Author - Judgeman

Kyn – A Review (PC)

2015/08/09

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

The duo over at Tengin Entertainment has released one of the most beautiful indie games I have ever seen in Kyn. Kyn is an strategic, action role playing game set in a fantasy Norse world. While the aesthetics are very impressive, especially for a game that was designed mainly by two people, Kyn does suffer from a mediocre story line and frustrating combat controls. These elements don’t ruin the game by any means, but Kyn ends up being fairly mediocre while you are playing it, then quickly forgotten once you are completed.

Story

In Kyn, you follow Bram and Alrik, two Norse warriors who have just completed a month long trail to become Magni Warriors. As the two warriors set out to return home to Vinborg, they discover that the landscape has changed. Once peaceful creatures and peoples have now become highly aggressive and red in color. What follows is a linear story line without much character progression, where our heroes travel the world and help the people survive the attacks of the “Reds” as these new creatures are now named.

Tengin Entertainment has taken an interesting look at the old Norse beliefs and stories. The issues with the story line come from the heroes being fairly generic and the story line not being anything amazing that we haven’t seen before. The story of Kyn serves it’s purpose in driving the narrative of the game, but that’s about it. You will move from one quest to another, killing monsters or rescuing guards, without much change in the story line. Some decisions you do make will have an impact on the world around you, but not enough to really contemplate or stress over that decision.

Game Play

Kyn is a strategic, action role playing game that centers around Bram and Alrik in the beginning, but as the game progresses you will gather a group of six adventurers to explore the world. While the aesthetics of the adventurers are as generic as they can be, the stats, skills, and gear can be changed at any time and throughout the game. You can change a character from two-handed dps specialization to a sword and board tank specialization with just a couple clicks of the mouse button. As items are dropped or crafted, you will be able to adjust your skills and stats to best utilize what you have in your inventory. I loved the flexibility of this system since it allowed me to best utilize the tons of loot that would drop.

Speaking of loot, Kyn has a very deep loot and crafting system that will take some time to get the hang of it. I did seem to get plenty of crafting materials just by completing basic quests, but it was difficult sometimes figuring out what materials I needed for a specific piece. Loot was very diverse and plentiful, which is a must in a game like this. It is reminiscent of the old Diablo II days, where everytime you kill something, you get that moment of anticipation for what will be dropped.

Combat, on the other hand, is fairly dull and lifeless. It’s mostly going to be “point, click, use skill, repeat” with only a slow time mechanic that really changes things up. The space bar will allow you to slow time for a small duration, while you figure out who needs to attack what. You will find that most of the time, your party will be attacking the wrong people and will need the slow time mechanic to fix that.

Kyn is also full of puzzles that need to be solved during the story line. The puzzles are very similar to what one would find in a typical Zelda game, with switches, pressure plates, or other similar devices. Some puzzles will require that you split your party up and have to manage two groups to get passed. None of the puzzles in Kyn where that overly difficult to solve, but they do kill the replay value, since once you finish the game you already know how to by pass these puzzles on a second run through.

Aesthetic

Kyn is a beautiful game, especially for a two man indie team of developers. The level design is flawless, the world is beautiful and interesting, even though the characters themselves are somewhat generic in appearance and looks. Kyn is worth playing just for the run through it’s beautiful landscapes.

For sound design, the team went with no voice actors. All dialogue is text driven, which is a shame but understandable when it comes down to this not being a game with a huge budget. The music, however, is absolutely gorgeous. While it may not be as iconic as Halo or Kingdom Hearts, it is an absolutely joy to listen to as you venture through the world of Kyn.

Final Thoughts

Kyn is a solid game, that balances the good with the bad enough to make it enjoyable to play especially at the $20 price point. While Kyn may have a boring combat system and a rather weak story line, it does have a beautiful aesthetic, great level design, and a loot and crafting system that is deep and fun to play with. Kyn will keep you entertained for about fifteen hours, and that’s a lot of game play for a little money. If you are looking for a decent indie game to pass the last days of summer, than you can do far worse then Kyn. If you can’t overlook a few negatives and enjoy Kyn as a whole, then you may want to skip this one. Kyn is available now on Steam.

