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Multiplayer Game Reviews
February 18, 2011
 All veteran gamers should know by now that this sign is a lie. We don’t like to admit it, but I think gamers actually enjoy being lied to by our games. This may explain the success of games that mess with our heads like Portal does.
The Unfair Platformer is a game that lies a lot. There are signs scattered about that will often mislead you, but not all the time. In fact, I actually died quite a few times by deliberately disobeying the instructions on these signs. Besides the lying signs, there are blocks that disappear when you try to walk on them, other blocks that appear when you least expect it, and spikes that pop out of the ground if you get too close. Expect to find yourself jumping only to be blocked by an obstacle you didn’t see, falling through trapdoors, and getting impaled by spikes in the places you most expect to be safe.
This game will frustrate you. It’s perfect for those looking for a challenge.
 If you get tired of dying at the hands of the completely unfair level designs, you are given the option to off yourself. How nice. The graphics are nothing to marvel at; there isn’t a whole lot of detail or style. I’m not even sure if the protagonist is male or female, in fact.
And the music is ripped off from Sonic the Hedgehog. No, it’s not a track that sounds similar to the music from Sonic, it actually is the music from Sonic. And it plays on an endless loop, so it will get annoying. Since the music was blatantly stolen, it seems strange to me that the game only uses one song. If stealing one song is okay, why not rip off some more to make the game feel less repetitive?
Even though the music is stolen and the visuals are bland, The Unfair Platformer is still pretty addictive. Completing a level gives you such a feeling of accomplishment that you won’t hesitate to begin the next stage. After dying 50+ times, you’ll tell yourself you’ll be done as soon as you actually finish the level, and of course you wind up starting the next one regardless.
Sure, games like Super Meat Boy and VVVVVV are difficult. But to some extent, they play by the rules. The Unfair Platformer takes delight in forcing you to make decisions that quickly lead to your untimely death. Play it only if you enjoy very difficult games.
 It's nice to know I'm not the only one to have been smashed by this large boulder. Game: The Unfair Platformer| Developer: Eggys Games
February 15, 2011
 Sure, you begin the game as a harmless little guy... Moby Dick – The Video Game is based off the famous novel by Herman Melville. Sort of. Okay, just barely. There is a big white whale, but I guess the similarities end there.
The premise is that you take control of a whale and wreak havoc on sailors. When you begin the game, you are quite small. You’ll have difficulties rocking even the weakest boats. As you eat sailors and fish, your maximum health will increase, and so will your size. And with your size comes the ability to jump higher out of the water, so ultimately you’ll be able to snack on seagulls. And even aliens!
The control scheme is deliciously simple. Just move your mouse in the direction you want your whale to move, and left click if you want to boost. You’ll want to be careful with the boost, though, because you can only use it when your boost meter is full.
Besides the boost meter, there are three bars you will want to keep your eyes on. First is the health meter, which lets you know the percentage of health you have left. (Your maximum health is constantly increasing, but the size of the health bar itself doesn’t grow.) Second there is air bar, since whales are air-breathing mammals. (Yes, it’s science.) Last is the hunger meter, letting you keep tabs on the whale’s appetite. The hunger bar and the air bar are both constantly draining. Refill the air bar by popping your head above the surface, and refill your hunger bar by eating things. If either the air bar or the hunger bar drains completely, your health bar will start draining and you’ll get a warning on the screen. Once your health is completely gone, the game ends and your score is added up. Oh, and there are quite a few achievements to unlock, so you’ll have to play quite a few rounds before earning all of them.
The music is a pirate-themed accordion tune, which fits the atmosphere of the game brilliantly. And the quaint graphics are a nice touch.
If you need to do a book report on Moby Dick, Moby Dick – The Video Game is probably not going to help you out much. But if you want to eat sailors and sink ships, then this game is the perfect way to spend an afternoon.
 ...But you will eventually grow large enough to destroy entire ships! Game: Moby Dick – The Video Game | Developer: Camaleonyco, Sballteam, and SMilesInDaHat
February 12, 2011
 Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes is one of those games where I have had friends tell me it was either unbelievably good or unbelievably awful. After playing it, I can see where both sides are coming from. It is like going to see Drag Me To Hell without knowing it was supposed to be comedy/horror (which I happened to actually do). You are expecting one thing and all you are stuck with is the vast annoyance of having the person behind you cracking up over what you assume is supposed to be a dreadfully scary moment. The point is, do not go into Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes expecting anything special. It is a parody RPG and by that standard, it does pretty well.
