Game a Day

[Dumbledore lives]

So after the recent Steam sale I was looking through my list of games and realized there are a good chunk of them I haven't played, and have no specific desire to do so. They're all pretty decent or fun, but I just generally have others I'd like to play more. With that said I figured it would be fun to give a kind of first impressions of a lot of games, especially the smaller indie titles that don't receive a lot of attention. Below I'll list the games I haven't played, and if there is any interest I'll start tomorrow, I'll probably just go alphabetically.

AI War: Fleet Command
Alan Wake
Alien Breed 2: Assault
And Yet it Moves
Aquaria
Atom Zombie Smasher
Avadon: The Black Fortress
Awesomenauts
The Banner Saga: Factions
The Basement Collection
Blocks That Matter
Breath of Death VII
Capsized
Cave Story+
Cogs
Cthulhu Saves the World
Darksiders
Darwinia
Defcon
Deus Ex
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Dungeon Defenders
Dungeons of Dreadmor
Dustforce
Gish
Hammerfight
Just Cause 2
Little Inferno
Max Payne 2
Metro 2033
Orcs Must Die 2
Overlord II
Painkiller: Overdose
Psychonauts
Razor2: Hidden Skies
Red Faction: Armageddon
Rochard
Rock of Ages
Rome: Total War
Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl
Shadowgrounds
Shank
Shatter
The Ship
Snuggle Truck
Space Pirates and Zombies
SpaceChem
Stacking
Steel Storm: Burning Retribution
Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery EP
Swords and Soldiers HD
Thomas Was Alone
Vessel
The Witcher
Zen Bound 2

[Knaight]

Oooh, SpaceChem. That's an excellent game, to the point of being good enough to move way up in the list.

[Forbiddenwar]

I've done this so many times. My problem is that I'd get a quarter or so down the list and another steam sale will happen.

[Dumbledore lives]

Well there is no time like the present. So today I decided to play AI War:Fleet Command with a bunch of expansions I apparently have. Thoughts are in a spoiler below.

Firstly it has really nice music. It's got a good mix of genres and it is all fairly well put together, with enough variety to keep it from becoming boring. With most games I listen to my own, obviously superior, stuff, but with this I kept it on. Considering how long the games take it's a really good thing to have decent sound design, and this game has it. The sound effects as well are fine, nothing bad or good really, just lasers and explosions in space.

The second thing I noticed was just how much damn information there was on the screen at all times. In the hour I played the game I got through the tutorials and started with their basic game and my god is there a lot of stuff. There are always about a dozen buildings you could make, a lot of different technology to upgrade, a constant threat from enemy ships, and there is also your economy which luckily has none of the micro-managing of something like Starcraft. It if did the game would be so much more difficult to play. Even easing into it though it is still a hell of a lot to take in.

So what is AI War? It is an RTS on a grand scale, with every conflict featuring hundreds of player and AI ships battling it out. Unlike traditional RTS however all the matches are versus AI, with the muliplayer component cooperative instead of competitive. This is an interesting take, and though it's something I've done quite a bit because I suck at most RTS it is interesting that it is the main and recommended thing. The game is also from an incredibly zoomed out perspective by virtue of necessity as keeping track of greater troop movements is important, whereas it is effectively impossible and unnecessary to micromanage a few troops. In fact it is unnecessary to micromanage anything smaller than groups of dozens, because of the grand scale of the whole thing.

The UI, one of the most important elements in this sort of game, is alright. As I stated it is overwhelming at first, and even after a decent period playing I still didn't quite understand everything, but I understood enough to play the game. The controls are similar, okay but not great. One of the games I would compare it to is Sins of a Solar Empire, which though it has slower gameplay and smaller scales has a similar perspective and objective, capturing the opponents planets. Sins however is lauded for having one fo the easiest to use UIs, as well as allowing everything to be done from an easy to understand and use dashboard on the left side of the screen. This is not Sins, but it's not trying to be. There are much more complex systems, and attributes so it makes sense to have a more expansive area to display all this.

So the most important question for any game really is this, is it fun? The answer is probably. Playing with friends and building up massive armies to ram into the opponent's massive defences certainly has some appeal. Very few games have the same scale as this one, and a team of up to eight people working together to help destroy this seemingly insurmountable obstacle of the AI is something that is relatively unique. There is a steep learning curve, especially on the higher difficulties, but I can imagine a good deal of fun to be had. Even at the most basic levels having your huge fleet crash against and explode to a large defence force from the AI delivers at least some satisfaction, as enough explosions tend to do.