[easyreview title=”Product Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3″ ]
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Stronghold Crusader 2 – The Templar and the Duke DLC – A Review (PC)

2015/07/13

Judgeman

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Firefly Studios has released yet another DLC pack for their castle-building RTS game, Stronghold Crusader 2. This new DLC pack is titled The Templar and the Duke. The Templar and the Duke DLC pack follows the same form as the rest of the packs for Stronghold Crusader 2, containing 2 new AI opponents, a new single player missions strand, new castles, new shields, and new achievements. While, at first glance, The Templar and the Duke looks exactly the same as the rest, The Templar and the Duke is my favorite so far due to the extreme differences between the two new characters.

The New Challengers

The first new challenger is the Templar. The Templar is the fanatical knight, bent on wiping out the Muslims from the Holy Land. Once a knight in King Richard’s army, the Templar has been promoted due to his brutality in handling the enemies of the Holy Land. The Templar sees himself as the harbinger of justice from God and represents the unwavering conviction that the Crusaders had for their mission and the lengths that they will go to achieve success.

On the other hand, the Duke represents the complete opposite of the spectrum from the Templar. Having traveled from France, the Duke is here to share in the glory if the Crusades succeed, but has an escape plan ready to go in case they do not. Leading a life of pampering and seclusion from the real world, the Duke has been able to build up a lordly appearance but is incapable of leading in the battlefield. The Duke appears confident to others, but is truly riddled with self-doubt and has only joined the Third Crusade because he feels he has something to prove.

The Templar is the classic rts opponent of the two new characters. The Templar’s castle is of a rigid and structured design, built to withstand the heaviest of sieges. The Duke is the unpredictable opponent, whose castle will have no apparent rhyme or reason to its design. It was how different each of these characters built their castles is why I liked this dlc the most so far. I had a real feel for how different these two opponents really where and the differences in their designs made the dlc a strong one to recommend.

Final Thoughts

Firefly Studios is releasing new content for Stronghold Crusader 2 at a good pace, with this being the third dlc pack since the game’s release last September. Each dlc pack extends the single player game by one mission strand, and introduces two new characters. The Templar and the Duke is my favorite dlc pack to date from Firefly Studios, because of how different these two characters feel from each other. The Templar is the dedicated fanatical knight bent on the ultimate conquering of the Holy Lands, while the Duke is in it only for the glory if it all goes right, and will run at the first hint of failure. Their castle designs represent this difference as well, and you will need two completely different sets of skills to defeat either the Templar or the Duke. The dlc pack costs $6, which has been the standard price for everything that has come out. I feel that the price point is extremely fair for what you get, and fans of Stronghold Crusader 2 should definitely pick up this pack. If you haven’t yet picked up Stronghold Crusader 2, you now have quite a lot of content to get through for a modest price.

[easyreview title=”Stronghold Crusader 2 – The Templar and the Duke DLC Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]

Stronghold Crusader 2 – The Emperor and the Hermit DLC (PC) – A Review

2015/06/15

Judgeman

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Firefly Studios have been busy, releasing yet another DLC pack for their RTS title, Stronghold Crusader 2. This DLC pack is called The Emperor and the Hermit, which brings two more enemy characters to the game, 7 new missions, new castle designs, new achievements, and new shields to match the new armies. This DLC pack does not add any new game play elements, besides the new AI for the Emperor and the Hermit armies. The game plays the same as the original release, so the need for this DLC will depend on whether or not you want more single player missions, or need some new skins for multiplayer. Of course, at $4.00 on Steam, it’s also one of the cheapest DLC packs you can find for almost any game.

New Opponents

Like The Princess and the Pig DLC, the pack introduces two new generals: the aforementioned Emperor and the Hermit. The Emperor is originally from Germany and was once a high profile religious leader in the world. Eventually excommunicated from the Church, the Emperor now leads a small army of his fanatical followers as he tries to liberate the Holy Land. The Emperor’s quest is more of one for power and authority rather then religious fervor, but his followers follow him into the Holy Land blindly and with a fanaticism that hasn’t been seen.