The game is very pretty. There is a lot of scenery to explore and cute little details that really suck you into the world. The opening music was not jarring and for the most part, I feel like the creators did a good job with the overall ambience of the game. Some of the sound effects are obviously for dramatic affect (keeping with the satire aspect of the game) but they do not seem out of place in the fully fleshed out world.
 The story is mildly funny, though there isn’t much by way of the usual RPG wiggle room that you expect when you sign up to play one. This is not a particularly bad thing, but after playing Disgaea or Agarest War, you are not going to be too thrilled with the lack of options here. You cannot really customize your character, which takes away from the whole RPG thing, but I suppose it’s not really a deal breaker.
While I was a little disappointed at the lack of customization, I will say that Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes did not shirk on the battle system. It is easy to navigate and though it is typical, it was still very well done. I play a decent amount of these games but still was not bored or anything, so that is a good sign.
Overall, I think that this was a good game. Laggy by nice. It accomplished the goal it set out for, which was to be amusing. It is a great game for anyone who wants a good laugh and to be sucked into a world where an emo suicidal guy gets the chance to be a hero. And who doesn’t want that?
Game: Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes | Developer: Silent Dreams
February 10, 2011
 At first, this looks like a pretty traditional 16-bit RPG. Path of Honor: Chapter 1 looks like a pretty standard old school RPG. But it’s not.
Sure, the quaint 16-bit graphics and top-down view make us think we’re about to experience something we might have seen on Super NES back in the day. You will run around exploring and talking to villagers. And then you get your first taste of combat. No one can blame you for expecting traditional turn-based combat, with menus and magic and all that. Instead, all of a sudden this turns into a top-down shooter. Instead of swords and staffs, you have very modern weaponry. There is the Glock, the Desert Eagle, the AK47, and quite a few more guns that would probably be more at home in Counter-Strike than in an ARPG. Eventually, you can even purchase a plasma gun.
While the aesthetics are a great tribute to the golden age of the RPG, Path of Honor makes a lot of mistakes in delivering a solid RPG experience, and most of these could have been easily corrected.
First of all, one of the reasons we love old school RPGs so much is that they have great stories. Path of Honor has almost no plot line. You start out in your house, where you pick up your father’s guns. When you get bored of talking with your family, you venture out into the overworld. You meet a band of rebels who want to recruit you to defeat an evil emperor or something. Why? Simply because he’s evil. We don’t know if he’s a war-monger, or if he burns villages or robs his people with excessive taxes. Apparently this band of rebels thinks he’s evil and that’s all the reason we need to join the effort in fighting him off. Eventually, you’ll learn that he has kidnapped a king, but this is long after you’ve already agreed to join the fight against him.
 There is definitely some mischief brewing here. And there is no character development. We never get much information about who anyone is, just stock dialogue that seems like it wasn’t given very much thought. Having more exchange between the protagonist and his family in the beginning would have helped to establish a better idea about who this character is and would get players a little more emotionally involved.
The quest system could use some work. When you talk to a NPC that gives you a quest, your quest bar lights up. Often, you won’t even know what your objective is until you check your quest log. And this log isn’t very intuitive. Quests will always be listed in the order that you got them, from first to last. So in order to see your current objectives, you’ll have to page through all your completed quests. These should have been put in order from newest to oldest, and incomplete quests should always be auto-sorted to the top of the list.
There doesn’t seem to be much variation in the enemies you fight. Everything is a zombie, or a zombie dog, or a zombie chicken. Yeah, zombies are cool, but could we fight something more RPG-ish, like knights and dragons and salamanders? Even a floating eyeball or two would be a welcome site.
Despite all its flaws, Path of Honor is actually pretty fun. While the combat system will probably make you say “WTF?” it’s still a lot of fun to blast things with modern weapons.
Path of Honor is an action RPG that never really makes its mind about what it wants to be. Is it an RPG? A shooter? Is the environment more modern or medieval? How realistic is this world? Who are all these characters? Why should we care? The game never figures any of this out. Regardless, there is still something charming about Path of Honor. If following chapters can address some of the flaws in Chapter 1, there’s the potential for a decent RPG experience.