Brief Conclusion: AI War seeks to create an expansive and engaging space RTS where enormous fleets crash against unbreakable defences made by the AI. There is a hell of a lot of information given to the player, and some of it is difficult to understand, but the game itself has a nice polished look and feel, and the music and sound help with this significantly. Overall I'd say it's a fun game to play with friends, and even on your own, just be aware of the significant time investment.

[Wookieetank]

I'd play Thomas was Alone sooner rather than later. The gameplay is on the simplistic side, but the writing for it is brilliant. I ended up caring more about those quadrillaterals than I have any number of big name game characters (looking at you commander shepard).

Just tried Awesomenauts last night myself and its a rather entertaining sidescroller version of LoL turned into a fighter game. If you end up liking this I'd be willing to join up for some mayhem (still on the learning side though with this game).

[Dumbledore lives]

I'll probably go in alphabetical for the As and then follow along recommendations or go back to alphabetical depending on numbers and stuff. Alright so today was Alan Wake, not exactly an Indie game but still not the most well known title.

For starters the game is dripping in atmosphere, at least the custcenes and gameplay. If you ever wanted a Stephen King game, this is it. I don't mean his books or anything, but like the general theme of his stories and writers and New England and forests, it's all there. The game even begins with a quote by him, as if to reinforce this. The opening helps to establish all the mechanics, as well as the tone and feel of the game. It also establishes that the game is very cinematic, aiming to emulate a horror movie in a number of ways. The only thing that doesn't contribute to this however are the menus, which are plain white text. Very boring, and a missed opportunity for some sort of home-made/typed journal that would have enhanced the atmostphere, not taking me out. This wouldn't be such a big problem if you didn't have to go through them whenever you wanted to look at a new manuscript page, a major component of the story.

As for the story I didn't see too much of it, but it's establishing enough mystery to keep me interested in playing more. That's pretty much all I can say, though it's got an interesting meta thing going where you are reading the novel of the game. For example you pick up a manuscript page about Alan being attacked by a homicidal maniac wielding an axe. Next fight, dude wielding an axe. It seems this would deflate tension but it actually enhances it, both by picking up the pages out of order and by not immediately acting on all pages, only some of them. This tells the player they will be attacked by certain things, like birds or death tornadoes, but not when. It even gives hints on how to defeat them well in advance to actually seeing them. I liked it, but I also like Wes Craven's New Nightmare, so maybe it's just the meta element.

As for the gameplay, eh, it's passable. It took me quite a bit of adjusting and even turning my mouse sensitivity down to actually be able to control the damn thing, but once I could it felt alright. There were some odd spots of lag, even on low settings, though this might have just been my computer. Anyway it's a relatively standard third person shooter, though there is a decent dodge mechanic and the character movements are all relatively smooth and good. The only thing is first you have to kill them with your flashlight, mapped to the right mouse button. Basically you have to kill every enemy twice, though once with a weapon that stuns them so it's alright. The issue really is that one enemy is a piece of cake, stunning him to death then shooting him. Once the count gets up to three or more though it can be difficult to keep track of them all, especially when they have ranged weapons. The camera is also your aim for shooting as well, doing little to help matters. Really it doesn't feel too bad, and there is satisfying reactions from being hit both by light and your gun, but overall it's just average, which hurts.



The short of it: Alan Wake sets up an intriguing, if a tad cliche, story involving shadow demons, a missing wife, amnesia, and a mysterious novel written by the main character but unfortunately the gameplay fails to deliver, leaving some doubt to my recommendation. If you play games for the experiences they deliver I highly suggest it, if you want good shooty gameplay look somewhere else.

[Dumbledore lives]

This will be short and sweet. Alien Breed 2: Assault, shoot guns and kill aliens.

Honestly there is not much to say about this game. It's an isometric third person shooter where you are on a spaceship and are killing gooey aliens. If you've played Alien Swarm you've played this. It's got some colors, some decent graphics, and the gameplay is fine. The story is told through still images and voiceovers, plus speech on the screen. The objectives in the games are literally follow the waypoints to go to *insert technobabble*. There's not much more to it. I wouldn't really suggest the game, because Alien Swarm is free, has better coop, and has more tactical gameplay, if a bit short.