The Hermit also controls an army of religious zealots, but with the goal to keep King Richard out of the Holy Land. The Hermit was raised in these lands with no royal lineage, no preordained authority or even military background. What the Hermit has is the loyalty of the locals, who are equally as angry as the Hermit with the invasion of their lands by the Christians.

Final Thoughts

I personally liked the Hermit’s forces better, simply because of their overall aesthetic design. The new castle designs for the Hermit showed a much more Middle Eastern flavor, which is nice in contrast to the last couple of dlc characters being mostly Westerners. The single player trail is fairly challenging and will offer a nice little extension to the overall game.

Other than the additional characters, the new trail, and some aesthetic design changes, The Emperor and the Hermit plays exactly the same as the main game does. There is no other changes to the core game play, so if you choose to skip this DLC you will not be missing anything more then a little extra single player game play and two new characters. However, for fans of Stronghold Crusader 2, you can’t really pass this up, mostly due to the price point. The Emperor and the Hermit is available now through Steam for $4.00.

[easyreview title=”Product Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3″ ]

Blitzkrieg 3 – A Preview (PC)

2015/06/07

Judgeman

Geek News, News, Previews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Preview

Blitzkrieg 3 is a new massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game (MMO-RTS) from Russian developer, Nival. Set in Europe during different parts of World War II, Blitzkrieg 3 will have 3 single player campaigns along with a MMO-style multiplayer system – including a “pay once, play forever” subscription system similar to Funcom’s The Secret World. Currently, the single player campaign and the asynchronous multiplayer system were in place, and I got to play through both of these modes.

Story

The single player campaigns will focus on three time periods of conflict during World War II. The German campaign will focus on Paris in 1940, the American campaign on the invasion of Rome between 1943 and 1945, while the Soviet campaign will focus on the invasion of Berlin in 1945. The first battle of the Russian Campaign is the Nattle of the Oder-Neisse, where Soviet Union battalions of Belorussian and Ukrainian soldiers pushed the German armies back and opened up the way to Frankfurt. The only way that I know that this was the battle that is fought in the first stage, is by a small notice that I was exiting the Crossing of the Neisse when I had to log out one night in the middle of the fight. There is a very small set up via text box that is given through a radio, but other than that is is entirely unclear as to what side of the battle you are fighting and even what battle you are fighting in. The developer assumes you know your history which, being a history teacher myself, is a bad assumption.

Other than a sever lack of pre-battle information or set up for the stage, the battles are set fairly true to history. The developers did their homework in how each battle looks and feels. Since this is still in the alpha stage, I will assume that the story line will get much more narrative before release. I do enjoy how we get to play certain campaigns that have been overlooked during World War II, even through the hundreds of different games that have been released. The Soviet invasion of Germany, for instance, is a great campaign to play since we have seen the Battle of Stalingrad a hundred times over.

Game Play

Game play for Blitzkrieg 3 is, for the most part, standard RTS fare. You build your base with the basic structures that will build and outfit your units. You can upgrade these structures to give you a much better chance for survival, and you can set up your defenses by buying different gun turrets and tank traps. You move your units by the tried and true method of the drag and select to gather your troops, then point and click to issue orders.

That’s where the basic game play ends, and the interesting game play of Blitzkrieg 3 picks up. Cover matters in Blitzkrieg 3, so having your anti-tank troops waiting in ambush in the tree line for the German tank column is not only a great strategy, but will be essential to win games. You will also have to scout out the enemy units, so you can send in the correct unit types to defeat them. You cannot just send in your tank division to crush everything in the way, since the anti-tank squads hiding in the houses will tear you apart. Strategy is the key to winning this game, which is different then most rts games on the market already. My experience with rts games has been simply, the bigger the army, the tougher it is. In Blitzkrieg 3, that is not the case if your enemy is holed up in strategic fortifications. You also have access to a radio to call in airstrikes or barrages from the long range guns, which will help soften up these fortifications. A few volleys from these sources, and the enemy will be a little easier to conquer.