 This is the weirdest combat I've ever seen in an RPG. Game: Path of Honor: Chapter 1 | Developer: Matakukos
February 5, 2011
 As much as I loved all of the games I have reviewed this week I have to say that Blue Toad Murder Files: The Mysteries of Little Riddle was my absolute favorite. In case the title did not give it away, it is a mystery game. Basically, you come to this “normal” little town in England, looking for a little rest and relaxation, and are immediately thrust into a murder investigation. At first, you think that it is a single incident but you quickly come to find that the murder of the prestigious Mayor is only the icing on the cake. This seemingly simple city is nothing of the sort and it is up to you to clean it up!
Now, if you liked Phoenix Wright, or even better, if you liked Professor Layton, this is the game for you. It takes all of the good things from those games and builds on it in an interesting way. There is the wit; the charming art, the clever characters, and the genuine care the game makes you feel towards solving each case.
The game is broken up into chapters but if at all possible, you should try to play them all in order and within a relatively quick amount of time. The story carries over through each and you will miss out on some of the hilarious banter if you don’t do that. The jokes and familiarities are much better when you do.
Of course, the highlight of the game is the puzzles. They come in all shapes and sizes here and can be a walk in the park as well as “Ohmigosh, I will kill myself if someone doesn’t give me a hint.” Yeah, I get like that. Puzzles are serious business. You have the option to leave a puzzle and come back to it later, just as if you do with Professor Layton, but that will affect your overall score at the end.
One thing that this game has over it, though, is the multiplayer. You can grab some friends and tackle this witty game together. You take turns beating puzzles, even. Hopefully, if your friends are not jerks (like mine are!), they will even help you if you are stuck. The game is an all around good time if you actually like puzzles. If not, it is still a good time among friends. Again, if they aren’t jerks.
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Game: Blue Toad Murder Files: The Mysteries of Little Riddle | Developer: Relentless
February 3, 2011
 Where to now? Endeavor
Sometimes it seems like the platformer is a limited medium. You jump around in a 2D environment and you either have to blast enemies while conserving ammo, or you solve problems. Endeavor challenges that notion.
Gameplay
There is nothing special about the controls. Arrow keys move and climb. X jumps. Remain calm. You’ll notice that there is a blue bar at the top of the screen. You’ll also notice that whenever you jump, that blue bar shrinks. Well, that thing represents your endurance. You can only jump so many times before you run out of steam. Your endurance (as well as jump height) can be increased by running into sweet little flowers.
Quite honestly, all you can really do in this game is wander around until you have exhausted your limits. There are certain places that you can’t escape without leveling up enough, and there are certain spots where, if you screw up, you fall to the bottom of the screen. Brutal.
 Thanks a lot buddy. All told, you are a mountain dwarf who is searching for treasure after your father has died. Along the way you will run into others of your species, who rarely help you. This is a journey you must make on your own.
Technical
This game obviously has a retro-styling to it. However, with many games that use the 8-bit background, you are not slapped in the face by it. Often times, you feel contained by it. Not so in this case. The sense of scope that is achieved by this game is simply astounding. And sometimes you have to sit back, after jumping and climbing mountains and revel in how far you’ve piloted your little guy.
You all know I am a fan of developers who can build ‘big’ games with simple engines. This is a paradigm.
Final Verdict
Great game. It is casual, but you will find yourself hooked right from the get-go. You’ll want to get over that pass. You’ll want to meet the next surly dwarf. You’ll revel in the muted pastels. Enjoy.
Game: Endeavor | Developer: Zillix
January 31, 2011
 I loved, loved, loved Jolly Rover. It is unbelievably adorable, funny, and actually interesting. This was not one of the games I got in a packet. My husband bought it on accident and I ended up playing it out of boredom. Now, I want to tell you guys how I feel about games and movies with animated animals. They freak me out. I will usually try them but I never really enjoy myself, just because of the creepy factor. The last book I enjoyed about animals that moved was Charlottes Web. The last movie? Rock-a-doodle (those of you who know that cartoon are awesome. Those of you who do not need to get on eBay). Anyway, that should tell how much this game had to wow me for it to give it a good rating.
