Switch ‘N’ Shoot: One Button Masterpiece Well Worth Your Two Bucks

Posted on August 24, 2016 by geelw

BUY THIS GAME.

My inbox gets packed to the gills with requests to review games and with my current massive backlog it usually takes me a week to sift through a few days’ worth of pitches and press kits. However, that bug-eyed alien art from Matt Glanville’s awesome Switch ‘N’ Shoot jumped right out at me and as soon as I clicked on the link and watched that gameplay video above. My wallet was two bucks lighter. Although it’s still in beta, it’s completely playable and addictive as bacon-wrapped bacon with a side of bacon.

Dirt simple and a great companion piece to Downwell (I guess you can call it Upwell? No? Hey, I tried!), the brilliantly simple gameplay packs a hilarious level of challenge. You get one ship, one button moves AND shoots, you can only move laterally. Have fun. Zen-like reflexes are needed to keep scoring points, but death comes so quickly that you’ll just jam on the button to restart until you get on that leaderboard. My paltry 17 points is up now, but not for long, I bet.

(Thanks, Awesome Movie Clips!)

Anyway, go grab this one on anything it’s on. If you hate DRM, go get it here. I say pay for it if you can – even as an Early Access title, it’s well worth the cost and then some.

-GW

Portal Knights Goes BIG So You Can Go Home

Posted on August 1, 2016 by geelw

…and stay inside playing a lot longer. 505 Games and developer Keen Games have announced a huge new update to their popular family friendly crafting/action/RPG, Portal Knights that includes many requested features such as voice and text chat for online play, remappable controls, and a ton of tweaks and fixes. The new larger islands make the overall game world even more fun to run around in, and my logging in to check out the changes also revealed the game’s visuals have gotten nicely upgraded as well.

Check out the new trailer and screenshot slideshow below.

-GW

Magical Brickout: Off The Wall Hybrid’s A New Classic in the Making

Posted on June 27, 2016 by geelw

mb-ss008

Black Shell Media has been publishing a slew of fun indie games for a while (over 60 titles to date) and as I whittle away at my backlog, I’m finally getting around to playing a bunch of them. Magical Brickout won the coin toss and as a fan of Breakout or Arkanoid-style games, this Early Access game had me at the first ricochet. Indie developer Cunning Force Games has whipped up a fun mix of puzzle and RPG-light gameplay that’s addictive and challenging with a circular play field that may remind a few of the well-aged gamers out there a tiny bit of Star Castle played from the perspective of that game’s titular nemesis.

There’s a basic plot about an evil wizard trapping fairies in magical bricks and using their powers to keep his castle safe while his kingdom domination plans, but you’d like to know how it plays, I’d bet. Pretty darn good, I say. The rotating play field takes a bit of getting used to, but the replayable tutorial does an excellent job of setting up the game and letting you ease into the controls. Using the A and D keys to rotate the play field and SPACE to launch balls (or the right analog stick and X on an Xbox 360 pad), you’re tasked with freeing all the fairies on each board while avoiding bad status bricks and using assorted power-ups to aid in your progress.

mb-ss007

From what I’ve played so far, complaints are minimal. Sure, mouse control would be a nice addition to the game because some levels get REALLY hectic. But I think the rotation speed of the board is set to be intentionally methodical for say, billiards and pinball fans looking to line up shots before launching. That and heck, there’s something to be said for LEARNING how to play a game and not expecting it to play EXACTLY like something familiar, right? Yes, the art direction could be described as “hidden object game rustic” (a friend who popped by noted that with a chuckle), but it’s all good that this game rocks that hand-painted style without apologies.

Updates are hitting this one fast and furiously, so there’s a great deal of content to explore that makes the price point more than a reasonable bargain. Even better, there’s also a big sale on Black Shell’s catalog on Steam even as we speak, so I say click on over and buy a few things to add to your library or gift to friends who need more variety in their own collections. Add some Magical Brickout to your life as well – you look like you need to spin this spinner of a game for a spin anyway.

PC Review: Portal Knights

Posted on March 5, 2016 by geelw

Platform: PC

Developer: Keen Games
Publisher: 505 Games
# of Players: 1 – ?
MSRP: $14.99
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10+)
Official Site
Score: A- 90%

Even though it’s still in Early Access on Steam, Portal Knights has become something of a phenomenon among its growing user base. According to 505 Games, to date players have:

– Looted more than 232 million items

– Mined more than 103 million blocks

– Killed more than 23 million enemies

– Crafted more than 19 million items

and yes indeed, I’m one of those players having a blast with the title. While it does start out a wee bit slowly, some literal digging around in that first (and later, every) area will have you soon seeing that there’s a great deal under the pretty surface that really goes a long way in making things even more entertaining. While geared towards younger players (note that E10+ rating above), the RPG elements, often challenging combat, crafting and exploration elements have a very wide appeal for novices as well as hardcore gamers looking for the next big deal.

Things kick of simply enough with a character creation screen where you choose your gender and select one of three classes (Warrior, Archer, Mage) before warping into the first randomly generated world. There’s a set of basic tutorial pop-ups that cover a few things and Minecraft fans will probably get wise to what to do a wee bit faster than anyone who’s not played that game. That said, there are enough differences from that game (and the side-scrolling Terraria) that set it apart. For one thing, other than the simplistic character faces and baggy starter outfits, the visuals (which run at a zippy 60fps) are much more appealing and lively here. Rich colors and nifty visual effects abound in each area, making exploration always fun when you make it to new worlds. Monster types are nicely varied as well, changing at night to deadlier varieties once you unlock your first portal. Continue reading →

Portal Knights Early Access: Fun As Heck (But Fixable)

Posted on February 25, 2016 by geelw

While I’ve only sunk about an hour in so far to the Early Access Steam build, Portal Knights is so far, pretty darn good. It’s not quite the Minecraft-like game some think (which is a good thing), but a pretty new action/RPG with (so far) smallish worlds and a light crafting element that doesn’t get in the way of players who just want to whack as wee beasties and level their avatar up. Again, I haven’t played enough to write up a decent review or even and solid impressions other than most everything works quite well. My archer seems to have an issue dodging when I hit the correct keys, but she hasn’t died a horrible death by slime or other low-level monster just yet. The game looks and sounds great so far, but it would have been nice to have a few more character customization options out of the gate.

