Author - Ripper71

The Book of Unwritten Tales Review (PC/Steam)

Two things that need to be stated off the top, The Book of Unwritten Tales is a bit silly and it is fun for the whole family.  That being said the reason it is fun for the whole family is some of the jokes are visually silly bringing the giggles of the children into play or they are pop culture references that will go right over a kid’s head and smack the adult right in the face.  Usually in my reviews you have to wait until the end for final judgement but in this case I wanted to make sure parents knew to pick this up for family friendly fun.

Story Time Kids!:

A goblin professor of archeology discovers an ancient artifact that contains great powers, powers that the bad guys want to harness for their own needs.  After his whip is used for a brief escape the story really begins as he enlists the aid of a sexy female elf and a hobbit looking gnome with a magic ring to take two separate adventures for the common goal of getting the artifact into the hands of the good guys.  Between those sentences you should get some of the first pop culture references that keep on going through the whole story.  The story is well thought out and very original which seems kinda funny when just about every idea is borrowed from something else.  The key is the interweaving of references to tell a good coherent story.  That’s why it works so well, the character’s may be talking about a game called WOB and subscription rates but on the screen you are seeing a server monkey (literally a monkey) throwing a silly fit.  This quite honestly is one of the best told point and click puzzle game stories ever.

Graphics And Audio:

The graphics are really nice and the sound is crisp and clean which works well since the voice acting is excellent and draws you in, never seeming mismatched.  The gnome is particularly well acted which is good since he has so many lines and so many of the pop references.  The key to great graphics is for them to occasionally make the player stop and admire them which happens and the key to great sound is to not draw much attention to itself which works perfect here.  The only slight drawback to these is that there are lots of loads but they are so quick that there is no load screens, just some turning cogs and the next part is ready to go!

Gameplay:

Control wise there is really only so much to be said about a point and click puzzle game since the controls are all point and click.  The real question of gameplay in these games comes in about how difficult the puzzles are.  A good puzzle game will be able to be solved by it’s target audience but be difficult enough to make the player think, by their nature puzzles are supposed to stimulate the brain.  This game does a good job of balancing the two while still having fun with references and silly humor.  Many of these games have a hint function in the heads up display but this one doesn’t, which could be one of the frustrating parts of the game for some folks, getting stuck on a puzzle then realizing they had what they needed in their inventory the whole time, that they simply needed to go through a transition for the storyline to continue or that they needed to change characters to solve a puzzle.  These issues really make family play a high recommendation because the more minds working on a puzzle the easier it generally is to solve.  At a certain point in the game it requires character changes to solve puzzles so that is definitely something to keep in mind.

Last Call:

The Book of Unwritten Tales uses very creative storylines and pop culture references to elevate the game to one I would recommend to the family just so that all the jokes can be gotten.  It also helps to have adventure movie geeks playing because just a few of the references without giving away the story are to Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, WoW, The Three Musketeers, Magic the Gathering and believe it or not that really is just naming a few.  The game even takes jabs at itself, making fun of the point and click genre and the family fun nature of it.  I recommend this game not to just fans of the genre but to fans of pop culture in general.  This is a point and click adventure game that is smarter than the sum of its puzzles.

Gameplay Trailer:

Gallery:

DCS: Combined Arms Available For Pre-Purchase And Open Beta

DUXFORD, UK – The Fighter Collection and Eagle Dynamics have released the pre-purchase for DCS: Combined Arms and a series of updates to DCS World, DCS: P51D Mustang Beta, DCS: A-10C Warthog and DCS: Black Shark 2.  DCS: Combined Arms combines real time strategy gaming, first person armor warfare gaming and directing the ground battle from the cockpit of a DCS aircraft like the A-10C Warthog, Ka-50 Black Shark or P-51D Mustang.  Using the Command Map to move ground forces, set artillery fire missions and control the ground battle, assume the role of a Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) and designate targets for close air support aircraft in multiplayer games or directly control armor vehicles or air defense weapons and engage the enemy.  It is now available for open beta as well to get you right into the action.

Download the pre-purchase of Combined Arms for $29.99 from: http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/index.php?end_pos=136&scr=products&lang=en

Trailer:

Gallery:

Resonance Review (PC/GOG.COM)

I recently reviewed Tiny And Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers which was a great game with a polished and modern stylized look.  Resonance on the other hand I appreciate for its rough, old school look that warms my gamer’s heart.  It reminds me of the days of Leisure Suit Larry, Space Quest and Alone In The Dark, back when Sierra was creating its point and click legacies.  Well I am obviously not the only one who remembers it because xii games and Wadjet Eye Games teamed up to bring this game for gamers by gamers to life in all its old school glory with a new school twist.

Storyline:

The game starts off letting you know that bad things have happened around the world, some great attack that is being covered by the world’s news feeds.  You can’t tell quite what and right before you get a chance to even guess the game takes you back in time where you get to choose from four clocks on the screen, each one representing a moment in the four main characters’ lives.  With this you begin to piece together and influence the events leading up to the disaster and cause all the characters who were otherwise strangers to cross paths over a research project called Resonance.

Graphics And Sound:

These are all designed to give you the feeling of playing the game back in the old days and the game never breaks the illusion of being a two decade old point and click game.  It doesn’t fill a wide screen, the graphics can only look so clean and the audio is far from state of the art.  All this comes together to create nostalgia for those who gamed in those days and a sense of discovering the old days for those experiencing it for the first time.  Heck this seems to be reason enough to pick up the game, then when you add a complex timeline and engaging story this is a definite pick.

Gameplay:

This retro feel continues heavily into the gameplay which, for the most part, is a standard old school point and click where you move your arrow around the screen until you find something you can click on and you do and see what happens.  You do the same thing with your inventory items, sometimes separating an item, some times dragging them together.  Anyone who has played a point and click adventure will find this all the same as it was two decades ago.  The twist in the game is the use of long term and short term memory.  During conversation or examining things subjects will automatically pop into long term memory to the character you are playing.  This can be dragged down to the conversation bar or interact with the short term memory items which consists of items in you inventory you think might be important and you drag into the short term memory.