While the mmo part of Blitzkrieg 3 is not in the game yet, what we do have is the asynchronous multiplayer system. Multiplayer is set up in two parts, offense and defense. You will build your own base using materials that you have gathered from raiding other players’ bases in asynchronous combat. You can select battle, and that will pit you against a base that is in your level range, that is owned by a real player, who is offline. You will combat the player’s base and, if you defeat the computer controlled troops, you will gain materials that will help build your base and make it tougher to defeat.

Aesthetics

Blitzkrieg 3 is a very good looking game. Camera view is a 3/4 angle view of the battle field, that you can zoom in and out of. The battle fields are very detailed, down to the small wood piles behind a cottage in the middle of Germany. Environments can be destroyed by both military fire and by the tanks themselves. Trees will fall down as you drive your tanks through the forest, and your infantry can take cover in buildings as you capture sections of the map. Art design is in a realistic style, so tanks, infantry and buildings all look like they are supposed to during World War II. I experiences no graphic issues, or crashes during my time with Blitzkrieg 3.

Voice overs are contained to just background orders given over a radio, or shouts from the infantry. While the voice overs are done in the nation’s native language, there is a lot of repetition that goes on. So, it was good that I did not understand German, but I could tell that my infantry was saying the same thing over and over again.

Not Quite Final Thoughts

Since the game is still in Steam’s Early Access, I cannot really say what the final product is or whether or not Blitzkrieg 3 is a must buy yet. However, I can firmly say, that what I have seen and played is amazing and cannot wait to see what the final product will have in store later this year. For fans of military rts games, this game will really be a great addition to your library. Blitzkrieg is in Early Access on Steam and should be out later third quarter this year.

Resident Evil: Revelations 2 Review (PC)

2015/05/19

Judgeman

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Episodic games are all the rage right now, with Telltale Games leading the charge. Capcom, not wanting to be left behind, has released an episodic Resident Evil game called Resident Evil: Revelations 2. While it doesn’t change come anywhere near changing the paradigm of survival horror as we know it, Resident Evil: Revelations 2 does serve up some great Resident Evil experiences in episodic format.

Story

The story for Resident Evil: Revelations 2 bounces between two pairs of individuals: Claire Redfield with Moira Burton and Barry Burton with newcomer Natalia. The story begins with Claire and Moira, who both work for a new bio hazard containment company named Terra Save. The pair begin the game at a reception in the Terra Save offices that become under attack by masked assailants. These assailants capture Claire and Moira and take them to a strange facility, where the pair awaken in prison cells. The pair travel through the facility, discovering various experiments that are being run by a being named the Overseer. Eventually, the two reach the radio tower and transmit a plea for help to the outside world.

Here’s where the story gets interesting, and is truly my favorite part of the whole story line. Claire and Moira’s plea for help is heard and answered by Barry Burton, six months after it was originally transmitted. Barry arrives at the island to look for Claire and Moira, but finds Natalia instead. Natalia leads Barry to the radio tower that Claire and Moira transmitted their distress call, just to learn that he is extremely late in the rescue process and must deal with the Overseer himself.

I really loved this story line, especially as a Resident Evil game. I loved how the game shifted between the two story lines, and this shift help create a mystery that needed to be solved. You answers to the questions that the game asks are revealed through playing the other side of the game. Moira and Claire may run into a mystery on their story, just to have that mystery solved six months later in the Barry and Natalia story line. Like Telltale Games, Capcom did a great job in making the story compelling enough to look forward to the next episode. Good thing for me I received all the episodes at once so I didn’t have to wait to start the next one.

Game Play

Game play for Resident Evil: Revelations 2 is typical Resident Evil, with a few tweaks. Movement and gun play is more old-school Resident Evil and seem to work best with a game pad. Inventory space is limited, but you can easily combine items and swap these items between characters. The big game play tweak is in how the two characters interact with their worlds.

Claire and Moira interact with the game in two completely different ways, so does Barry and Natalia. Claire is your combatant, she will arm herself with weapons and battle off the hordes of mutated creatures while Moira wields a crowbar and a flashlight. The flashlight will blind enemies and will also find hidden items throughout the game, so you will have to switch between the two in order to find supplies and progress through the game. Episode 3 really puts you in the hot seat with this switch game play mechanic in a section where Claire and Moira are trying to escape a building full of enemies.