First of all, the opening music for Jolly Rover was stirring. I was all but falling asleep and it woke me up. The starting scene was clever and funny, which always equates to another few minutes before I chuck it into my “I’ll finish this later…but probably not” pile. Jolly Rover did a fantastic thing after that: it held my interest.
You guys know I love? Item games. I gave them a witty name before but it has been so long since I have found one that was worth reviewing that I have forgotten what it was. These are the games where you have to find one item in room A, walk to room C and find a completely different item, combine those two items, and go to room B in order to let the parrot out of the cage. Jolly Rover is one of those games.
This game does that and does it well. It is not only a point and click adventure, though that is what I would label it as. It is also a charming little kind of…sim-esque game. What I mean is you run into bits of dialogue where you can respond to a particular problem. I have only been playing off and on for a few hours but I do not think they actually affect the score in the game. Still, they are funny and only add to the glory of the game.
This is a great game. I do not think I can make that any clearer. It is absolutely stunning in every way and I am really glad I ended up buying it. Try it, just try it, and see if you do not fall in love.
Game: Jolly Rover| Developer: Brawesome
January 28, 2011
 I loved Diamond Dan. It is a cute game with charming artwork, colorful scenes, and crisp lines. It sets the adventure theme with heart pumping music and a charming opening mini-movie. I was pretty much hooked after ninety seconds, which never really happens with me, but I was. After those first two minutes, I was still charmed by Diamond Dan. The story here is that you are a junior adventurer out to discover jewels and shiny gold coins with your mentor. The only problem with that is, of course, you do not want to wait for your mentor to go exploring!
You run off to pull your own impersonation of Indiana Jones and get into just as much trouble as poor Harrison Ford.
Diamond Dan is essentially a huge revolving 3D puzzle. It is always shifting, always changing, and you are caught in the middle of it, trying to navigate.  Your goal is to gather not only lovely shiny things, but maps that will lead you to other lovely shiny things. Are you seeing the beautiful pattern here? I am. Shinies! There are many different traps and triggers you have to pull in order to collect your goals. This can make it quite difficult.
The idea here is that you are stuck in what I can only describe as an evil Rubix cube. The huge blocks can (and more than likely will) squish you if you stand still for too long or stand in the wrong place. At the same time, you can push them to the side if space allows. Even so, the problem with pushing them is that you may just push some of your shinies over the edge and lose them forever.
 The game was cute and surprisingly hard. I had nightmares about evil temples after I finished playing. It was all very disturbing. Still, it was a lot of fun and even though the game is a puzzle game, it rather felt more like a platform adventure while I was playing. It is not really about outsmarting the temple as much as it’s about not getting dead before you can get to your shinies.
In addition to the general game play, the game allows you to replay temples. Now, this might not seem like a big thing, but you can go back and challenge yourself to get a better medal or to make sure you got absolutely everything. It really offers you the chance to play the game completely through.
Game: Diamond Dan | Developer: Grendel Games
January 26, 2011
 This dungeon might be scary if it wasn't so darned cute. Nerdook strikes again with Dungeon Developer. This game allows you to run through a dungeon, collect treasure, and ultimately slay the Red Dragon. But here’s the catch: you get to build the dungeon.
You start out with a single floor with an entrance, an exit, and various obstacles scattered about. You have a limited amount of gold to spend on tiles to connect the entrance to the exit, and it’s completely up to you whether you want to try to bypass the obstacles or run your path directly through them. Once you are done building, you get to send a group of explorers through your creation. As this band of heroes progresses through the dungeon, you earn more gold, which you can spend purchasing additional floors and expanding your current floorplans.
You must carefully plan ahead, deciding which obstacles your adventurers pass through and which ones to avoid. If an adventurer passes through a monster, he will engage it in combat. If he wins, he will get additional gold and experience. But if he loses, he will be sent out of the dungeon and will lose gold. There are also traps that just take away HP and money. But the good news is that some tiles contain gems that increase your treasure horde, and chests that contain equip-able items. Getting through the dungeon in the least amount of time requires knowing which obstacles to hit and which ones to avoid. Unfortunately, in later dungeons hitting traps is inevitable.