So maybe you pick up a coin next to another character.  That character sees it and it triggers a long term memory.  You can drag that down to the conversation bar and discuss it or you can drag it to short term memory and see if it helps triggering more long term memories.  It sounds complicated but really is based pretty much on the same principle of items in your inventory interacting or being dragged down to interact with your environment.  The items just have more locations to interact with and you have two more “inventories.”  It is obvious though they wanted us to remember the old days they also wanted to improve on a system that hasn’t changed much over the years.  It would not surprise me if this wound up becoming the new standard for these type of games if enough people take notice of it, the curse and blessing of an indie game is how easy it is for the mainstream to overlook it.

Last Call:

It is hard to talk about the game much without giving away plot.  It mostly plays and looks like an old school game with the exception of new innovations in the “inventories” and the fact that you can create your own timeline to a certain degree.  If you like the old school point and click play or you are curious about the new additions to it this game is an absolute steal at $8.99.

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Tiny And Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers Review (PC/GOG.COM)

I know that with a name like Tiny And Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers you expect a hardcore game with over the top shooter action probably produced by Sony for several million dollars.  You are wrong sir!  Or madam!  This is an indie game release from Black Pants Game Studio that made has already won a bunch of awards and deserves every one of them.  This is one of those rare occasions where I really gush over a game because I think it is a defining example of what an indie game can bring that rivals the big name companies.

Story Time Kids!:

The legend unfolds with Tiny racing across the desert with his trusty companion The Radio and a robot driver in Robot Taxi’s Taxey in search of Tiny’s mean big brother Big who stole an ancient artifact given to Tiny by their grandpa for safe keeping.  The artifact is some tighty not-so-whitey crusty underwear which are worn on the head and give the wearer great powers!  This is all discovered in the first few minutes of the game so no need for a spoiler alert.  Tiny is preparing for the confrontation with his brother by practicing on his Reality Boy game system when HIT! the taxey is wiped out and the journey begins in earnest to catch the daunting and deadly older sibling and save the world!

Graphics And Audio:

Normally I talk graphics and audio at the end of the review but I just have to address them now.  They are terrific and amazing in their stylized fun.  They set the mood for the game as much as the introductory storyline and the concept art matches the actual game graphics so well that it looks like they were just copied exactly whereas the concept art on most games is usually far more detailed than the final results.

I ran around my little sandbox plenty of the time just to take in the sights.  It screams indie, comic books, even a little Borderlands in a playful way.  The fun doesn’t stop there either.  Instead of just a couple songs here and there composed as background music they loaded the game with a whole album worth of indie bands and made it so that you find the songs on cassette tapes throughout the game.  While writing this review I have already listened to one of the songs on YouTube a half dozen times.  The sound effects are good and match the action perfectly and the visual interpretations of the sounds look straight out of old Batman episodes but far more creative.

Gameplay:

You cruise along behind Tiny as he uses his gadgets to solve puzzles and playfully destroy his sandbox environment.  His main weapons are a laser, a grappling hook and a remote grasping rocket claw.  So basically you can push directly, push and pull from distances and cut things up.

This sounds like a fairly basic amount of powers to have at your disposal but you quickly realize how diverse the options it gives you can be.  For example say you need something from the top of that rock pillar above. You could push and pull rocks and debris over to create a set of stairs to jump up to get the item or you can use your laser and just cut the the pillar down and retrieve the item on the ground.  Just about every puzzle has more than one way to solve it and some require some seriously creative thinking to figure out one of the ways.  In this game like many trying something creative can get you killed but luckily that just means you try again from the last save point which generally isn’t too far back.

As if the puzzles aren’t tempting death enough your egomaniacal brother Big is also trying to slow you down/kill you off so that he can make sure no one can take those ancient undies and their power away from him and stop him from ruling the world.  He also taunts you more than a Frenchman with an outrageous accent at the top of a castle wall.  At one point the game gets a bit more challenging as you have to use your laser to cut rocks in half in mid air so Big can’t squish you with them, practice makes perfect with this and failure means you are squished and just have to try again.

Personally I would be tempted to let him keep the undies and take my buddy The Radio to the store and buy a fresh pair but Tiny isn’t so easily discouraged.  Plus using the laser and rocket claw are so much fun there is generally very little  environment left in his wake and the time flies by.  Did I mention you crush weird black creatures that live in holes?  No?  Well you do that too with pieces of the environment.  All this is done with an excellent physics engine they built themselves that makes just about everything move or be destroyed exactly how you imagined it.

But I Want More!:

If there is any complaint I have with the game it would only be that it is short.  On their website Black Pants Game Studio put (Episode One) after the name of the game which I hope means that this is just the first installment of many more to come.  Also since the game has so many ways to solve puzzles and hidden things it is a definite replay.

Last Call:

If you read any of this article you can tell I really love the game, the only thing that can compete with the game itself is the price of $9.99 on GOG.com and comes with wallpapers, avatars, music track, artbook, poster and a map.  This game is a total brain teaser to play and a no brainer to buy.  Show the Bigs of the world that the Tinys can save the day just as well as they can.

Here is a music video for one of the songs with special animation made by the developers!

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Ship Simulator Extremes Review (PC/Steam)

Our Editor-In-Chief is a rabid simulator fan, he has a cockpit in his house because he can’t play a flight simulator without a cockpit.  True story!  So when he let this one go to me I knew it was a painful choice for him but he knew a bit about my youth.  I grew up on fishing boats since I was six years old (mostly purse netters), learn to helm them by the time I was eight, and spent about 12 years on them as mostly crew but occasionally at the helm.  So I learned that taking a boat out is a slow process, steering a boat is as much about the feel of the wheel as it is the compass and for every interesting few minutes of fishing there is tedious work to be done getting there and getting back.  So I went into this game very excited about it, expecting a bit of the nostalgia I had been listening to “Downeaster Alexa” by Billy Joel because “I was a bait man like my father was before, but you can’t make a living as a bait man anymore.”  In some ways I got just that and others I just ran into the trappings of a video game, something you really want to avoid in a simulator.

