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Multiplayer Game Reviews
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 9, 2011
 Beginning of the Battle Mud and Blood 2
If that isn’t one of the best names I have ever heard for a video game, then it at least has to be in the top 10. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to hold the Nazi advance. You are going to get overrun. Be prepared.
Gameplay
Although there are lots of actions tied to keystrokes, this is primarily done with your mouse. The first thing that happens is you create a character. You start off as a Second Lieutenant. The more and better you play, the higher in rank you go. The higher in rank you go, the better your starting choices are. When you start, you get a ragtag crew.
You start with some soldiers. Each soldier has a weapon, health and moral. Most soldiers have guns, but you can purchase guys with bazookas and can even get a rocket launcher. No joke, it is awesome.
The more Nazis you kill, and the longer you stay alive, you get Tactical Points. Tactical points can be exchanged for any number of things. You can call in for reinforcements, which is nice because then you can kill more Nazis. You can call in an engineer, which will build things for you. On top of that, you can buy certain maneuvers or upgrade your guys’ weapons.
 End of a Battle. The Horror. Technical
The game ends when you are overrun by 10 Nazis. Note that if a motorcycle with a sidecar passes by, that’s worth two. Also, there’s no pause button. So, once you deploy, you’re committed to playing for a while.
This can get gruesome. If a grenadier lands one in your trench, you will be seeing blood, guts and bones. Your guys will lose moral, and you’re pretty much screwed. For a while you’ll be thinking that you’re doing fine, and then all of a sudden your line is crawling with Nazis.
The Mise en scene impressed me greatly. It’s bleak. On top of that is the depth of the game. You follow the career of your character. The small decisions you make on the battlefield will affect the things you can do later on.
Final Verdict
This game is not for the faint of heart. Seriously, it’s called ‘Mud and Blood’. It is an emotional and temporal commitment. However, if you are looking for an intense, browser-based WWII wargame, then this is the game for you.
Game: Blood and Mud 2 | Developer: Blood and Mud 2
February 7, 2011
 Those are zombie magnets. No, I'm not kidding. Flaming Zombooka 2 is a game that has you shoot zombies with a bazooka and solve puzzles.
The goal is to kill every zombie in each level without killing any humans. There are obstacles in your way, so in order to get all of them you’ll have to do some clever shooting. There are also things to help you, like saw-blades, barrels of explosive radioactive waste, and land mines. While normally these items merely allow you to slay zombies with a little bit of style, there are super zombies that are immune to bazooka shells so you’ll need to kill them by other means.
There are also several types of ammo to use. There is the slider, a golden projectile that slide across the ground; the bouncy, a pink shell that bounces like a super ball; and the dropper, a missile that drops parachuting bombs as it flies.
 Why yes, that is a chunk of zombie flying over my head. Thank you for noticing. Quite frankly, pretty much everything about Flaming Zombooka 2 is counter-intuitive. First of all, the bazooka does almost no damage. You can shoot a zombie in the chest and it will merely fall over. And worse, the humans will take a bazooka shell in the face without flinching. I’m not really sure what the point of giving you a bazooka is if you can’t blow stuff up. (You can explode a zombie if you get a headshot, though.) And magnets that only attract zombies, yet the steel saw-blades are unaffected? Oh, and you activate land mines by shooting them with a bazooka! Come on!
Worse than the questionable physics is that fact that there is a button to reset the level in case you screw up, but if you kill a human or yourself, you are no longer able to use that button. And that’s when you need it most. Otherwise you have to go back to a screen that tells you that you failed before you can try again. And there is no option to quit to level select. If you want to switch levels once a level has started, you need to go back to the start menu, select a character and then finally select a new level. Sure these aren’t game-breaking, but it gets annoying pretty quickly.
I know this sounds like a good idea on paper – I mean, who doesn’t want to ’splosify some zombies? – but it’s an idea that was poorly implemented. Sadly, Flaming Zombooka 2 is just another forgettable zombie game.