There are 15 floors in all, and on the 15th is the Red Dragon. You win the game by slaying this dragon. Since every time your heroes run through the dungeon counts as one day, you want to get through in the least amount of days possible. Defeating the dragon in 25 days or less gives you a platinum score.
Of course, the game doesn’t just end when the dragon dies. Once you finish, you are rewarded with a catchy, Nerdook-style song, and an additional game mode: Dungeon Crawl. In this mode, you control a single adventurer who starts at level 0 and gets to explore the dungeon you already built. Your goal is to see how much gold you can collect before you are defeated. Of course, in Dungeon Crawl mode you can’t build anything, because that just wouldn’t be fair.
You can also export your dungeon online to allow other players to send their warriors through it, or import other dungeons and see if you can handle them. True adventurers can beat any dungeon!
Dungeon Developer is just one more amazing game in Nerdook’s ever-expanding universe. If you are already a Nerdook fan, then this game is a must-play. And if you aren’t yet, Dungeon Developer could very well win you over.
 It's dragon-slayin' time!
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Game: Dungeon Developer | Developer: Nerdook
January 20, 2011
 Hey pretty momma Vindictus
There is a Celtic legend that a mysterious goddess will reveal paradise to a warrior that defeats an enemy of the state. This is one of the most adult games that I have ever played. It is a brutal MMORPG that relies on ingenuity, ruthlessness and teamwork to be a complete and free game.
Gameplay
If you are a fan of side scrolling ‘hack and slash’ video games, you will feel very at home here. Everything is a weapon. See a tree limb? Beat the crap out of your enemy with it. Seriously, you can combo with it. Done with meleeing? You can pick your enemy up and toss them. Or, use them as a shield.
The physics of this game (based off of Valve software’s Source engine) are simply incredible. You can interact with literally anything that you can see. Do not trust rocks or logs.
At this current point in time, you have a limited character set. But, there is a great deal of customization in those sets. Quite honestly, some people get all riled up about their characters. I am not one of those people.
I won’t go too deep into gameplay, because there is a group tutorial. Yes, you have to go through it as a group. Once that’s done, you can detail your character, and it’s off to adventures.
You take longboats (Celtic theme again) to different locals. The decks of the boats are the ‘waiting rooms’ where you can do messaging and stuff like that.
At the end of each battle, you get BP. If you take certain ‘Oathes of Honor’ you can get ever more. For the record, you are battling enemies of your country, NPCs.
Technical
 Take THAT Phillip Pullman! I’ve mentioned it before, but the attention to detail and the immersive quality of the environment are beyond incredible. There are stray dogs in the opening village. You get a sense of the economy of each area that you visit.
The controls are simple, mouse and WASD. You can cast certain spells. Everything around you is game. You can pick up parts of a column and beat someone senseless with it!
There’s a crafting system, which is really what you use the loot for. So, instead of finding the nearest shop after a battle, you go, hmmm, what can I make out of all this crap that I just got from a giant spider?
Multiplayer
There are certain levels that, quite simply, can only be beaten through teamwork. Not because there are so many bad guys, but because there are actions that can only be undertaken with 2 or more people. Off of the top of my head, I remember having to make a net and subdue a polar bear. Only possible with 3 guys.
Final Verdict
Excellent, excellent game. If you are looking for a new MMORPG, this is it. Seriously the immersive environment is second to none and you will not get bored.
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Game: Vindictus | Developer: Nexcon
January 19, 2011
 Killer robots make for some good fun. If you’ve ever wanted to be a psychotic AI that can use computers to take over the world, then you are in luck. Nerdook’s newest hit I Am an Insane Rogue AI allows you to do just that, one building at a time. There are two methods by which you can accomplish global domination: the violent way or the peaceful way.
Your goal is to hack into every computer in each building, then hack the mainframe. While you don’t exist in physical form (you are just AI, after all), you can use your influence on anything electronic. That means you can distract people by making the phones ring, turn on and off lights, and lock doors. But more importantly, you can take over security robots, and some of those robots are armed.
The violence escalates pretty fast. Once you have one killer robot on the loose, suddenly you need to command the gun turret so it doesn’t shoot your robot. Then you have security bots trying to take out the gun turret, so you take control of those too. It’s quite easy to turn a whole building into a robot killing spree.