The Features:

Ever wonder how it feels to sail a half-million-ton supertanker through the perfect storm? To take on illegal whale hunters in the Antarctic? Or to feel the rush of being part of the Coast Guard as you evacuate a cruise liner in distress? Ship Simulator Extremes has players take on exciting missions all over the world as they pilot an impressive array of vessels and live the stories of real ship captains. With missions based on actual events in realistic environments at locations all over the world, the new Ship Simulator game is sure to take you to extremes!

Key Features:

  • From the very hot to the very cold, sail to the most enchanted regions in the world. Explore the Antarctic or take in beautiful Bora Bora. Includes famous harbors and locations from around the world.
  • Wide range of vessels to captain, including hovercraft, Coast Guard interceptors, mammoth tankers, tugs, cruise liners, and many others.
  • Includes exciting storylines and missions from all over the world.
  • Save the environment campaign: sail famous Greenpeace ships and take on ecological missions based on real events!
  • Realistic water and weather system. Sail calm waters or take on the most extreme weather ever witnessed at sea.
  • Online multiplayer mode. Sail online with your friends.

Gameplay:

Ok That all sounds pretty dang sweet and exciting doesn’t it?  I read that and I was pumped, not only would I have a chance to helm ships like I did in the old days I would actually get to fight ecological disasters with Greenpeace while keeping my feet dry?  Sign me up!  So I dove into the Campaign and was immediately, well, lost at sea.  The controls appeared to be point and click which at first I liked because moving the mouse was very similar to steering a ship, you had to push up on the power lever and move side to side with your mouse for the wheel and the controls required finesse which most people who have only plowed waves in a speedboat don’t often understand.  You turn the wheel a bit and you wait for the ship to react.  You speed up a bit and then checked your speed for maneuverability.  This the game had down perfect, even the larger the ship the harder to control aspect was solid.

The problem came when you were in situations where you really needed to crank the wheel to make a heavy course correction.  The wheel would at first turn that way then the graphic elements of the wheel would start jumping and the wheel would suddenly be turned in the opposite direction.  This happened in the case of collisions and was very understandable then but sometimes when reading a waypoint wrong and making a sharp correction in clear water it would do the same or when even trying to make a subtle adjustment trying to maintain a position to complete a mission.  There was a solution to the whole problem which I discovered, using the arrow keys.  The sad problem with that is the feel of a simulator is immediately lost and it just becomes about holding a couple arrow keys then using the mouse on occasion.  I tried to use a game controller hoping for at least a little more interactivity but the game is not compatible.  I don’t have a helm controller which may work wonderful with it, or my fear is it may not.

Getting past the controls the Campaign has no learning curve and you are just tossed in the game without a tutorial.  To do the tutorial, which is lengthy and rather in depth for the different ships you will have to steer you need to go to single missions and look at the bottom of the list.  It still doesn’t explain everything but hovering over the different buttons on your HUD will help you find just about everything you need to know.  The first mission of the first section of the campaign is Greenpeace, which is one of the more exciting looking missions.  The problem is they mostly consist of going to where there are wrongdoers, positioning yourself at a certain spot for a certain amount of time then going back to port.  So you pull your ship out, spend several minutes getting to the location, hold in place or course for a given amount of time then spend several minutes going back to port.  So the most realistic part of the simulation is how boring/calming it is getting to and from the needed work.

This seem to be a running element throughout the game, several minutes of just full speed, maintaining course followed by a few moments of actual interesting work.  During one of the cruise ship missions I had to make numerous course corrections, understand the speed the ship could maneuver at to get it out of one harbor to meet a boat for a minute or so then cruise to another port, meet a boat then maneuver through the port.  Not counting restarts from frequent save points the mission took two hours at least 20 minutes of which I was able to lock down the throttle, set my course and go get a snack from the kitchen.  When I was at the computer I was primarily hitting the three arrow keys (reverse in any ship larger than a pontoon is a sign that disaster has already struck).  The game really does take steps to help pass this time by having camera mode so you can take pictures of passing scenery or of the ship and you have three viewing options while sailing (third person, helmsman and crew hand) which try to help mix up the experience but these only seem interesting for so long and when in the harbors where the more interesting scenery is you have to constantly be handling the arrow keys for course and speed adjustments.

The only other concern with gameplay is that sometimes the AI doesn’t understand the common necessity of the games physics.  Here is a good example of what I mean: You are the captain of a cruise ship and you have the former captain onboard ill and you need to meet with a runner boat to get him to shore, the runner boat will meet you at a location just before leaving port.  So you maneuver through the port in a vessel that makes a double trailer semi look like a Lamborghini maneuverability wise and the ship stops at a location in front of you.  If you are going slow enough you kill the engines and hope to stop in place, if you are going too fast you throw the engines into reverse, wait the time and then try slowing down.  All this while trying to make the subtle course corrections to hit the vicinity of the smaller vessel.  I was pretty proud of how close I got but the vessel didn’t close the distance between us.  In fact it just sat there on the water, cutting bait.  I had to launch a raft, go to the small boat and tow it over to right next to the ship in just the right spot for a countdown to begin completing that part of the mission.  I then cruise on only to have the same issue with a pilot boat in the next harbor.  It isn’t maritime law but it is a general given that when two vessels intercept the smaller vessel makes approach on the larger vessel.  More maneuverability. more motion control.  We used to bait boats at sea on a regular basis and the only time we made approach was when the ship was bigger.  The AI should have approached the larger boat when it stopped or entered the rendezvous area or the smaller ship should have been given to player control.  Towing a pilot boat to your ship is just plain silly.

Ok now that I seem to have gone through a rant about the issues I really do need to point out the features that work right.  The physics are incredibly spot making the gameplay very realistic.  If a person isn’t used to the physics of a ship at sea they will be frustrated at first but after playing this game they will actually have a fairly accurate idea of what it is like.  I wouldn’t go out and immediately take the captain’s test (you need to learn your maritime law first) but in the case of an emergency they could learn enough to get a ship back to dock or at least a pilot or tugboat.  The helmsman view is very accurate as well and I spent a lot of my gameplay time in the wheelhouse with the instruments displayed in front of me using them as my guide as well as my view from there, usually only coming out of that view to dock.  With the exception of the control issues mentioned above all the other controls and menus had excellent reaction time and everything you need to get the job done is there.  When it comes down to the gameplay simulating real life basic ship experience this game is spot on.

