Review: The Park (PC)

Posted on November 8, 2015 by geelw

Platform: PC
Developer/Publisher: Funcom
MSRP: $9.99
# of Players: 1
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Official Site
Score: B (80%)

Although it’s set in The Secret World universe, no previous experience with that MMO is needed to get a jolt or two from The Park, Funcom’s short psychological horror adventure that’s both a nice looking and eventually haunting game experience. It’s not without flaws that make parts a lot less immersive than they should have been and as an experiment in storytelling it relies on too much inner dialogue from the main character that makes her sound more like a writer working on a short story in her head more than a worried parent. That said, if you’re in the right mood on the right dark night, the game will eventually get its creepy points across and right under your skin.

When her child, Callum, goes missing during a trip to a shuttered amusement park with his single mother, Lorraine, she heads into the gloomy, deserted venue in order to track him down. That’s the simplistic way of telling the story without spoiling much because the game experience is actually fairly short, clocking in at about two hours if you take your time and do as much as possible. As Lorraine makes her way around the park calling out her son’s name, she ends up making the rounds of the few rides and attractions while talking to herself (internally and externally), finding newspaper clippings and other notes that detail the park’s not so safe past history. Continue reading →

BUY IT! Dragon Fin Soup Looks Like A Tasty Bowl Of Pain

Posted on November 7, 2015 by geelw

Based on the absolutely gorgeous artwork by Randis Albion alone, Grimm Bros. first game, Dragon Fin Soup is worth a buy. The game is, according to the developers: “half story-driven tactical RPG and half high-stakes roguelike, with a pinch of crass humor and a heaping helping of murder & madness set in a procedural generated fantasy world.”, which is right up my alley lurking with a +2 Club of Timesink waiting to konk me on the noggin.

Even better, the game is now available on PC via Steam or the Humble Store as well as a cross-buy for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PS Vita in North America and Europe at not much more than the PC version costs. If you happen to be a PS Plus member, guess what? DFS is a FREE download this month! Gorgeous, hard as hell and somewhat inexpensive (or FREE if you’re lucky) is a fine and dandy way to spend a lousy weekend. Or any weekend, for that matter.

Electronic Super Joy: Run, Jump, Dance (Just Don’t Drop The Controller)

Posted on November 5, 2015 by geelw

Just when you think you’re just about “retro-ed” out, yet another striking indie game comes along to get your face smiling away and your toes tapping to some nice killer beats. I’d never even heard of Electronic Super Joy until an email announcing it was ported to the Wii U and now available in the eShop popped up in my inbox. Nice. I’ve been getting a lot more use from my system thanks to a few recent games (Slender: The Arrival, Whispering Willows, Adventure Time: Finn & Jake Mysteries, among others), so this one’s getting added to the backlog queue. I’m still working on the time machine I absolutely need so I can play all those games stacking up, but this one’s probably worth pushing up a few notches on the list because it’s so immediately catchy on a few levels.

While the cure for an aching backlog isn’t usually MORE games, ESJ sure looks and sounds as if it’ll be a memorable remedy of sorts. Go check it out if you like what you see and hear above.

Review: Poncho (PC)

Posted on November 4, 2015 by geelw

Platform: PC/PS4/Mac/Linux
Developer: Delve Interactive
Publisher: Rising Star Games
MSRP: $14.99
# of Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Official Site
Score: B+ (85%)

With pixel-packed “retro” games showing no signs of stopping, it’s great to see Delve Interactive shake up the scene with Poncho, a game that’s both new and nostalgic with a side of super challenging for good measure. The open world side-scrolling platformer features multiple layers of parallax scrolling to hop in and out of in order to progress and this is both excellent and a tiny bit frustrating until you get your sea legs. The game’s depth also extends to the minimalist but somewhat deep story of Poncho, a cute little robot who finds himself going where no man has gone before because there aren’t any humans left in the world the game takes place in.

Continue reading →

Review: Whispering Willows (Wii U)

Posted on October 31, 2015 by geelw

Platform: Wii U (via Nintendo eShop)
Developer: Night Light Interactive
Publisher: Reverb Triple XP
# of Players: 1
ESRB Rating: N/A, but probably T (Teen)
Official Site
Score:A- 90%

While its methodical pace won’t be for all tastes, Whispering Willows is a great example of an indie game that does some cool things with an ancient formula. It’s a light horror adventure game that happens to be side-scrolling and going to be visually familiar to fans of many arcade and console titles. There’s no run button here, so young Elena Elkhorn’s exploration efforts will be a languidly paced but somewhat spooky journey in and around the haunted mansion she’s searching for her lost father in. That slow pace noted above means your character and the game she’s in requires you to take in every sight and sound offered (which is fine as a lot of work went into making the game). But as this isn’t action heavy at all, the bulk of the story is told through journal notes found while walking about and you don’t want to go into this expecting to be frightened out of your seat by anything resembling a jump scare or gore galore.

That said, the game’s frights come in a few forms from creepy-looking ghostly things only Elena’s spirit form can see to areas where darkness and strange visual elements make Elena’s trip mildly to moderately terrifying if you’re into the vibe the game creates. The dev team also deserves major props for making Elena of Native American descent, which explains her helpful spirit-walking powers she can use thanks to an amulet gifted to her by her father. Continue reading →

The Last Crown: Midnight Horror – Iceberg’s Happier Halloween Adventure Looks Like A Winner

Posted on October 30, 2015 by geelw

You should SEE my backlog, ladies and germs. It’s huge and scary like a mountain and just as hard to move. That said, Darkling Room‘s new game The Last Crown: Midnight Horror looks really fun. I’d never even heard of the developer until I got an email about this one and how it’s a lighter fright game that’s also an in-between chapter of The Lost Crown and the still in development The Last Crown: Blackenrock, two adventure games I now need to also play at some point. No experience with the first game is needed here as the game’s Halloween theme makes it a standalone “between cases” experience.