Resident Evil: Revelations 2 also has its share of puzzles. I mean, what Resident Evil game doesn’t, right? Unfortunately, the first two episodes are fairly straight forward in their puzzles and never truly feels like a Resident Evil game, that is until Episode 3. Episode 3 brings us the Resident Evil puzzles we have been used to for the entire series, where doors are locked with ridiculous items that you need to find as you explore.

Resident Evil: Revelations 2 offers local co-op now for the PC, which it didn’t come with when released. The co-op feature is officially “in beta”, so you might want to expect a few bugs. You also get a few extra missions that you can play once the main campaign is over, and a raid mission that challenges you to clear out a huge number of shooting galleries under the time limit and without healing. This raid mini game will unlock new characters to use, depending on your medal count.

Aesthetics

Unfortunately, here is where the game kinda falls apart. The environments that you get to explore are dark, dank, dirty, and depressing. They are also fairly generic and not exciting to say the least. The facility that you explore looks like every other old, abandoned series of labs and prison cells that you have seen in countless other game releases. There are many cases in which only having Claire Redfield on the screen really tells you that you are playing Resident Evil: Revelations 2 and not Outlast or The Evil Within or some other survival horror game.

The enemies themselves are interesting the first time you run into them, but the developers then use the same skins over and over and over again. You only really fight a small handful of unique monsters through all four episodes of Resident Evil: Revelations 2. The boss battles are the exception to the rule and prove quite interesting and even scary to fight against – the rank and file creatures are just generic at this point and no longer bring about nightmares to the player.

Voice acting is solid and the actors play their roles just fine. The script is good as well, and you can definitely see how the franchise has progressed from the original Resident Evil in terms of dialogue writing.

Final Thoughts

Capcom has got something here, something that is worth looking into. While not exactly brilliant by any means, Resident Evil: Revelations 2 is a fun game to play and can be turned into something great if Capcom aims a little higher next time. I love the story line and how the two sides have a six month time gap that helps create mystery. The game play is solid and fun. The aesthetics serve their purpose, but with more time and funds could have been fantastic and engaging instead of just all right. Capcom was also able to release each episode a week after the last. So, like your favorite television show, you just had to wait until the following week to find out what happens next. Sure, this turn around time may have contributed to the lack of polish on the environments and enemies, but it was nice not to have to wait months for the next episode. Resident Evil: Revelations 2 is out now on Steam and is worth your time to pick up.

[easyreview title=”Resident Evil: Revelations 2 Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3″ ]

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Gratuitous Space Battles 2 – A Review (PC)

2015/05/03

Judgeman

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Positech Games has released the follow up to their strategic space battle game, Gratuitous Space Battles, the aptly named Gratuitous Space Battles 2. I did not play the original game, simply because its premise did not excite me or sound like something I would find fun. When Gratuitous Space Battles 2 came down my pike, I decided to give it a chance to see if my initial feelings about the series was correct, and boy were they! This game will find a fan base, of that I know for certain, it just isn’t going to be me.

Story

As the title suggests, there really isn’t a plot here, nor a story really. The game is set up as a series of gratuitous space battles that you either win and move to the next star system or lose and need to replay. There are different races in the game with descriptions of the races, but you never get any type of exposition for why these battles are occurring nor who is in command of any fleet.

I have no problem with games that do not have a plot or story line. There have been tons of fighting and sports games on the market that I absolutely love that do not have any type of story line nor plot. What saves these games, in my opinion, is how fantastic the game play is. When the game play is phenomenal, then the game can completely skip any type of plot or story line and still be a solid game. Gratuitous Space Battles 2 fails at both. There isn’t a story line here to keep my interest, and the game play is incredibly boring to me.

Game Play

Gratuitous Space Battles 2 is a “hands off” space battle simulator. When I say “hands off”, that means during the battles, you have absolutely no control over the actions of your captains. This game represents the feeling of being an admiral in a space navy, where you will set up your fleet and create new space ships to do battle but must trust your captains completely during each actual battle.