Graphics And Audio:

Like many simulators the details are in place but may not be as graphically detailed as they could be as a tradeoff for the physics.  You have your instruments displayed well and clear but the counter they sit on doesn’t have a detailed realistic look anymore than the sights on shore.  The details of the water though are spot on as well which is where the ocean experience is important because how a ship cuts the water and the waves break on it’s side can be crucial for negotiating the waters and in some cases staying afloat.  So the graphics are as good as most simulators and are very good in crucial elements.  The audio is excellent and truly adds to the feeling of a real ship.  When in third person behind the ship you hear the loud noise of the engine, when you are off to the side third person you hear the water and gulls.  In the wheelhouse you hear the constant squawk of the radio, a sound that if you are sleeping behind the helmsman can actually become comforting to the point that after a while at sea you need to listen to television or radio to go to sleep because you are used to constant chatter.  And as a crewman or cameraman you hear wherever you are on the ship the noises appropriate which must have taken a while to get done well all itself.

Multiplayer, Single Mission, Free Play And Community Maps:

The game has a multiplayer element that allows you to go and sail with your friends which let’s face it can take a game that is getting a bit boring and breath new life into it.  So can Single Missions and Free Play which enable you to just jump in the game and play it a bit from time to time when you are too busy or tight on time to play a campaign.  I always look for these features in a game because as a reviewer sometimes it is hard to find time to get back to a game I like so this gives a nice option.  An even better addition is a mission editor which this game also has allowing players to design maps and mission making it so that in theory this game could never stop having new content.  Plus there are DLCs and extra ships being released regularly!

Last Call:

This game is truly for an extreme simulator fan or someone who has spent quite a bit of time at sea.  There are slow times that can be pretty long like real life and the game has a few issues that need to be worked around to get the most out of it.  If you commit to it though it can be a rewarding and in many ways very realistic experience.  And with the core game being $19.99 and the collection being $29.99 this is a game that can give affordable play as vast as the seas themselves.

Classic Gaming Showcase #6 Golden Axe II (PC/MicroConsole/Sega/OnLive)

Golden Axe II was definitely a sign of its time and did things right and wrong which video game sequels today tend to do even though this is a history lesson over two decades old.  Golden Axe was a huge success, even more so on the console than on the standup arcade game so the decision was made to get it out on console first, then work out all the logistics of the arcade version.  It makes sense, the software is written and stuck on a cartridge then sent out to Genesis players without having to worry about motherboards, standup displays and monitors.  They could rush it out, have it on the market and work out the arcade version later.  So they did and it didn’t do so hot.  Some players of the time probably don’t even remember there was a sequel that came out in 1991 and those that remember might wish they had forgot.  It isn’t a bad game, don’t get me wrong, it does have some solid play value.  The problem is that it suffers what many game sequels do: it feels too much like you are playing the original game to warrant a new one.

Storyline:

Evil forces are back and they claim Golden Axe again causing our three adventurers from the first game to take on mostly the same minions from the first game in a battle to get Yuria free again.  If you didn’t play the first game that was fine, this is essentially a rehashed plot without a twist that occurred in the first because, well, the twist already happened.  This was a failing of the sequel and many sequels both in games and movies since, they didn’t come up with a new story so the story didn’t really matter.

Gameplay:

Gameplay is just like other games on the Sega Genesis and the original Golden Axe so there is no learning curve if you are familiar with either or both.  Directionals on the keyboard or OnLive controller combined with three assigned buttons for battle.  One is dedicated to magic potion attacks, one is for weapon attack and the last is for jumping.  A combination of hitting and jumping can give you a jumping strike or if you hit the buttons both at the same time you can do a special class combo and each of the classes which are the same from the first: warrior, amazon and barbarian have their own combo attack as well as their own magic attack.  In the previous game I favored the barbarian’s magic attack but in this one the amazon’s magic stands out above the rest with its fiery phoenix.  Strategy is a little more key in this one than in the previous since besides high ground there are also falls that can happen if you line your enemy up just right during battle.  Just like the first one it is good to save potions for bosses, heavy attacks or resetting your location after death and I can’t recommend enough using the four save slots that come with the Sega Gaming Classics on OnLive which allow you to save anywhere so if you are doing particularly good or know there is a particularly rough spot ahead make sure to save!  There were some concerns when the game came out that the game was easier to beat than the original, setting it to “challenging” gives you the similar difficulty but I found if you use proper strategy this game is much easier.

Graphics/Sound:

The graphics in this game are VERY superior to the first, I don’t use all caps lightly.  This is something they really got right, everything is more detailed and honestly kicks the crap out of many indie companies of today.  Every aspect of the game looks better, though unfortunately they used the same tricks to improve them that they did in the first game to make them that good.  You fight the same minions a lot, some taken directly from the first game.  So a minion has a fist weapon instead of a mace, the other one has the same club and they both look just like more detailed versions of the first game’s enemies.  The characters are the same from the first game too, just more detailed (especially the amazon’s boobs) so that once again people who bought it at the time wondered if it was worth the money they plunked out.  Also the sound actually seemed a bit better in the first, though it is possible it was the exact same quality but gets so out shined by the graphics that it just seems worse.  It really fell into the sequel trap: if the graphics are better but the sound, story and characters are basically the same then is it worth it?  Of course in this case it is part of the same PlayPack as the first so it definitely IS worth it because it doesn’t cost you any more money, it just gives you more playtime of the game.  Plus the new rideables in this game I think are a lot more fun to ride and more challenging to dismount.

Last Call:

I mentioned to someone that I was reviewing this game and they said, “There was a sequel?” even though they were a heavy Genesis player at the time it came out.  It isn’t a bad game, I totally recommend playing it especially as part of OnLive’s $9.99 PlayPack which comes with over 200 other games as well so if you get bored you can play a different one.  So when you consider how many games there are it costs 1/2 of a penny to play a month, pretty good deal I think.  If you still aren’t sure you can always go to http://www.onlive.com/promote where you can demo just about every game that OnLive has to offer.