 You can tell which ones are zombies by their green skin and their enthusiasm for 1970s fashion. Game: Flaming Zombooka 2| Developer: TurboNuke, robotJAM, and Long Animals
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
February 1, 2011
 How did a map get inside a fish? The Dream Machine is a current work in progress by Cockroach Inc., the same guys who brought you Gateway and Gateway II. (Click the links to see reviews.) Similar to the Gateway games, this is a point-and-click adventure that has you solve puzzles to progress though a story. And just like Gateway II (not the first Gateway so much), The Dream Machine has a very intriguing storyline with eerie undertones. It begins on a desert island in the middle of absolute nowhere. After finding a map inside of a fish which leads to a buried alarm clock, Victor (the main character) awakes in the apartment he has just moved into. He blames the weird dream on a painting above the bed, but he can’t seem to shake it. On top of this dream-induced haze he finds himself in, he also discovers the remains of a mysterious note from the previous tenant, offering a bit of a warning about this place.
You must guide Victor as he searches for clues in his new apartment building while doing chores for his wife and trying to get the place settled. Along the way you’ll meet an interesting cast of characters, each with a unique personality and usually a mysterious back story. However, this is only the first chapter in much larger game, and you won’t get all of these characters figured out this early in the story.
 It's the first morning in a new apartment. Cockroach Inc. decided on quite an interesting distribution method for The Dream Machine. The first chapter is free, but following chapters will require a small fee. Chapters will also be available for pre-order for a discounted price. It seems like a great idea, since this first chapter is so intriguing, players will find themselves dying to know what happens next.
The look of the game is absolutely brilliant. All of the settings were made out of “clay and cardboard” (in the words of the developers) and have a dark, ugly-in-a-beautiful-way, artsy sort of vibe to them. The background music has an ominous tone to it (besides Mr. Morton’s jazz music) and will keep you in the right frame of mind for enjoying this piece of work.
The Dream Machine is a wonderful piece of art that needs to be experienced by all point-and-click enthusiasts. Hop on over to the Dream Machine website to begin your adventure!
Oh yes, and you can follow the progress of The Dream Machine on the official Facebook page here, which has news updates, concept art, and even sneak peeks at what the developers are putting into the next chapter of the game.
 Mr. Morton. I'm pretty sure this guy is creepy. Game: The Dream Machine | Developer: Cockroach Inc.
January 30, 2011
 A game. Weewar
Fact: Hex-tile games are for nerds with neckbeards who live in their mom’s basements and come out every weekend to move thingies around for fun.
Actually, that’s a myth. Weewars is a fun, user-friendly game that you can play with little time commitment during the week. It’s not that bad to look at either.
Gameplay
You move your guys around by clicking on them and then clicking on the place where you want them to move. Then, to confirm, you click them again. Any bad guys you can blast appear in red. I honestly don’t understand how combat works at this point. Combat is, however, animated. And the terrain you are standing on affects this.
You get money by occupying bases. From those bases you also build units. You win when you occupy all of your opponents bases. Cool.
 A SKULL! Technical
There’s a lobby where you can choose your games. Yes, there is a ranking system which is based off of your wins/losses as well as how many games you have played. The thing that is really great about this game is that there are very few things that you can screw up.
Also, the game’s introduction does a pretty great job of explaining everything.
Multiplayer
The multiplayer is very well thought out. You choose your opponent and get to work. There is a 24 hour time limit for moves and when it is your turn you get an e-mail.
There is a chat client in the interface, so it’s pretty easy to communicate/heckle your opponent. I’ve found the community to be pretty chill and literate all told, so you don’t have to worry about deciphering the puberty-induced psychotic ramblings of unloved 12-year-olds.
Final Verdict
Great/casual game. You can gave a good time literally dedicating 3 minutes of your day to it. Spend your day mulling over strategy, only to have it blow up in your face when you log back in.
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Game: WeeWar | Developer: EA2D
January 29, 2011
Sniper Assassin has set the standard for all web based sniper games. There is a new one on the scene and to be honest it does a pretty good job of trying to match the SA series.
Sneaky sniper follows the same basic set of characteristics that made SA popular in the first place. The stick figures mean the game engine does not take forever to load, and this combined with pretty basic terrain and backgrounds makes for a very fast paced game.
Control is very simple, you move the scope around with your mouse and when you are confident that you have the right target you click to fire. The scope is not small, which is often a problem in sniper based games, and you can see plenty of what is going on in each level.