Take a gander at the trailer and screens below the jump and if you like what you see, you can grab the game on Steam for a mere $4.49, 50 cents of the normal price of $4.99 (a total BARGAIN for such a cool-looking throwback). Continue reading →

Battlezone Trailer: Rebellion’s Newest Makes Me Feel Very Old

Posted on October 30, 2015 by geelw

As someone who spent plenty of time in the arcades and at home playing the original Battlezone and its Atari 2600 port respectively and later the pretty awesome PC game and the not so awesome looking but still enjoyable N64 version, this newest take on the classic makes my bones ache. It sure looks spectacular and fast as can be, but the more Tron-like vibe and gaudy color scheme is very mildly rubbing me the wrong way. But that’s solely because I haven’t played the game yet. Sometimes it takes getting used to a visual style choice to fully enjoy a reboot, but I’m not going to be one of those internet whiners ranting about cosmetics. I trust veteran developer Rebellion enough that I feel comfortable that once I have my paws wrapped around a controller (and VR or no VR), I’ll be grinning nostalgically and having to have someone drag me away from the game at some point.

Word has it that Rebellion may also be redoing the late 90’s PC game as well, which would be excellent if they went with a more “realistic” look to that one while adding elements from their popular Sniper Elite series. Hopefully, we’ll also see this on the Vita either as a Cross Play/Cross Buy or standalone solo and multiplayer game just because the handheld needs a bonafide smash hit. Tanks are ALWAYS awesome and there aren’t any decent portable games with them these days. Eh, we’ll see as usual. Oh, if someone at Atari isn’t looking at either Star Raiders or Space Lords as possible future reboots, they need to start doing just that. Technology has finally made making even more definitive versions of both classics possible and on multiple platforms as that. Get on it, people – call me if you need some ideas. I work cheap (but not free!).

Review: Slender: The Arrival (Wii U)

Posted on October 29, 2015 by geelw

Platform: Wii U
Developer: Blue Isle/Parsec Productions
Publisher: Reverb Triple XP
# of Players: 1
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Official Site
Score: B- (75%)

Nowhere is safe in Slender: The Arrival, a somewhat polarizing first-person horror game that’s made the rounds on PC, PS3/PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One and has finally arrived on the Wii U in time for Halloween. As someone who’s avoided the game in its previous incarnations thanks to not being into the whole Slenderman myth (that some take way too seriously), I have to say I was pleasantly surprised that the game is actually more than a little frightening.

Or should I say unpleasantly surprised that I found myself backing out to the HOME screen on my Wii U after a few particularly well-placed random jump scares. At the right time (after midnight) and under the right conditions (big headphones on in a dark room, rainy and miserable outside), I found myself unable to push on during one part where that damn skinny suit-wearing freak kept popping up and making me squeal like a trapped piglet. Squeee! Squeeeee! Yipes. That’s the game doing its job quite well despite some flaws in the ointment. Continue reading →

Gone Fishing, Thanks to Sekai Project

Posted on October 28, 2015 by geelw

Well, lookit! I got a FREE ticket to the Manten Aquarium from Sekai Project. Nice, and THANKS, guys! I haven’t been to the aquarium for quite a while so I hope I have a REALLY good time.

Hey, as long as those little and big fishies stay in their tanks and there’s no shenanigans going on involving a bunch of visiting Japanese high school kids going missing and having horrific things happening to them, I bet I’ll have a blast.

“La, la, la,laaaaaa…” Oops:

*Sigh…* Once again, this is why we can’t have nice things. Officer, I didn’t see a thing, sir.

Sound of Drop — fall into poison — is out on Friday, October 30 for PC via Steam. You’ll find out about my trip around then. Er, if I make it back in one piece…

THE PARK: Fear Rides The Fairway in Funcom’s New Horror Quickie

Posted on October 28, 2015 by geelw

A trip to the amusement park really goes off the rails in Funcom’s new short first-person psychological horror experience, THE PARK, now available for PC on digital platforms Steam, Humble Store, NVIDIA GeForce Now Store, Green Man Gaming, and GamersGate for $9.99, a 23% savings on the game’s $12.99 MSRP. If you’re like me and thinking “Hey, doesn’t Funcom only make big-budget MMO experiences these days?” Well, you’re not 100% wrong there. And you’re not 100% correct, either. Funcom wants you to know they’re not all about those expensive to produce and addictive online time-sinks these days:

“Thanks to similar games in the narrative space, such as ‘Gone Home’, ‘Dear Esther’ and ‘The Stanley Parable’, we are confident that there is a place in the gaming industry for shorter, intense experiences,” says Funcom creative director Joel Bylos. “Technically, it explores the limits of what is possible for a team to achieve with a small budget, short deadline and a strong focus.”

Aha. Well, short and horrific seem to be selling well these days, Funcom does have the talent to make it work and hey, at ten bucks… that’s less than a movie ticket and you don’t just get to sit there and get scared while choking on your popcorn. THE PARK seems like a game that while brief, is going to get people talking. Or in this era of social video site streaming, sitting down in front of their monitors watching someone play and freak out. Hmmmm. You can probably have someone feed you popcorn while you play this one. Just don’t be surprised at all if that a piece of that slimy “buttered” junk ends up shoved into a nostril at some point because Fatima peeled out of the room in fear an stuck that corn in the first orifice he or she could reach.

Sometimes, it’s best to experience certain types of horror alone. Or at least after you have your popcorn.