Krater: Shadows Over Solside Review (PC/Steam)

Krater: Shadows Over Solside is a game I have sat down to review several times now – each time playing it some more, restarting it and taking a break and playing other games then coming back to repeat the cycle.  The temptation to describe the game in one simplified sentence is very high but, at the same time, doesn’t do the game near the justice it deserves.  So, I will begin with a very simplified statement and then explain why it isn’t so simple.

At its surface, it is a top down RTS RPG with almost identical controls to D3 that is themed in a post-apocalyptic Sweden where survivors scrape together what the can from the old world in eccentric designs presented in concept art design just like in Borderlands.  If you just watch the trailers or play a quick demo this may seem like that all there is to this game and, to be honest, I LOVE both of those games. I have spent immense numbers of hours in them and would welcome a game that combined the two.  This game does so much more than that though so I am going to break it down into features.

Building A Better World:

Crafting in this game includes not only weapons but implants to body parts that add not just to stats but also abilities.  You can craft just about everything you need for this game and the few things you can’t can be bought, such as new units for your group.  The result is an extremely customizable experience in the game nearly from the start so that your really feel like you are creating the game as you go.  In many ways you are – there are few restrictions put on movement and most quests don’t required a linear path.  A good example of this is when I left a town and went to a location following a certain path.  The path was set with random seeding just like Diablo 3 so that when I played it again later I had an entirely different experience and, by choosing this path, I completely missed an interaction which would have solved a quest for me and given me a new one.  I was also given an item intended to be passed on to another individual and didn’t do it.  The result was that I didn’t get the experience or reward for the quest’s completion instead I just had something sitting in my inventory I could sell if I want.  So, in some ways, it is a very open world and not set on quest-rails. Also, Fatshark has promised to have weekly updates, adding new elements long-after release and this is actually considered the first of a three part story that will be revealed to us over the next couple years.

World Of Colors:

The graphics look very much like Borderlands, which is a very distinct style, and looks in many respects identical to the concept artwork used in creating most games.  One of the few things I would say is different is that this game uses color and shadows everywhere, the same amount of detail given to a wall that is 6 inches on the screen in Borderlands is given to one that is only 1/2 that in Krater.  The result is amazing contrast and detail that unless you have a strong system and a good monitor might be lost on a player.  Cutscenes are much more like Borderlands since they are at ground level but gameplay is so detailed you need a strong system to due it justice and in some cases just to play it.  It does bring up the question of whether or not developers should have pushed the envelope of graphics so that not everyone can play it but it makes it so that those who have nicer systems definitely feel like they are getting their money’s worth out of their rig.

It’s My Party:

In most of these dungeon crawler games you control your lead character and your other party members do their thing at the same time such as mercenaries in Diablo 3.  In this game though you control a party of three consisting of four possible classes and all characters in your party are replaceable.  You basically have a tank, a healer, a ranged dps and a melee dps to choose from to create your parties but your control over the characters doesn’t end there, you also work the talents of each member of your party at the same time!  You have six buttons at the bottom of your screen for combat, two each for the classes you choose.  So for your tank to do taunt you have to select the skill that does that, then hit the healer’s buttons choosing the type of heal you want and hit your ranged dps or melee’s special attacks.  They are standard key-bound to 1-6 which means on my Razer Naga Expert MMO gaming mouse they are assigned to six thumb buttons so just like D3 can be played entirely with the mouse.  It takes a bit of getting used to doing the tank attacks, melee specials then healing your party so no one falls because falling is another unusual aspect of this game.

Drop Dead:

So one of your party gets his rear beat down, it definitely happens when you are getting used to the game.  If it happens too often in this game the character takes permanent damage.  After a few knockdowns one of the character’s arm might get crushed and it will have permanent 20% drop in strength.  If it gets knocked down a few more times it might get a leg permanently mutilated lowering the character’s stamina.  If the character takes too much permanent damage it simply drops dead and you have to get a new member for you team.  Depending on how bad the damage is you might be able to use weapons or implants to balance the character’s damage or you might just replace them.  Replacing them though brings a new member to the team and the more time a member experiences with a team the better they work as part of the team!  So experience and injury can be permanent on a character and effect the team as a whole.  Also just like weapons and implants their are varying colors of strength and rarity to the mercenaries so some might not be such an upgrade in the short run but after maturity will be far superior.

Game Over Man, Game Over?:

The game is designed to actually have no end, much like many other games it is designed with end game play that should provide countless hours of struggling deeper underground into the mineshaft.  Also this game is never the same twice due to seeding so if you get bored with end game you can restart it, build your team differently, take different paths and basically play a whole new game with whole new characters.

Multi-Pass… Err.. Multiplayer:

Another way the game keeps going is the planned implementation of multiplayer.  At release there is a button on the front page for multiplayer but for now it is only offline.  The nice thing is that when multiplayer starts up you can use your same characters online and any advancement of your characters online or offline accumulate together and count toward each other.

Last Call:

Krater is a game that plays a bit like Diablo 3 with theming just like Borderlands but has excellent depth that is all it’s own.  The game is constantly evolving now and the plans are for that to continue.  Playing it week by week and with different team setup and character builds should make it a different game every time.  Seeding makes it so that even if you take the same path each time it should always be different with different random rewards resulting in different builds.  All this on Steam so no server subscriptions and the price is an insanely affordable $14.99 for the core game or $19.99 for the game, soundtrack and Dr. Cerebro Pack (first DLC).  If you still aren’t convinced here is a gameplay video and a cutscene music video.

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Gratuitous Tank Battles Review (PC/Steam)

I have always loved tower defense games, been playing them since, well probably since there have been tower defense games.  So it doesn’t take long to convince me to play one for hours to review it.  When you have really good tower defense games that include tower offense games the real trick is to get me to stop playing it long enough to review it.  That was the case with Gratuitous Tank Battles on Steam.

War!  What Is It Good For?  Gaming!:

God Save The King!  He is over 200 years old!  Ok, ok, I am sure it is a different king but the same World War I has been raging for two centuries in this alternate universe.  Apparently technology has advanced but mankind is still hanging on to the same war and all roads are lined with turrets and soldiers.  The storyline doesn’t run heavily through the game, mostly in the briefings before missions but it is kind of interesting that you are leading a 200 year old fight and the player’s guide is called “King George’s Army Warfare Manual Version 2,415c” and written in a distinctly British manner.  If you pick up the game I highly recommend you read it even if you feel comfortable with the gameplay because it is so filled with humor it makes for a terrific read.