 Use the mouse to move the scope over your targets The levels work in a very simple way. You are given a clear brief at the start of each that tells you what you must or must not do to qualify for the next mission. Follow these instructions to the letter and you will quickly fly through the game. If you fail then you can have another go but you shouldn’t really because the lay out and design of each level is so basic.
The only problem is that there is no developed story line, which made the SA series popular. However, had this been included then the similarities may have been too similar and this would have taken emphasis away from the individuality of the game.
There is no annoying soundtrack, which you quite often get with action based shooting games. However, there is a gap for it in this game. The levels are really basic, which can make the game get quite boring and an upbeat and good track would help move things along.
 Take out targets quickly before they can react All in all Sneaky Sniper is a pretty good attempt at a sniper based web game. If you’re bored of work or revision then this is a great game. It will take your mind off of other things and keep you occupied for a good number of levels.
Game: Sneaky Sniper http://www.addictinggames.com/sneaky-sniper-game.html | Developer: Sniping Games http://www.snipinggames.net/
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 23, 2011
 Run! Steambirds: Survival
The original Steambirds is a prime contender for ‘best flash game of 2010′. The creators heard our pleas to make the game bigger. And they did.
Gameplay
The basic functions of the game are the same. You click and drag where you want your plane to go during 1 turn. You can control speed and direction. The same ’special’ weapons are available from the last game. However the similarities end there.
For starters, there are no ‘levels’ like the last time. Instead you start with a plane which has a preset amount of special weapons, and you have to survive for as long as possible, hence the name. Trust me, you want to take out the bad guys as quickly as you can, because the waves aren’t determined by how many are remaining, it’s at a preset schedule.
The planes that come in waves are random, and you start off with 3-4 allies that usually take out the first two planes (this is very useful because you probably wouldn’t stand a chance).
 GL! Technical
One thing that’s cool, if not unbelievable, is that every enemy plane that goes down leaves behind a special weapon. While in the previous version, it was worth it to save your specials for just the right moment, in survival, it is in your interest to you use your specials often.
With each feat that you accomplish you get copper. You then trade in copper to get new planes. At some point you have to start using planes multiple times in order to make enough to upgrade. This gets kind of annoying, but you really start to learn how to use the different planes and their weapons.
Final Verdict
All told, I think this was a pretty great ‘upgrade’ of the new game. Although I wish you were allowed to control multiple allies, and I wish you could get into some serious battles. Also, there’s a multiplayer version for the Android OS, but I haven’t tried that out yet. That would be seriously swell.
Game: Steambirds: Survival | Developer: Radial Games
January 22, 2011
 In the beginning, you can't even see. If I had to describe K.O.L.M. in one word, I would say “poignant.” It’s the story of a robot who awakens helpless in a dangerous world. He cannot jump, can barely walk, and can hardly even see. And as much as he tries to please his mother, she only has harsh words for him. I can honestly say this game made me a little sad.
One of the first messages you see in this game tells you to put on headphones. I’m glad I heeded this advice, because the soundwork in the game is brilliant. The music is soft, melodic, and surreal. It’s a perfect fit for what you are experiencing as you push the little robot through puzzle after puzzle.
The gameplay is Metroid-ish. As you progress through the game, you find yourself unable to get to certain areas. Later on, you will acquire new abilities that will grant you the ability to reach some of these areas, so you will find yourself going back to explore passages and rooms you couldn’t quite figure out how to get to. Some of the skills you will learn are jump, double-jump, dash, duck, and photon cannon.
While at first it’s the atmosphere that draws you in, eventually you will come to realize that the plot is extremely intriguing as well. The robot is constantly trying to make his mother happy, yet she grows more and more distant as he gets more powerful. I don’t want to spoil anything here, but this tension actually brings the story to a mind-blowing conclusion. Let me just say that the end of this game gets pretty intense.
 And he's jumping... K.O.L.M. has a very interesting look. It is seen entirely through security camera footage. The cameras are constantly distorting the image and getting static interference. Every time you move from one screen to the next, a digital marker pops up letting you know which camera you are viewing. This draws you even deeper into the world, as you can never be quite sure whose perspective you are viewing this strange world through.
K.O.L.M. is a great little Flash game with a very well-put-together atmosphere and a clever storyline. If you like puzzle-platformers at all, give this one a spin.