Short of it: No need to play Alien Breed 2: Assault, if you're looking for that type of gameplay play Alien Swarm.

[Forbiddenwar]

Thanks for doing this challenge, it's been fun to read. Perhaps I might try something similar.

[Wookieetank]

Thanks for doing this challenge, it's been fun to read. Perhaps I might try something similar.

Coming soon to an Internet near you:

Giant in the Playground Plays a Game a Day
With commentary by formites such as Dumbledore lives, Forbiddenwar and others. This summer's must read blockbuster hit! :smallwink::smallbiggrin:

[warty goblin]

I quite enjoyed Alan Wake. In no small part I think because it was consistently different. So many games I haven't played before are, fundamentally, pretty much games I've played before. Alan Wake, despite being a third person shooter, didn't really feel like a game I'd already played.

[Dumbledore lives]

And now: And yet it moves. An odd title, maybe it refers to the main character or any of the kind of bizarre creations you find throughout the game. I'll start this off by saying this is an indie puzzle platformer. If you don't like them you won't like this.

http://www.andyetitmoves.net/screens/600/01-indiana-jones.jpg
Image taken from the game's official site

And Yet it Moves is an indie puzzle platformer with a unique art style. That is a surprisingly common turn of phrase given the genre popularized by hits like Limbo and Braid which has expanded into dozens or hundreds of different variations. I can see why, I mean there are a lot of unique mechanics you can add in, some variations on the puzzles and what not, plus it is quite simple to make, technically. That and it runs on damn near anything which is always a plus. I'd say it's probably the first game made by any number of aspiring game developers/companies because it is low risk and high reward. But that all applies to just about any game like this one so what makes it special?

First the art style is interesting. Remember when you made collages of cut up old national geographics? Well this is like that but with artsy magazines, and a few animals. I mean it's not complicated, but it's unique, and the black emptiness that is the void of death definitely stands out from the other colorful exteriors. The areas themselves aren't particularly interesting, you start out in a cave with bats, and move onto a forest with monkeys but I mean it's not bad, just kind of bland. So that's the style, what's the oh so different mechanic you ask?

Well dear reader you can manipulate gravity, sending the character flying at ludicrous speeds all over the screen. Of course if he hits something and he's going more than five mph than he explodes into about a dozen different body parts, but it's the hazards of a video game character. I feel like this is actually a missed opportunity really. You use gravity to solve a number of puzzles and maneuver around the environment, but the most fun part is going absurdly fast through the environment, but you can't actually progress this way, only explode. Admittedly it would be a completely different game if you could just shoot through the levels and land at the exit door unharmed, but it would also be a more fun and unique experience. Alas AYiM goes for the typical puzzles, the swings and the springs and the jumping and mazes and is an okay game for it, just nothing special.

Interestingly enough there is no story to speak of, I mean that's not a particularly good or a bad thing, just a thing. There are a few nice things, I mean the music is decent and responds to your actions in the game a little bit at least, and the checkpoints are little models of your character and point in the direction you should go, pretty much always right but you know it's the thought that counts. Really though even just looking at screenshots from the game should tell you all you need to know about AYiM, it's an indie puzzle platformer with a decent art style and nothing really daring or innovative. Give it a shot if you have been having a dearth of those lately, but I mean there's no real need to go out of your way.

[Forbiddenwar]

I know this is a just a first impressions, but I'd like to add that in AYiM, IIRC, the later levels do require flight, rotating the camera quickly to slow your momentum and hover over vast precipices and avoid hazards.

[Dumbledore lives]

Aquaria, an oddly interesting metroidvania.


http://www.bit-blot.com/aquaria/images/aq-screen14.jpg
Image from here (http://www.bit-blot.com/aquaria/)
There are not enough underwater games. Possibly because in so, so many games the water is a terrible obstacle to overcome. 3D platformers typically had it worst but it's almost never been fun, either instant death or a ticking timer before Sonic or some other hedgehog drowns. Anyway in Aquaria as evidenced by the title you are in the water. The opening cinematic tells the whole story, meteors hit your floating awesome city and now you are a mermaid. Simple. You don't have a tail, but you do have an awesome cape that substitutes for the cool motion, and you swim around doing stuff.