Gameplay:

The game is a 2D tower defense which has a fairly standard setup but very unique variety of units that alone brings on gameplay addiction.  Because it is the same war for over 200 years they have kept the weapons that work right and created new ones using the new technology.  As a result there are tanks and turrets straight out of WWI and then there are laser weaponary and mechs as well making for some interesting decisions as to whether the tried and true or the fancy and new weapons are the best for the particular terrain, placement locations and enemy forces involved.  The game also allows something most games of this type don’t in that you can choose to be either the attacker or defender each time you play a map and you can play maps multiple times.  So instead of getting just one try at any map you get two and hopefully you have success at one or the other to unlock the next map or two.  If you lose a map you get a consolation upgrade, if you win you get to pick between two better upgrades.  Either way though the enemies on that map and any map get more difficult so you want to make sure you aren’t trying to pad yourself so much on the lower maps that the higher maps become near impossible but at the same time you don’t want to move up maps too fast when you aren’t upgraded enough.  It is truly a game of balances all the way around and I was really tempted to label it a strategy game rather than a tower defense because it has just as much strategy as say a game like StarCraft II just without the building of bases.  Also much like StarCraft and other strategy games there are medals you can unlock and achievements to unlock on your Steam account in case you crave prestige as much as you do victory.

I found myself choosing to have tanks escortings mechs on attacks and giant WWI turret cannons being defended by lasers on defense with soldiers also playing a key role in both defense and offense and may make the difference in holding or breaking lines of defense.  Individual units can be given target instructions throughout the engagement but it is important to know that once an attacker’s vehicle starts rolling down a certain path there is no stopping it.  Also if the speed of the game is moving too slow or too fast for your taste that too can be adjusted.  It all comes down to personal style and strategic planning so what seems like a simple tower defense game involves much more thought than many strategy games and has proven at to me to be more addictive.

Graphics and Sound:

The sound in the game is excellent and the graphics are terrific and far better than many games of the same genre.  They even have an infrared mode for the night fighting which looks great and is a blast to use.  Watching the mechs walking, the shells exploding or the lasers firing becomes so much fun that I on occasion sped up and slowed down play to watch the action, I tried to be watching in slow motion during most unit explosions for the thrill of it.  I also played with firecrackers as a kid.

Map Editor:

I know plenty of people who would want the game for this element alone.  You can custom design your own maps then upload them to the community so that other players can try beating them.  Since there is no multiplayer I think of this as a very nice consolation since seeing people enjoy a map you designed can be just as satisfying as beating them up, especially if the map beats them up for you.  It is a straight forward grid system but that works just fine if you have a creative and strategic mind, let’s face it some of the maps in the game are devilish enough that I fall just short of calling it’s designer “evil.”  I did on occasion get completely choked to death at choke points.

Multiplayer:

Just in case you missed the above there is no multiplayer, though the game’s design lends itself so much to one that maybe a patch, DLC or sequel may include one.  Personally I am satisfied with building the maps to kick arses.

Last Call:

This game has a really fun story premise, great maps, terrific unit selection and a very nice look to it.  Throw in a map editor and I think it is actually selling the game short calling it a tower defense and think it should be under the category of strategy, for most of the maps and challenges take a strategic mind.  To prove this on some maps I just tried throwing just anything wildly at the enemy while attacking or defending and found without the right choices the battles turn out disastrous.  If a map is not designed well by yourself the community will tear it apart right along with your reputation.  If you like strategy games or “the thinking man’s 2D tower defense” then this is definitely a game for you.  It is only $20 on Steam and the number of maps you get is limited only by the community.  Cheers Positech, excellent game.

Classic Gaming Showcase #5 Golden Axe (PC/MicroConsole/Sega/OnLive)

There was once a time when the hub of social activity was the video arcade, where loud games noises and Journey music bombarded you while you played your favorite game and flirted with the big haired blonde next to you.  Quarters lined the edge of the playing screen or pinball table as people used them to hold their spots in line for the next game while they watched the current players trying to pick up new tricks and tips.  One of the shining beacons in these arcades was a game called Golden Axe where you got to choose from three characters and hack and slash your way through a wonderful barbaric environment where the only thing faster than the action was how fast the game ate your quarters.  Everyone had a favorite character to play and the lines were always long.  As consoles slowly killed the video arcade, Golden Axe going to the Genesis was definitely one of the coffin nails in the dying social scene.  I can play at home with my best friend as long as I want and only pay one price?  Yes please!

As a result the arcades slowly died off becoming occasional sites and novelties but the Genesis became so much stronger with the release of Golden Axe that Golden Axe II came out on the system before it went to the arcade.  It was the beginning of the console era, a time which is still going strong with it’s only competition being PC games.  It is on the PC and MicroConsole that OnLive has brought back this great gaming classic for a hack and slash trip down memory lane.

Storyline:

The storyline for the game is a pretty straight forward fantasy one: Death Adder has taken the royal family and the magic symbol of the land Golden Axe hostage and threatens to destroy them all if the people do not bend to his rule.  Three adventurers: a warrior, an amazon and a barbarian set off together to free the kingdom of Yuria from the grip of Death Adder.  On the way they must defeat the many minions of Death Adder and use all their fighting skills to survive.  The storyline is mostly told through cut-screens but the game does try to infuse the story where it can.  To most though it is their favorite adventurer they remember instead of Death Adder and his schemes.  It was a hack and slash and most people remember the hacking characters far more.

