion for a survival shooter.

However, the game is still too barren. I never felt the need to explore, I simply followed the map marker, shot everything on sight, and continued to the next level. Not much thinking needed. I'd prefer it if the game had more sub game systems to offer than the somewhat decent upgrading system.

Conclusion: No idea whether I might play more of this, probably not any time soon, though. Maybe if a sudden need to clear my backlog overcomes me or something, but there are far better games to play.

2/5

 

[Typographenia]

Duke Nukem Forever

You have chosen wisely to not finish it.
Probably one of the most boring things I have ever forced myself to play through. It was just so awful in every way... Every way...

 

[Toma]

Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals

Time played: 30 minutes

An adventure, sort of Myst style, where you maneuver between different scenes and then can turn around 360 degree to click anything thats in that certain scene. If you want to go to the next room, you click the next room and then you get a 360 degree view of that room.

Main point for adventures are the stories, and I obviously can't comment too much on that just yet, but the beginning made me certainly interested in this world with its neo-dystopian setting. I also feared that since I can click on the scenes in a 360 degree view I might need to pixel hunt for any items/solutions. Thankfully, thats not the case. By looking around the first few scenes you can figure out the items you need by logic instead of tedious pixel hunting. I also liked the first few easy puzzles that have been presented to me and really like the overal graphical style. Its seemingly locked to a 4:3 resolution, but I can live with that.

Conclusion: Definitely going to play more of it, interesting start for the story, and promising first puzzles.

 

[Toma]

You have chosen wisely to not finish it.
Probably one of the most boring things I have ever forced myself to play through. It was just so awful in every way... Every way...

Yeah, I thought so. Someone really went overboard with the direction of this game, but oh well. I gave it a try.

 

[Toma]

Quantz

Time played: 30 minutes.

A match 4 puzzle game. There isn't really anything I don't like about it. It has very pleasing visuals and effects, a soothing soundtrack, 3 different modes and despite the simple and consistent initial setup of "having balls on a cubical planet" quite a bit of variety through a changing layout for these planets and the aforementioned different modes.

The game is set up by putting several balls on that cubical planet and you need to direct incoming balls to other balls with the same color. Standard fare so far. What sets it apart though is that you can completely reorganize the balls by rotating your cube. After playing it for a while, you'll also learn to play a bit more tactical by creating fireballs from your cube that you can basically chain to more fireballs if you set up your balls in a good way. It might get way more frantic later on, but I can easily get "in the Zone" while playing this so far.

Conclusion: Highly recommended if you like "match X" games, and want to see a different twist on the genre. I will definitely play more of it.

 

[Toma]

Alright, updated the review lists with all impressions so far.

 

[Toma]

I was bored so I programmed a small tool that analyzes our impressions for me. The following post takes now 3 seconds to create, so I'll update it as long as this thread is still somewhat alive:

Reviews sorted alphabetically with game screenshots

Statistics and more Lists

Games: 151
Reviews: 203
How many Gaffers participated so far: 101

Positive impressions: 88
Indifferent impressions: 52
Negative Impressions: 37

Top Review Count:
(28) Toma
(15) Dambrosi
(7) Jinfash
(5) MrNyarlathotep
(5) Grakl
(4) Snuggler
(4) Lijik
(4) Kong Fisso
(4) chixdiggit
(3) Typographenia