Gratuitous Space Battles does have a lot of features, main among them is the ship builder. You can design and customize your ships from the ground up, with parts that you have unlocked during the campaign missions through research and development. New to Gratuitous Space Battles 2 is that your ships visuals will now carry over to the actual space battles, and not default to standard visuals. This feature is very, very deep! If you have ever wanted to engineer a space ship, then this is exactly what you are looking for. You have control of every aspect of the ship, from visual design, to power output, to shield generators, and crew. I found this to be very well done and extremely deep, just not very fun nor interesting for me. I had no clue as to what I was doing most of the time even though there was a tutorial. I found myself doing a lot of trial and error to find a design that even remotely worked.

Prior to any battle, you get to select your fleet and organize your command structure. You can choose from many different classes of ships, from fighters to cruisers to destroyers, and give them assignments to begin the battle with. You can assign your fighters to a certain ship to fly from, or assign ships to protect your larger ships from enemy fighters. All of these needs to be done prior to the battle, because once you begin the conflict, you can no longer give any orders.

And that right there is where Gratuitous Space Battles dies for me. I was on board right up to the moment the battle starts, then I’m off to make a sandwich. I understand that this is the main draw to the game, but for me it just wasn’t any fun. Sure you can zoom into the action, speed up or slow down the action to really see what is going on, but I would just get up from my PC and come back to see who had won. It’s not that I don’t understand the game or the “hands off” feature, it’s not fun for me. This game will find some fans, but not from me.

Modding is supported by Gratuitous Space Battles 2, so I would imagine that you will find a ton of different mods to play with. You can also share your custom ship designs on Steam with others. Gratuitous Space Battles 2 also supports multiple monitors, however I have heard that using multiple monitors will crash your game. Since I am down to one monitor currently, I could not test this for this review.

Aesthetics

Gratuitous Space Battles 2 is a very cool game to look at. The graphical detail displayed during a space battle is intense and can be exciting to watch, like a great science fiction movie. However, since this is a video game, I want to do more than just watch the action. The explosions are fantastic, the environments are full of interesting things to see, and the action can get intense visually.

Voice acting is just “okay” for Gratuitous Space Battles 2. The computer voice overs during the battles can be extremely annoying, since it will repeat current danger over and over again, as if you had any chance of changing anything that was happening. If you are the admiral of this fleet, you would not receive these types of radio transmissions from the fleet’s computer system. I feel that the developers should have had much more realistic radio chatter between ships, including captains talking to each other about current developments, or even crew discussing current ship status’s with each other.

Final Thoughts

Gratuitous Space Battles 2 is a good game for someone out there. It definitely fills a niche in the video gaming world and there will be plenty of people to buy and play it – I just won’t be one of them. I love the custom ship builder and how deep you can get with your creations. I love how you can build up your fleet to do battle with the next unknown enemy with no reason what so ever. I just do not love how the battles themselves are so hands off. The only reason you have to watch the battle at normal speed is to see exactly how your ship is doing at every moment, to help make the ship even better for the next battle. If this does sound exciting to you, then Gratuitous Space Battles 2 is your thing. If you have Gratuitous Space Battles, there may not be enough new features here to give you a reason to buy the game. For me, I just cannot recommend buying this one to anyone. In my opinion, it just wasn’t any fun to play at all, and at the end of the day that is why I play video games, to have fun.

[easyreview title=”Gratuitous Space Battles 2 Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”2″ ]

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I Am Bread – A Review (PC)

2015/04/19

Judgeman

Geek News, News, Reviews, seal of excellence, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Bossa Studios UK makes some of the most unique games that I have played in a long time. I first became aware of the game studio by watching the boys over at Achievement Hunter doing a Let’s Play of Surgeon Simulator. I immediately picked up Surgeon Simulator and loved it. Michael and Gavin at Achievement Hunter then moved onto another Bossa Studios game, simply called I Am Bread. I knew immediately that I would have to get that game too, but my current work schedule has really prevented me from picking up games that I want. So I was incredibly happy when I Am Bread came down my review queue here at Gaming Shogun!