Gameplay:

Gameplay was standard for the Sega Genesis with three buttons and directionals which is the same setup whether you use the keyboard or an OnLive controller (microconsole or PC).  One button is dedicated to the magic potion attacks which are stronger with the more potions you gather throughout the game.  Each adventurer has their own special attack that they do with the potions, my favorite was the dwarf barbarian who caused lightning to strike everywhere on the screen.  The other two buttons were dedicated to attack and jump which could be used in combination to make a jumping attack or a special character combo if the buttons are hit at the same time.  For example if you hit the jump and attack on the barbarian he did a rolling attack.  There is also the occasional creature you can ride for attacks, one of which is a Cockatrice which came right out of Altered Beast where it was an enemy (both games were made by the same company).  For the most part though you hack and slash, when the enemies get tough or too thick in numbers you use your magic potion attacks to thin them out.  Another use for the potion is if a bunch of enemies take you down, when you revive you can use a potion to knock them all down and give you a chance to regroup and reposition on the screen.  Though it is a hack and slash there is some strategy involved such as high ground and potion use for the most part you are hitting the attack button like a madman with a big grin on your face.

Graphics/Sound:

The graphics and sound of the game are terrific and definitely bring the feeling of the old arcade/console play.  They are probably even a little better than some of the same time because they use the same enemies over and over with just different color outfits.  You have minions with maces and clubs, skeletons and knights but they all look the same which enabled them to make the action fast and the graphics quality better.  I know that back in the day it didn’t seem like that much of an issue, I had actually forgotten about it until I started playing it again for this review.  At the time you would say “uh-oh!  here come the gold ones!” and think how nice the graphics looked as you hacked away.  It seemed like a good tradeoff then and really didn’t bother me that much now because I think of the time the game was made.

Last Call:

I got so into Golden Axe that I was almost late for an appointment because I was hacking away and not watching the clock.  The game is a great representative of it’s time and for people who lived through it is probably dripping with nostalgia that still holds up as a good play to this day.  It is also part of OnLive’s 200+ PlayPack this is only $9.99 a month which wouldn’t have lasted you an hour in the arcades back then or bought you the cartridge.  If you still aren’t sure you can go to http://www.onlive.com/promote where you can demo just about every OnLive game they have and see if the $10 PlayPack is a good investment to you.  Make sure to catch OnLive at booth 535 at E3 2012, it shouldn’t be hard to find they have a terrific interactive booth.  Pick up some swag for me!

Razer Naga Expert MMO 2012 (Review)

When it comes to buying a mouse people often think “well this is just something my hand will be covering all the time, one is as good as another” and pick up whatever one is on sale or buy on brand recognition alone.  I have to admit, I was guilty of it myself: I have first gen G15 gaming keyboard, an amazing SyncMaster XL2370 monitor, and a hand built computer that has a 50 pound case designed to cool your computer like a car that has never overheated even here in the Nevada desert.  My mouse was $20, normally $25.  I used it for a long time.  When I came on board with GamingShogun, my Editor-In-Chief heard what I was using and immediately shipped me a Microsoft SideWinder X8 mouse (ed. note: I miss you Sidewinder team!) and I immediately realized why.  My gaming abilities went up immediately across most genres and I never went back to the old mouse.  Due to a back injury, I found myself using a wireless keyboard and mouse on a laptop to get some gaming done and that worked well enough but never was really that comfortable.  Also, in WoW I am a clicker which means I hit the number buttons with my mouse, which is a slower play style and in raids can mean the difference between win or wipe.  To sum this up, I have to pick and choose what I review in which part of the house and plan my gaming day around it.  If a game has too many keys, I rest my back a couple days then get up on my gaming rig.  Recently, some gaming mice have added a lot more buttons as well as software interfaces that interact with MMOs, making setup from macros to screen display a breeze.  Enter the 2012 Razer Naga Expert MMO gaming mouse.

Specs:

It is always good to get the specs out there so you know what we are working with and know nice and early if this product is likely to fit your needs.  Here you go, straight from the mouth of Razer!

Product Details:

The best-selling MMO gaming mouse of all time, the Razer Naga, is evolving to take the MMO games of the next generation head-on. Engineered for improved comfort and control, the all-new Razer Naga comes with optimized button placement, three interchangeable side grips to suit your personal grip style, and is powered by Razer Synapse 2.0.

  • 17 MMO-optimized buttons
    • Effortlessly access more spells, abilities, and macros with a total of 17 mouse buttons, including Razer’s revolutionary 12-button thumb grid. The new Razer Naga features 2 mouse buttons behind the scroll wheel to deliver better ergonomic control as you game.
  • Three interchangeable side panels
    • Three interchangeable side panels provide an optimized fit for different hand sizes and grip styles, ensuring maximum ergonomic comfort to last you through lengthy raids and grinds.
  • Razer Synapse 2.0
    • Razer Synapse 2.0 is cutting-edge intuitive proprietary software that functions as the Razer Naga’s brain – automatically syncing the gaming mouse to a cloud server to download driver and firmware updates, as well as save individual gamer settings without you needing to lift a finger. Specifically for the Razer Naga, Razer Synapse 2.0 capabilities will be expanded to store settings for a custom Razer in-game UI designed just for MMO players.
  • 17 MMO-optimized buttons (including 12 button thumb grid)
  • 3 interchangeable side panels
  • Razer Synapse 2.0 enabled
  • 5600dpi Razer Precision 3.5G Laser Sensor
  • 1000Hz Ultrapolling / 1ms response time
  • 200 inches per second max tracking speed
  • Zero-acoustic Ultraslick mouse feet
  • Approximate Size : 116mm/4.57″ (Length) x 78mm/3.07″ (Width) x 42mm/1.65″ (Height)
  • Approximate Weight: 134g/0.30lbs

Setting Up And Using The Software:

So part of the deal with the mouse for me was the it came with software, called “Synapse 2.0”, specifically designed to interact with your games and hardware – it works with several different Razer devices and is stored in the cloud. The reason for this is so that if you get the game set just the way you want it you can plug the mouse into another system such as your laptop, connect to Synapse 2.0 and all your settings are instantly downloaded to the system and ready to go!  This is one of the better uses of the cloud that I have seen and makes it so that you can match the game settings you are used to everywhere you go without the slightest trouble.  The interface is very easy and quick to set in the first place and includes the ability to create macros, so if your game does not normally support macros this software will or if you want macros of your macros this is a quick and easy way to do it.  I don’t like to use all caps in a story, yet alone with bold but this next statement is important.  ALL 17 BUTTONS ON THIS MOUSE ARE PROGRAMMABLE.  There are default settings for all of them, but you can even change what the standard right, left and wheel assignments are which is extremely rare in the mouse world.  It is a recent addition that I could see being heavily utilized in some games where one button may be assigned to movement instead of both.  One of the nice things about the software showed when I went into World of Warcraft to work on my Darkmoon dailies and the action items were automatically assigned to the number 3 button so that my standard mouse buttons are still available for movement and clicking on NPCs or items.  The entire default setup to WoW makes it so that if your actions are assigned to the right locations and macros you should never have to use the keyboard.  Here is a tutorial on setting up the Synapse 2.0 that showcases a lot of the features of the program because honestly a whole article, maybe two, could be dedicated to it alone.