 Purchase new skills between levels. But if you prefer a more peaceful approach, that’s fine. Since you can lock doors, you can often keep intruders away while you hack into computers. Of course, this takes a little more patience, and will bring in less money in the end.
And money is good, because you use it to purchase upgrades. And these upgrades are awesome. One of the most interesting upgrades available is the ability to send a message over the speakers on a particular floor – you just type whatever you want into a box and you’ll actually hear the AI say it. This makes the people on that floor start to panic. There are plenty of other purchasable skills too: you’ll be able to release clouds of poison gas, turn corpses into zombies, create portals, and let loose heavily-armed cyborgs, just to name a few. With so much destruction at your fingertips, you may want to think twice about that whole passifism thing.
The music fits perfectly, but it’s rather un-Nerdook like. If you are used to the more melodic tunes in games like Monster Slayers and Vertical Drop Heroes, then you’ll be somewhat surprised to hear music so dark and ominous. But the whole tone of the game is darker than Nerdook’s usual style. In fact, with all the psychotic AI ranting, I suspect he was strongly influenced by Portal.
I Am an Insane Rogue AI is free, and it’s incredibly addictive. It’s a wonderful addition to Nerdook’s rapidly growing list of awesome games.
 Zombies, cyborgs, and hacked computers... this really is the end of the world. Game: I Am an Insane Rogue AI | Developer: Nerdook
January 18, 2011
 The people who make Spirited Heart makes a lot of different kind of games. Most of them are Dating Sims in one way or another but the man difference comes in the themes that they do. They have ones that are set in Fantasy worlds, some that are set in futuristic worlds, and such. They really enjoy upping the anty and each one of their games is different than the other, though it’s the same overall concept a lot of times.
 Spirited Heart is one of their most popular titles. In it you are given the option of playing as one of three different kinds of woman (human, demon, and elf) and you’re also able to decide how you sepnt your life as a child pre game. The choices you make while you’re setting up your characters have an impact on the stats you have to start with and thus which ones you will have to work on to get where you want to be later in the game.
 Spirited Heart offers you a lot of different choices, not only in the men you seduce but in the way you spend your time. The game feels a lot less about grinding out stats and a great deal more about making your character as strong as possible and spending your time wisely. You get to see a lot of different aspects of your character (by which I mean she wears a lot of different outifts –which is always a sure fire way to make ME happy, at least) and you can really costumize the way she grows and learns, just by making your own choices.
Now, that doesn’t mean that Spirited Heart is without it’s downfalls. The game is rather annoying in the sense that some of the gameplay options can frustrate you. Everything you make money wise is taxed for starters.  I’m sure the makers wanted to add a little difficulty to the game with this but ultimately it’s just annoying. In addition (and this is not unusual for games like this), there is a stress addition here. Meaning if you have a bad week or day you become stressed and your character won’t be able to perform her duties. This is usually not so bad in these games but in this one it’s a major teeth grinder. The “jobs” you can do are based on an entirely random roll of the dice (a game of chance) and if you fail you’re just nice and screwed. This could have been done better.
Overall, this is a great game. For women, for sure, but a good way to spend a couple hours of your life.
Game: Spirited Heart | Developer: Tycoon Games
January 14, 2011
 Don't. Crash. Oolite
If there is no way to win, are you really playing a game? Oolite is a open source space sim game where you fly around being a productive member of society. Or being a pirate. Your choice.
Gameplay
Okay so a little background. This game is an open source version of the 1984 game Elite. So, the graphics are a bit clunky. But don’t let that deter you. This game has an intense level of depth.
The first thing you’re going to need to do is get used to the controls. This is a bit tricky. The up and down arrow keys are inverted. The left right control your roll. Read that again. It’s not strafe. It’s not yaw. It’s roll. W and S control your speed.
Don’t run into anything. If you run into anything, you’ll die. You’ve been warned.
Now you’re going to want to get used to the HUD. It is also in 3D. I’ve found that getting an object into the up/down part of your crosshairs and then pitching your way until it gets into your screen is the way to go. If you’re motion-sick at this point, just take some deep breaths and get some water.
 This is a pirate attack. It is a lot more exciting than it looks. That’s all I’m going to tell you, because it gets complicated from there. You’re going to want to learn how to dock, because that’s how you’ll get missions, buy equipment and get commodities.