I actually like the whole aesthetic design really, very colorful with a kind of plain blue background and all sorts of coral and fish and jellyfish to spice up the levels. Colors are a good thing. Anyway in Aquaria the movement is actually one of the best parts of the game. That seems kind of surprising but it makes the whole experience so much better. Basically holding the left mouse button moves you and clicking a decent distance away shoots you in a direction quicker, with a slow cooldown. If you collide with a wall with this small burst you cling to it, and can leap off for even greater speed. With that you can bounce between walls like a small handsome devil and move around at good speeds.

The story is narrated by the main character, a British sounding lady. Pleasing enough, and it's always nice to have a female main character. Beyond that I didn't get much of it, you've got amnesia, some great civilization or something, there is a flash forward were you are like an evil death princess of fire or something. Fairly standard you know. Beyond that I explored around a bit, and found a few relics of a past civilization or something. Really I can't say too much, though I'm kind of interested enough to progress further so I guess that says something. Maybe if I played more I could say more but as it stands, not much told in the opening hour or so.

Style of the game is metroidvania, so go around exploring and gaining new powers. These powers take the form of songs made from eight different symbols in a circle. It's colorful and sounds decent so that's kind of nice. For example the first power you get is a shield, and the second is telekinesis that allows you to pick up rocks going to new locations and squishing enemies with them. There is relatively little combat from what I've seen, I mean no direct damage at the beginning, though maybe later you get some offensive spells. Mostly it's just zipping around laughing at the slow enemies. That's nice though, and different from a traditional Metroid style game.

Alright, wrap up time. Aquaria is surprisingly good and unique. Based on the areas I've seen I think it's got some decent length and decent exploration, interesting powers and visuals, and even a sort of crafting system. It also has quite high production values for an indie game. This is one I heartily recommend if you see it on sale, that or are looking for a 2D exploration style game.

[Forbiddenwar]

wow. I'm surprised to discover a game on this thread and want to try it myself. (and so my steam wishlist grows even more)

[Dumbledore lives]

So I took the weekend off, weekend here meaning two days at some point in the universe, and now I'm back looking at Atom Zombie Smasher.


http://blendogames.com/atomzombiesmasher/images/screenshot1.jpg
Taken from their website (http://blendogames.com/atomzombiesmasher/)

If I was looking at a genre for Atom Zombie Smasher the closest I could get would be tower defense. That's a reasonable description, after all you are slaughtering hundreds of zombies coming towards you, but it doesn't tell the whole story. There are two parts to the game, the first being a risk like map where you take territory, then the zombies take more territory than you can. They grow in numbers and like pandemic once enough break you they swarm and kill you and your family and you feel awful. So that's the progression of the game, you fighting the zombies. The other side is the defence of the cities, where you have to evacuate as many people as possible with your one helicopter. You do this by initially placing things like soldiers, mines, and barricades to save as many people as possible while still leaving dozens to the zombie hordes.

The game has a simple but effective visual presentation where all of the humanoids are represented by colored cubes. Interestingly enough the buildings are grey building looking things, with some detail. Would have been nice to have more visual cohesion, but I understand why it's the way it is. The audio is decent, with groans and explosions all perfectly functional, and a soundtrack that strangely reminds me of Pulp Fiction. That is a good thing, at least for me, but I'm not sure how well it fits the tone of the game.

Here's the thing, the game has very silly vignettes as it calls them between missions and they are decently funny I guess, but I feel like they should have gone for a more desolate atmosphere and these take away from it. You are losing the fight, even if you kill a hell of a lot of zombies they are still growing in number and taking over. It's a bad situation all around and yet you are laughing in the face of it. I guess it's better than some sort of melodrama but I feel the gameplay and the story just kind of seem at odds to one another.

With that said it's still quite an entertaining game, and I find myself wanting to play more if it to do better. Part of that is the huge difficulty, where if you go on a mission and lose it you've basically forfeited a huge amount of points and resources that you actually need to win. The game is punishing in this respect, and you have no way to know what a mission looks like before or even choose what towers or units you have, meaning that you can go into an impossible mission with no way of knowing how difficult it really was. This is a major problem, and may cause restarts after maybe an hour of gameplay, adding quite a bit of frustration.

Overall though I'd say it's worth a play if you're looking for a different take on the tower defence genre, and want to blow up hordes of pink zombies.