Still, it’s early and bugs will be squashed, feedback will be listened to and when it’s really ready to shine, I’m predicting Portal Knights will be the go-to game for players looking to try something new and hopefully get few friends to give it a go as well. Okay, stopping here for now. I think I hear a level up calling me.

Conan Exiles: “What Is Best In Life?” FunCom Has An Answer For That

Posted on January 28, 2016 by geelw

conanexiles_conan Hmmm. Online only multiplayer games don’t hook me in any more (I prefer my adventuring solo and antisocially unconnected), but Conan Exiles might make me change my mind. Well, provided it can be played offline. FunCom is betting the farm that this announcement and short, glorious teaser trailer can get those who DO play online thrilled and judging from the response from a few friends, their strategy has worked. The game is certainly going to do well among fans finally getting that open world carnage they want with a familiar license drawing them in, but I don’t expect that players will actually get to BE the man himself. Conan the Clone isn’t much of a selling point, but I’m betting my own farm (it’s a tiny one) that the character creation system is fantastic to the point of having too many options for male and female avatars alike.

Those pre-alpha screens above look a bit barren at the moment, but that’s part of the process and both are in no way to be seen as “final” release code. Early Access on Steam will get the dev team hearing from the masses once it’s up and running and should help make for the best Conan experience to date provided the input isn’t all whiners whining and actually coming up with useful suggestions. My only one so far is to make the game work offline like the traditional Elder Scrolls or Grand Theft Auto games, both of which did exceptionally well for years as primarily single player experiences. Granted, the GTA series has had online play over the past two console and PC installments. But I’d bet a shiny new nickel that FunCom will see more people play the game if they have a dedicated story mode added in that works in lore from the books and films. Just running around crafting, hacking and slashing is something many open world games already do and do quite well warts and all. Here’s hoping FunCom manages to take that to a new level of polish as it gets another Conan game ready for its close up.

Waves²: Everybody Into the Pool For Some Serious Splash Damage

Posted on December 16, 2015 by geelw

Okay, I somehow missed out on the original Waves back in 2011, but I’d heard an seen enough about it over time to end up adding it to my backlog want list (which is longer than your arm, especially if you have long arms). Now, Rob Hale (aka Squid in a Box) is back with the Early Access sequel Waves², which you can play now for $9.99 and submit feedback important to that game’s future development. I usually approach Early Access games with an arched eyebrow, but this one’s got a nice retro/modern look to it and yes an appropriately catchy soundtrack to match. The game also has a few more months o development time to go before it’s ready to go, so that’s where you and your free time come in. I say pay the ten bucks and play it to death just so you can get in on the dev process by submitting some well thought out commentary that’s more than “This game rocks!” or something similarly simplistic.

But I shall leave your feedbacking ways to you. Go have a blast and yeah, yeah – help a Squid make some Waves, too.

How To Survive 2 Hands-On: Weekend At Learnies

Posted on October 16, 2015 by geelw

EKO Software and 505 Games have big plans for How to Survive 2 and you just might be able to help them out a bit. The game is set to hit Steam as an Early Access title this month and the feedback from that will help the dev team craft an even better experience than the original. Some hands-on time with a build at 505’s NYC event showed off a new setting (New Orleans), improved character customization, larger maps and the same blend of nail-biting action and offbeat humor that work quite well together. If you’ve ever wanted to face off against poison-spewing pelicans while fighting off a wave of zombies coming at you because you’ve set off a car alarm when you retrieved that car’s battery as part of a quest, well… this game’s got your name on it.
Continue reading →

20XX: This Mighty Number’s Going To Be Mega, Man!

Posted on September 10, 2015 by geelw

If you’re a Mega Man fan who’s cranky that Kenji Inafune’s “homage” Mighty No. 9 has been delayed until next year, you might want to poke your mouse over to Steam pronto and check out 20XX, the upcoming 2D side-scrolling rogue-like platformer from Batterystaple Games currently in Early Access on Steam. That alpha version will soon be getting boosted up to beta status next Tuesday, but what’s here is very playable and well on the way to being an instant classic any MM fan would love. 20XX is a mash-up of familiar gameplay with rogue-like randomness to the levels and lots of loot to collect. It’s also old-school tough, great looking and a ton of fun to play.

Continue reading →

DiRT Rally: Codemasters Kicks It Old School In Its Early Access Racer

Posted on April 27, 2015 by geelw

Awesome. I haven’t even played DiRT Rally yet but I already know it’s going to make a LOT of rally fans very happy. No crazy Gymkhana mode, no “celebrity” drivers, ALL rally all the time and with more realistic controls and car damage? Sign me up, stat! I checked out the Steam page for the game just now and the overwhelming positive response to the game even in its early access state is so positive that it seems Codemasters has gone and made people who are completely new to rally games appreciate the intensity and high difficulty curve (pun intended) not seen in years from the series.

Of course, Codemasters surprised plenty of folks by announcing the game was out now (again, as a work in progress). So I’m betting they’re using all that early feedback to make it a lot better before (hopefully) announcing some console versions. As long as the final version is pure rally and isn’t packing any X-Games style nonsense, I’m in for the long haul.