 This room has a yellow Matrixy thing going on... Game: K.O.L.M. | Developer: Armor Games
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 17, 2011
 Sure, you've seen this menu before. But have you seen it from this angle? The original Mega Man game series was a must-play in the 1980s, with creative gameplay, interesting boss fights, and some of the best music in the industry. Perhaps that is why we are still infatuated with the Blue Bomber to this day.
Cutman Mike loves Mega Man perhaps a little more than the average fanboy though. He spent over a year building his very own tribute to the Blue Bomber with the phenomenal Mega Man 8-Bit Deathmatch. This first-person shooter takes the Mega Man world and puts it into 3D using the Doom game engine. Of course, 8-bit graphics and music have been taken directly from the classic Mega Man series.
Mega Man 8-Bit Deathmatch allows players to choose a character from the Mega Man universe and frag other characters in arena battles. There are weapons and powerups scattered around each map, and fighters collect these as they blast their opponents. There are over 50 weapons in all, every single one of them taken from the classic Mega Man games.
The maps are all 3D re-imaginings of levels from the old Mega Man games as well. Long-time fans will smile as they recognize many of their favorite places.
 Mega Man vs. Mega Man. This will definitely get interesting. There is a single-player mode, in which you work your way through the Mega Man games in order and battle AI opponents. This is pretty cool, but the real fun of the game comes from the online multiplayer, where you can frag your friends or random strangers. Players can join any of the established servers or even host their own.
My only complaint about this game is that players are not given any help as far as downloading custom map packs. If a server is running a map pack that a player doesn’t have installed, the player will not be able to join the server until that map pack is manually downloaded and placed into the correct folder. There is no option that allows you to automatically download the map packs from the server, like you can in most modern FPS games. But this is forgivable, since the game is so incredible. Players with the slightest bit of experience installing custom mods will have no problem getting all the map packs they need in order to get the game running.
Mega Man 8-Bit Deathmatch is a must-play for every Mega Man fan. It takes up a mere 60 megabytes of hard drive space and is completely free. But it does come with a word of warning: this is a fan-made project and is in no way supported by Capcom.
 Mega Man fans will have no problem recognizing these powerups.
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Game: Mega Man 8-Bit Deathmatch | Developer: Cutman Mike
January 15, 2011
 You are helped by the incredibly encouraging messages written across each level. Hanna in a Choppa is a unique flier game, made almost completely of two colors, in which you take control of a helicopter piloted by a girl named Hanna. use the directional keys to move around and spacebar to deploy the winch. If you are especially talented, you can even do flips. Just don’t bump too many walls or you will crash, and you’ll have to start the level over again.
The beauty of the whole thing is the amount of creativity packed into each and every level. You will end up dodging fans, herding sheep, rescuing drowning sailors, and even baking a cake. And if the levels aren’t hard enough for you, you can earn a “Fast Flight” bonus for finishing a level within a specific time limit and a “Perfect Flight” bonus for finishing a level without bumping into anything. There is even a list of achievements you can occupy yourself with while flying around. However, after completing the game, I felt that it only scratched the surface of its true potential. And that’s not because it wasn’t good; it’s actually because it’s too creative. Almost every level has such a bizarre concept behind it that I felt like the developers must have had dozens more ideas for this game that we never got to see.
 This is one convoluted level map! Of course, that’s not saying there is anything wrong with this game. I started playing it at around 2:30 AM, and I wouldn’t let myself go to sleep until I had finished it. I couldn’t leave it alone.
The visual style is so incredibly simple that it’s hard not to marvel at it. It mainly uses two colors: black and orange, with a splash of white thrown in here and there. I am astounded by how much was able to be done with this minimalistic look. And the music fits perfectly. It’s this sort of soothing, yet somehow chaotic ditty that seems to match the spastic nature of the game. And it will probably get stuck in your head.
Hanna in a Choppa is a game that won me over with its unique look, and then kept me hooked through 21 insanely creative levels. I just wish that it were longer. In fact, I hope they either make a sequel, add a level pack, or introduce a level editor so we creative gamers can take a crack at building obstacles for the lovely Hanna.
 Believe me, this level is not easy! Game: Hanna in a Choppa | Developer: deeperbeige
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