Reviews by Name:
alazz: Osmos
Ardvent: Nimbus, Trapped Dead
arts&crafts: Red Faction: Armageddon, Uplink
ASilva: Dungeons of Dredmor
balladofwindfishes: Night Sky
CecilRousso: Shank
chixdiggit: Ancients of Ooga, Skydrift, The Scourge Project, Time Gentlemen, Please!
ChoklitReign: Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, Red Dead Redemption
Cisce: Alien Breed 2: Assault
Cyrano: Aquaria, Binding of Isaac
Dambrosi: Braid, Company of Heroes, Gemini Rue, Ghostbusters: The Videogame, Gratuitous Space Battles, Guardians of Graxia, Hydrophobia, In Momentum, Magic - The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, Q.U.B.E., Realm of the Mad God, Saira, Serious Sam 2, The Last Remnant
Darkky: The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom
deduce: Fuel
Dice: Avadon: The Black Fortress, Trine 2
Drkirby: Hoard
DrKirby: Greed Corp, Lucid
Durante: Avadon: The Black Fortress
Eel O'Brian: BC Kings
Esnel Pla: Bit.Trip.Runner
EternalGamer: Night Sky, Samorost 2, Tidalis
Family Fry: Zen Bound 2
Forkball: Superbrothers - Sword and Sorcery EP
Fredescu: Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood, The Great Art Race, Ziro
Gattsu25: Evochron Mercenary, Glowfish
Gav47: Max Payne, Scoregasm
Gez: A Game of Thrones (RTS)
Gileadxv: Cthulu Saves the World, Runespell: Overture, Sniper Elite
Graffgor: Cthulu Saves the World
Grakl: Breath of Death VII, Hammerfight, Lugaru HD, Renegade Ops, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Gustav: Hard Reset, Tropico 3
haikira: The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
Hellix: In Momentum
Ichor: Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
Ifrit: Plants vs Zombies
Incendiary: Eets
Indie Jones: Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City - The Lost and Damned
injurai: SpaceChem
Jaxter09: Audiosurf, Cogs, Crayon Physics Deluxe
Jinfash: Atom Zombie Smasher, Dungeons of Dredmor, Freedom Force, Gratuitous Space Battles, Sanctum, SpaceChem, World of Goo
Joe Molotov: Alien Breed: Impact, Horrid Henry, Titan Attacks
JoeTheBlow: Faerie Solitaire
kafiend: Beat Hazard
kai3345: Ricochet
kamspy: Alpha Prime
Ken: Legend of Fae
Kong Fisso: Bit.Trip.Runner, Depths of Peril, Tobe's Vertical Adventure, Zeno Clash
Kritz: Blur, Sol: Exodus
lettermassing: Dungeons of Dredmor
Lijik: Fowl Space, i-Fluid, Lume, Tobe's Vertical Adventure
Lionel Mandrake: Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
Manax: Space Giraffe
Meatpuppet: Star Trek Online
megalowho: Critical Mass, Railworks 3: Train Simulator 2012, Saira
Milchmann: Blocks That Matter
MrNyarlathotep: Botanicula, Capsized, Dogfighter, Wasteland Angel, Zeno Clash
n8BitMan: Really Big Sky
Nert: Company of Heroes
Of All Trades: Geneforge 1
OmegaDragon: Alien Breed 2: Assault, King’s Bounty: Armoured Princess, Puzzle Agent
PBalfredo: Shadowgrounds, Trauma
PunjabiPlaya: Shank
quickwhips: Containment - The Zombie Puzzler
Ravensmash: Shank
red731: Cthulu Saves the World
Riverfield: Doc Clock - The Toasted Sandwich of Time
RustyD: SpaceChem
rybrad: A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda, Lugaru HD, Post Apocalyptic Mayhem
Scy: Shank
Semblance: Quake Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon, Xotic
Shadow Hog: Mirror's Edge
Shadybiz: Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Shai-Tan: Waves
Shig: Edge
Shorty11857: Future Wars, Lucid
sikkinixx: Binding of Isaac
sixghost: Darwinia, Lume
slaughterking: Limbo
Snuggler: Blueberry Garden, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Eversion, Lugaru HD
SpacePirateRidley: Alice: Madness Returns, Wings of Prey
speedpop: Still Life
SteveWinwood: Dangerous Waters, Farming Simulator 2011
Stronghammer22: Hard Reset
SUBZERO-08: Samorost 2
SuperLurker: Beep
Tambini: Q.U.B.E., Zombie Shooter
Tenck: Botanicula
ThaiGrocer: Faerie Solitaire
The Mana Legend: Mafia
thebeeks: Windosill
TheRagnCajun: Hack, Slash, Loot
Thoraxes: GundeadliGne
Toma: A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda, Beep, Breath of Death VII, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic, Doc Clock - The Toasted Sandwich of Time, Dogfighter, Duke Nukem Forever, Dungeons, Eets, Faerie Solitaire, Future Wars, Galcon Fusion, Gratuitous Space Battles, Greed: Black Border, Greed Corp, Gridrunner Revolution, Lightfish, Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals, Nimbus, Puzzle Dimension, Quantz, Samorost 2, Shadowgrounds, The Blackwell Legacy, The Dig, Wasteland Angel, Xotic, Zombie Shooter
Tragicomedy: Magic - The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012
Tymerend: The Settlers 7
Typographenia: Dino D-Day, The Polynomial, Trauma
TyrantGuardian: Aztaca
Unison: Birth of America
Vampire Baseball: Atom Zombie Smasher
Vlad: Max Payne
Wessiej: Dinner Date
XDDX: Tobe's Vertical Adventure