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Hands-On Time:

So here is where everything matters.  The mouse can look sexy, which it really does with light up side buttons, wheel and a logo that fades in and out, but function is everything when it comes to a mouse.  If the software setup is there but the mouse doesn’t read movements or clicks well then it becomes a USB toy you stick aside to look pretty.  The first game I hit with it was WoW since, when it comes to MMOs, this one is the monster.  As I mentioned before, it assigned a button for additional actions automatically and if you looked at the video above you saw that it also has a default interface setup that when I checked it out looks a lot like a raiding setup and makes more sense than how I had them before.  It was startling how different it was but once I got used to it I liked it. Just be prepared, it places your action bars right in the middle in front of you instead of on the sides which makes it easier to keep an eye on cool downs while fighting as well as placing buttons closer together for faster clicking if you need to do it.

The real sweetness of this mouse is the easy elimination of keyboard clicking as, with 17 programmable buttons, you can easily be almost 100% mouse-played.  Everything that is done with the keyboard can assigned to the mouse or a little bit of the interface clicking so that a person who has any disability that makes having a keyboard or laptop on their body or limited to one hand can do everything after the start up of the computer with just the mouse.  I went into a battleground in WoW and was amazed by how much better my game became while only using my Razer mouse.  There are, however, two possible drawbacks to this feature:  your right hand might become much stronger than your left and you may find yourself snacking more because your left hand is completely free.  I was drinking a beverage through the whole battleground with my left hand while my right hand was tearing up the enemy and causing players to try to scatter.

One of my first concerns with the Naga’s array of buttons is that they might have been too small.  I have huge, meaty hands (ed. note: The hands of a titan!) that could easily hide any mouse in my palm.  How would my big, sloppy fingers hit all 12 of those side buttons cleanly?  I figured at worst I would use the first 6 buttons to start with and then use the “training stickers” provided by Razer to train my fingers to hit the right buttons.  What I realized was that I didn’t have the problem I expected, possibly because my hands are used to the small buttons of phones, but the important thing was I easily and quickly used all 12 of them on the battlefields.  It didn’t take my hand long to create a muscle memory for my thumb to know where the buttons were and my mind quickly connected my thumb location with certain attacks so that I was constantly just moving my thumb.  I did find I had to get used to a slightly lighter hold on the mouse than I was used to but I adjusted to that quickly.  I would click on an enemy with the left button, hit the Charge button on the side then I rotated through the side buttons with my thumb.  I even tested button mashing and it worked pretty well since the buttons are close enough actions which had finished their cool downs went off.  If you have spells or actions that share a cool down assigned to the same row of buttons then you know that when you hit a button in that section when you are first learning that you will either pop the spell you want or one like it.

Testing On Other Games:

I am a die-hard fan of FPS and MMOs, I can almost at any given time be found playing one of these.  Even if the Synapse 2.0 software isn’t designed to interact with the particular MMO (yet) the default settings are usually perfect for the games already.  If it isn’t, you can open Synapse 2.0 and create a group of assignments and settings specifically for the game, title it, and load it before playing.  It will all be saved on cloud too so you can save settings for every game you play and have them follow you wherever you might game which is particularly handy with browser based games so that you can load it when you are playing on other people’s systems.  Have mouse, will travel.  I tested the mouse in the beta for an upcoming game called Heroes And Generals, a nice looking FPS, and the multiplayer for Homefront on OnLive for starts and the responsiveness was terrific giving me flawless movement while at the same I was firing off rounds with razor sharp aim.  I started to lose track of time even more than usual because I loved the performance of the mouse and how quickly I could change weapons between the Naga’s responsiveness and it’s dual ways of changing them between the wheel or the buttons on the side.  But I had to get some time in on Diablo 3 with it which had been eating up a lot of my recent time.  There is no software for this yet but, let’s face it, there aren’t a whole lot of keyboard buttons necessary for it to start with so the buttons on the side cover all the moves and have room to spare.  I tested it on other games as well and always have great, smooth movement and great use of the mouse with the default assignment to the side buttons.

Design Diversity:

On my rig I have had two mice hooked up because I am in love with my gaming mouse and my wife has never found them appealing.  So whenever she is on my system, such as when she proofreading my articles, she uses a standard ergo mouse.  When I plugged in my Razer Naga I found I was having some issues because it was competing for signals with the ergo mouse.  Once the ergo mouse was unplugged it was smooth city all the way and brought up another great feature of the mouse.  The Naga comes with three interchangeable sides so you can make it feel like an ergo mouse or you can make it feel like a gamer mouse within a couple of seconds.  So, if you are playing on someone else’s system, such as a spouse or parent, you now have a mouse that will serve your gaming desires but convert back to the ergo mouse they may be used to.

 

Last Call:

Razer products have always dependable and there is a reason the Cult of Razer exists.  Razer is not just a sexy line of products they are dependable, durable (I forgot to mention the parachute cord nylon cable cover found nowadays on most Razer products) and are truly designed with the player in mind.  When the Razer 2012 MMO Expert Gaming Mouse was designed, it was designed with consumers from the casual gamer to the expert in mind.  You can practically plug and play or you can change every little detail manually to make everything just-so.  Once you have it all set up, it is saved on cloud so you can use it anywhere you go.  Let’s face it, $80 is a very affordable price for a gaming mouse these days – but, when you consider all this mouse does, it is a great deal!

Razer is also at E3 2012 in grand fashion so make sure to stop by Booth 5422 or just keep an eye out for their giant logo.  They are notorious for great swag too!