Technical
One of the major drawbacks of space exploration games is that they are often clunky or take up a massive amount of space (heh). Well this game sacrifices graphics for complexity. Each step is a new learning curve. First you learn how to dock. Then you learn how to fire lasers. Then missiles. And so on and so forth.
It is a huge game. You can even explore the inside of your ship. If you were a fan of the show ‘Firefly’ then you are definitely going to like this.
I mentioned earlier that the graphics are kind of bad. Well, you can change this. There are tons of 3rd party mods all over the place. Your processor and imagination is the limit.
Final Verdict
This is one that I didn’t think I was going to like. I’m not a fan of space games. However, learning the new control system and traversing the wild black yonder was pretty cool. I wish that the developers would take this even further. But that’s just a pipe dream. A dream about pipes.
Game: Oolite | Developer: Open Source, Yo
January 10, 2011
 I received The Maw as a gift from a friend. At first I was confused why she would send me such a random game but after playing it for half an hour I think I’m going to go give her a big fat kiss. The Maw is not the kind of game I would have picked on my own but thank goodness we all have good friends who know what we should be playing even when we do not ourselves, huh?
Now, my friend obviously did not just pick this game out of a hat and send it to me. At least I do not think she did. She is really not that lucky. The thing is, she knows that I love Indie games. Especially ones that are fantastic. That turns out to be the reason she sent this one to me. The Maw is cute, funny, and absolutely wonderful. It turned out to be one of the best games I’ve played in a long time…but don’t tell my friend that. She’ll think I owe her one.
My first impressions of the game itself were pleasing. The models they used for it are wonderful and seamless. There are no voices in this game. At least none of the characters speaks a particular language. Instead, they tell the story with their actions and beautiful facial expressions. Even though they are aliens, you get the distinct feeling that they are very, very human.
The story of The Maw is heartwarming and hilarious. Two aliens are thrown into a strange world together. They have to rely on one another to get around. Maw is this bottomless pit of an alien that is lead around by the other alien of the game. As the player, you lead them around, watching him eat a number of different beings. When he does so, he not only grows in size but he gains some of their attributes as well. For instance, he eats a kind of fire lizard (after you put it out, of course) and is able to breathe fire. This helps the pair get past obstacles and brings them closer together.
This was a heartwarming and sweet game. Peppered with humor and smooth game play, it is one of those games that it is hard to find fault with. It was charming and cute, all the things I would hope to find in any game, be it Indie or not. This one is really cut from quality cloth.
Game: The Maw | Developer: Twisted Pixel Games
January 6, 2011
 Puzzle Bots was another one of the light hearted games I wanted to give a whirl this week. It’s about a bunch of little robots who sneak out of their cages while their creators are away and get into a lot of trouble. I wasn’t expecting much when I decided to buy it. After all, the game is only five dollars and it looks mostly sugary sweet with strange attempts at humor.
What I got was so much better.
I’m genuinely impressed by Puzzle Bots. It was an adventure puzzle game, but I feel like even though the overall feel of the game was a little childish it had a lot of adult lessons and experiences to it. The robots, having only just been created, kind of look at everything the way you would expect a toddler to see it. They’re tiny little things in a huge, grown up world, and frequently run into things and mistake them for something much less mundane than the truth. It reminds me of when I used to watch Rugrats and Tommy and Chucky would find, oh, a smudged footprint in the backyard and decide that it was aliens coming to abduct them. That sort of thing. Where something simple is made into something magical just by misunderstanding and innocence.
One of the most interesting things about this game is that you don’t play as just one person (or in this case, robot). Instead you play as a group of five little creatures who all have a different specialty. Basically, they all have to work together if you want to get any of the puzzles completed and off to the next level. Not only that but everything you do as a robot affects the humans that are working on you. The robots manage to get the humans into a lot of trouble with their innocent antics, but at the same time they help them out without even knowing it.
I loved this game. I think it’s a breath of fresh air to a cluttered room of cookie cutter games. It’s great for the entire family. Fun, sunny, sweet, and charming, this is the kind of game I dream about. if you’ve ever wanted to know what it’s like to be a super ant in the world of humans, here’s your chance.
Game: Puzzle Bots | Developer: Lively Ivy
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