Dungelot: Shattered Lands – A Cuter, Stabbier Minesweeper

Posted on January 25, 2016 by geelw

Dungelot_Screenshot-2015-06-23-19.47.08

Dungelot 0 Another of tinyBuild Games‘ upcoming titles is Dungelot: Shattered Lands from Red Winter, a two man studio based in Russia. Shattered Lands is their third game, but unlike the much maligned Dungelot 2 (which got lots of guff for its micro-transaction heavy gameplay), it’s available on iOS now and coming to Steam later this year as a single player game worth keeping an eye peeled for.

While I’m not a big Minesweeper fan in general, it’s the super cute art style and familiar rogue-like RPG aspects that have my interest piqued. Hey, who doesn’t like loot drops and increasing difficulty? Well, that and it’s got a rather large and unholy cow as a beefy boss that needs to be taken down:

dungelot-shattered-lands-gif Moo! Of course, that means that Cow from Hell above is udderly a female fiend (last time I checked, bulls are udderless), but hey – equality goes as good for evil as it does for good when all is said and done. If that sentence made no sense it’s because I’m still zonked out from the snowstorm we had two days ago. I could use some hot milk right about now, so that bovine behemoth-ess (MOO!) is looking mighty attractive about now.

But I digress. Go pick up the game if you have an iOs whatever to play it on or slap it on your Steam watchlist and go hide in a corner until it appears in that store at some point down the road. Here are some screens to ogle below while I nap through the rest of this post:

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Attractio: Great Gravity Game’s a Gas

Posted on January 22, 2016 by geelw

Sure, it’s got a serious case of Portal envy, but Attractio is also quite a lot of fun to play because it adds a bit of freshness to the gravity puzzle game formula made user-friendly fun by Valve a bunch of years back. Actually, back when I tried the PS4 demo out at a Bandai Namco event last year the game reminded me of a cross between Portal, The Running Man and a teeny-tiny bit of the old Amiga game The Killing Game Show (aka Fatal Rewind, for you Sega Genesis owners who recall that truncated version of the Amiga game). IF none of those ring a bell, let’s just say that the game is all about trying to think your way out of a series of increasingly deadly puzzles and traps for “fun” and some sort of profit (survival and prizes do go together, right?)

Anyway, the game is out NOW digitally on PC via Steam or PS4/Vita via PSN for $19.99, so if puzzles, gravity and trying not to have your avatar die horribly from embarrassment when he or she gets stuck (or get bumped off by a high fall into some hot lava-like liquid) are your cup of tea, this one’s a recommendation of the most absolute order.

Lovely Planet Arcade: The Unknown Known Gets A Fast Followup

Posted on January 16, 2016 by geelw

I’ve heard about, but actually NEVER played Lovely Planet (*gasp!*), so I guess I now need to, thanks to developer QUICKTEQUILA and publisher tinyBuild Games announcing this maybe it’s a sequel? return to the colorful pastel world of the first game. If the zippy and amusing videos of the first game are any indication as to what’s in the second, players can expect a load of challenge and even more good times when the game jumps out of the developer’s talented hands and lands on Steam later this year. Hey, don’t trust me on that last sentence at all – just go read about the game using on of the links above.

I think by the time LPA is released I’ll have played the first game. I hope. My backlog is a mountain of code that needs to be scaled and the clock is always ticking…

Road to Ballhalla: Brains of Steel Required in This Humorous Hybrid

Posted on January 15, 2016 by geelw

tinyBuild is at it again with another upcoming game bound to entertain and get you out of the casual funk into something far funkier. Road to Ballhalla is coming around the middle of 2016 and if that trailer bove is any indication, it will make a mockery of your gaming skills while teaching you a few things about proper reading comprehension. This will lead to you ignoring real world stuff like speed limit signs or proper parking procedures, which in turn will lead to you having to fight tickets of all sorts by explaining how this game taught you not to trust everything you read. Aha. tinyBuild wants you to disobey rules and orders just so you’re super cautious but still make ridiculous mistakes because you’re silly enough to take what a game it teaching you about IT and try to use those rules in the real world.

tinyBuild, you are EVIL. I still want to play all your games, though (so you’re not so evil after all).

Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders: Get Yours Before Someone Else Gets Theirs

Posted on January 15, 2016 by geelw

Mystery fans on the trail of the whereabouts of Microids’ upcoming Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders now have a fresh clue as to the location of the game. This latest trailer shows off more nicely stylized visuals and Hercule Poirot doing what he does best.

The game will hit retail and digital outlets for PC/Mac, PS4 and Xbox One February 4, 2016 in Europe and February 23, 2016 in North America. Pre-orders for the PC version are being taken on gog.com and Steam, both at a temporary 20% discount off the $29.99 retail price.

The King of Oddball Asides wants me to note that Monsieur Poirot wears his gloves all the time in that trailer and that makes him a suspect as well. But The King of Oddball Asides is indeed an oddball himself. Anyway, Microids would very much like it if you crept up on them one of these days and got all nosy like a certain Belgian detective. In English, follow them using the links below:

Website: http://www.Microids.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/microids

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/Microids_off

Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/microids

The Final Station: A Hell of a Commute Coming Your Way

Posted on January 14, 2016 by geelw

What the heck is going on over at tinyBuild Games these days? All they seem to do is make games, and damn good ones at that. That’s not supposed to happen at all, folks. Where are the crowdfunded failures, the whiny employees griping about long hours as they spend too much time hanging out on message boards responding to the slightest complaint about an Early Access game that didn’t work or ate someone’s save files? Nope, I don’t see that here. Just more games that want me to play them when they’re out. Stupid indie developer!

All kidding aside, tinyBuild’s upcoming The Final Station looks really fantastic. Take one part survival horror, one part train simulator and you get innovation wrapped up in yummy, excellently animated pixel visuals that end up more lifelike than some big buck AAA release that has every map bumped and requires you to upgrade your 3D card. Anyway, go add this one to your Steam wishlist (it’s set for a summer 2016 launch) and be prepared for more, as this week the developer has been introducing a new upcoming title for the last three days with a fourth and final one to get an announcement tomorrow. I’ll do a post on each as soon as I un-bury myself from a little backlog I’m staring at.

MOVE OR DIE: Friendship Destroyer, Inbound

Posted on January 7, 2016 by geelw

On the other hand, a game like MOVE OR DIE is 100% made for playing with folks you know or don’t know anywhere in the world at any time. As you can see from that trailer below, indie developer Those Awesome Guys have cooked up a fun, devious, and genius plan to destroy as many friendships as possible in a single game experience via local multiplayer or online play. You’re a cute icon trapped with a few buddies in a room where the rules and games change every 20 seconds and you need to stay in motion or explode (eek!). Add in all sorts of challenges and the pure panic they provide and yeah, it’s an instant classic of the digital download variety:

While the game is currently Steam-bound on January 21, it would be awesome of Those Awesome Guys to get their baby onto consoles and handhelds in record time. I guess I should try this out and destroy a few friendships of my own, but I’m already at that point where I’ve streamlined my contact list to supermodel skinny. So I guess I can hit the park and train some squirrels to fiddle with controllers and figure out the game mechanics at some point. I can take that show on the road and make MILLIONS from the rubes and with those MILLIONS, run for elected office because here in the U.S. of A., anyone can run and if Deez Nuts can (my squirrels will rip him to pieces in the race!), so can I, grrrr!

Er, where was i again? Oh, right – MOVE OR DIE wants YOU.

Dragon’s Dogma Dark Arisen Gallery (PS3): Not Pixel-Proof, But Perfected on PC

Posted on January 4, 2016 by geelw

Dragon's Dogma_ Dark Arisen Screenshot_48

Before (well, 1280 x 720 looks a LOT better on a HD set in 1080i)…

After! PC version, *much* prettier PNG image.