Story

I Am Bread is a simple game in concept, but much more complex in gameplay. You are a slice of bread and your objective is to become the perfect slice of toast by any means necessary. There is no character development in I Am Bread, because you are just a slice of bread. You are not here to save the world, save the princess, or save your family. Your only goal is to become a nice piece of toast, maybe with some marmalade on you. Life as bread is truly simple.

Gameplay

Here is where I Am Bread becomes quite interesting. What Bossa Studios did was create a very simple concept of a story with a simple objective for the player, but wrap all that in an extremely complex game that forces the player to make choices along the way as to how to become toast. You begin each level in a room as part of the loaf of bread that you are spawned from. With no indicators, arrows, or markers to point your path, you are to become toast while staying edible. So the first thing you must do is find something in the room that has the ability to toast you.

Once you have found a direction, then you have to start flopping your way to that object. You will press a certain button that is mapped to a corner of your slice of bread to grip a surface. You then use either the mouse or the thumbstick, depending on your control preference, to flick your slice of toast to move. You will continue to grip objects and surfaces and flick your stick until you reach your destination. The controls work just fine and are designed well, but they are designed to through both your brain and your hands into some sort of argument as to which button needs to be pressed at what time. Just playing by myself, I had a hard time getting my fingers to cooperate with what my brain was telling them, so I can’t imagine how the guys at Achievement Hunter managed to get through their video without murdering each other.

As you move, you also have to worry about your grip. Bread apparently has some tenacious grip, but it isn’t unlimited. Once your grip meter runs out, gravity will take over and you will fall to the surface below. This can be very frustrating, especially if you have struggled to work the controls as you climb a series of boxes, just to run out of grip and fall. You can also use your grip to grab objects and fling them around the level. This becomes important in some stages that will require you to use items to light a gas grill or break a window.

You also have to worry about your edibility as you move about the stages. Edibility is shown as a progress bar that is filled at 100%. As you flop across something dirty or fall into water, your edibility will begin to drain. The dirtier the surface, the faster your edibility bar will disappear. You also have to worry about edibility when you are toasting yourself. Your goal is to hit 100% toast on both sides with nice and even coverage. Focus on one spot for too long, and you will begin to burn. Burning your self will lower your overall rating at the end of the stage.

When it is all over and you are toast, you will be graded on your progress. Your grade is based on your edibility at the end, the perfectness of your toasting, and the time in which you took to become toast. It’s tough enough to navigate the stage and find some way to become toast, but to hit that with a perfect score is just amazing.

I Am Bread has roughly eight stages to it, all centered around someone’s flat. You begin at the kitchen stage, move into the lounge, then off to the bathroom, and so on. I Am Bread also has seven game modes to play that unlock as you finish the story mode. You have your standard Free Mode, Rampage Mode which you destroy items for points, Bagel Race, Cheese Hunt, and Zero Gravity mode. You can also unlock different pieces of bread that have different characteristics and physics. The baguette only has two points of contact and is a beast at causing damage, while the bagel is round and does not have the same contact points that your standard slice does.

The gameplay is where I Am Bread shines. It will be a tough game for some of you out there, just getting your brain and hands to communicate quickly enough to keep your edibility up. You do have multiple paths to follow throughout the game, so how ever you want to become toast is up to you, as long as you keep your edibility up. Once that reaches 0%, then the game is over. It’s a simple concept of a game, executed brilliantly and is just a blast to play.

Aesthetics

The visual aesthetics for I Am Bread provide a simple, yet fun to play in game world. Whomever lives in this flat is not keen on cleaning, as you have a ton of objects, obstacles, and hazards to move around. The developers tried to make each object look either clean or dirty, but not all. Some of the objects you won’t know will be hazardous to your edibility until you touch it. The graphics work well for the game, and will run on pretty much any PC that is working today, which is great.

The music really adds to the ambiance of the game. The music is mostly piano-based, but adds an upbeat tempo and vibe to the game experience. It is very hard to play I Am Bread without a smile on your face, due to both the absurdity of the game’s premise and the uplifting music that you listen to along the way to becoming toast.