Ah, the terrible JPG format and how it degrades over the shortest periods of time. Foo. I’d wanted to post a bunch of screens from the PlayStation 3 version of Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen over the last few weeks up to the game’s PC release on Steam shortly (January 15), but when I finally got around to looking at the over 300 screenshots I’d taken over time, they all looked terrible. Normally, I go back and save jpeg images as .png files, but I got busy with too many things just didn’t have the time. Yet another reason to hate digital art, I guess. Still, a promise is a promise, but instead of a daily gallery of ugly imagery, you’re getting most of the shots I liked in one easy to peruse (but hard on the eyeballs) set of screens below the jump.

That said, before I commence with the eye torture, ogle that lovely trailer above and then go read this post, as here are more screens from the PC version along with more info about what the updated version of the game will have in store for those picking it up again or for the first time. There’s a lot of info there (thanks, Capcom!), but it’s all worth checking out because I know it’ll get got by fantasy RPG fans looking for a nicely-sized game world and plenty of pissed off mythical beasts coming at them with now even more gleaming teeth and claws. By the way, pre-ordering the game on Steam gets you its soundtrack and a digital art book. So there’s some incentive for those who want it.

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Capsule Reviews 2: A Few More Games? Okay, Let’s Go

Posted on December 31, 2015 by geelw

More bite-sized review bits? Sure, why not?

Onechanbara ZII Chaos (PS4, $49.99) – Budget game developer Tamsoft gets its sexy ladies onto the PS4 in a game that’s going to be loved and hated by gamers for a few reasons. While it has a super smooth 60fps frame rate, the cheesy music rocks somewhat firecely and the action is nearly non-stop (and supremely gory), it’s easy to see the easily ticked off whiny westerners losing their minds over the skimpy costumes and all-out fan service on display. Bikini, schoolgirl outfit and other fantasy femme tropes get trotted out (and that optional Banana Split pack bonus costume is too racy to show here), but the ladies are far from the helpless princess stereotype at all. Aya, Saki and the rest of the crew have been zombie killing for about a decade since their introduction on the PlayStation 2 and later Xbox 360 and Wii Onechanbara titles, so this one’s just their best looking adventure to date. While the game seems a tad on the short side, the reply value comes from unlocking outfits and having at stages again so you can better your score jut like arcade games of old. Then again, every Onechanbara game is pretty much the same: kill plenty of zombies before they kill your gal of choice and have a BIG grin on your face while doing so. Score: B (80%)

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Capsule Reviews 1: Some Games You May Have Missed (Me Yak About)

Posted on December 30, 2015 by geelw

Well, 2015 zipped by too quickly (he typed, knowing that the year isn’t quite over but hey, everyone else seems to be doing year-end articles) and I while didn’t get to write as many reviews as I’d have liked to, I took a ton of notes on things so I could sit down and catch up a some point. The best laid plans of mice and men (and Bemis!) often go wildly astray, so instead of long form full reviews, I’m going to do a bunch of capsule commentary on games, films and books over the next few days just so you have a little something to read when you pop by. Anyway, some quickie game impressions to get started:

Tales of Zestiria (PS4/PS3/PC, $59.99/$49.99 respectively) – Namco’s Tales Studio pulls out all the stops in this latest installment in the long running JRPG franchise (15 Tales to date!) with a game that’s part throwback and homage to the first Tales (of Phantasia) back on the Super Famicom while bringing in an all-new cast, storyline and for the first time, an open world map to explore. Although PS4 owners get the better visual end of the deal on console, the PC version should more than please those fans who pick it up looking for something to play and show off to friends. The game is consistently entertaining from the fast-paced combat to the usual humor found in character interaction and dialog choices. Yes, the use of classic literary references, myth and other tropes is piled on thicker than your mom ever spread mayonnaise, but it works well enough to keep the game fun. I’m actually still playing this one because there’s an extraordinary amount of things to do, stuff to collect and some 93 hours in, I’m close to the endgame but will probably dive in again at some point to revisit a few save files. There are enough divergent paths and interesting encounters (make friends with the Normin you meet!) to keep this one in the play stack for a while. Score: A- (90%)

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