Final Thoughts

I Am Bread is a must buy. It is a breath of fresh air in this age of dark realism and first person shooters. I Am Bread is no joke of a game, there are plenty of deep gameplay elements to be found within, under its simple and silly exterior. You can also play the game in a similar way as to what Achievement Hunter did, by splitting the control between two friends, that is if you think your friendship can last through the first level without a fist fight. I have played and enjoyed a lot of games this year, but this is the first game that I have reviewed that really made me smile and enjoy it this much. I Am Bread is available now through Steam.

[easyreview title=”I am Bread Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”5″ ]

Son of Nor – A Review (PC)

2015/04/13

Judgeman

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Son of Nor by Stillalive Studios is yet another Kickstarter-funded game in this new age of indie game development. Raising $151,000 of the $150,00 needed through its Kickstarter campaign, Son of Nor was released on March 31, 2015. This Kickstarter Age of Video Games has brought to the light some great games that just couldn’t be made available through standard means. It has also brought us some truly horrible games that either should not have been made or were so badly-managed that the game was a complete mess upon release. The vast majority of Kickstarter games fall squarely between the two, a great idea that could have used a little more funding or time to really polish it up. The Son of Nor is firmly in that vast majority, a great idea that just needed a little more polish.

Story

The Son of Nor takes places in the world of Noshrac, where a war between Humans and the lizard-like Sarahul had left humanity all but extinct. The story begins 400 years later, after the Great War, in the refuge called The Edge. The Edge represents the last bastion of safety for the Human race. You play as a Son of Nor, a Human blessed with the abilities of telekinesis and element control by the Goddess of the Night, Nor. Your refuge is quickly discovered by a scouting patrol of Sarahul and, fearing for the safety of The Edge, you are tasked with ambushing this patrol before they find you. This also sets you upon your quest to save the Human race from all threats by developing your telekinesis and element powers. You will discover new temples along the way that will extend your powers over Earth to include the other elements, like Wind and Fire.

The concept and story of Son of Nor is very interesting and is fleshed out quite well, with just a few nagging complaints on my part. There are enough side quests laying around to bring life to the world of Noshrac and flesh out the characters that you run into. The story itself is interesting and has intrigue and betrayal at the beginning of the story, to set you off on your big quest. I feel that the story needed some more time in certain sections to flesh out properly, instead of heading to a cut scene with text exposition. Another issue I had with the story was that your character is another of the “strong, silent” types. You quietly agree to everything that is said to and asked of you, with no sense of your own desires or interests in the events around you. I would have loved it if the main character had more interaction in dialogue to help flesh out the character. Overall, though, the story is interesting enough to keep you going to the end.

Game Play

The Son of Nor has a lot going for it in the game play features. Let’s start out by what devices are supported by this game. You can play the game via keyboard and mouse or game pad, I strongly recommend the game pad. Son of Nor also supports Tobii Eye Tracking, Oculus Rift, and emotive EPOC devices. Since I own none of these devices, I cannot say how well the game supports them nor how it effects the game play of Son of Nor. Just know you can use these devices with this game

Controls feel pretty good for the most part, except for some of the platforming sections and some of the telekinesis bits. Platforming, in some sections, had too much gliding for me. Your character would land on a certain section, and if you didn’t hit that section just right then you would slide right off of the pillar you were aiming for. There was a platforming section in the first temple that had my death count in the double digits, mostly due to this problem. Since these sections were few and far between, it’s not a complete deal breaker with the game but it is trying. Also I was finding that even though the environment said I could interact telekinetically with a rock, that said rock had other ideas. During combat, this was a huge issue and led to a few more deaths that I didn’t want to occur.

Now that we have the bad out of the way, let’s talk about the good. You have a good amount of control over the world that you live in. Many puzzles will have you interacting with the environment to find ways around obstacles. You also have a little more creativity allotted to you during combat. I was able to create giant holes in the sand to stop my enemies from charging me, while I looked for huge rocks to hit them with. This is a technique I strongly suggest learning quickly, due to the fact that the Sarahul are much more harder to hit while in your face then they are running towards you.

Son of Nor also supports co-op game play. You can have a friend join you on your quest to save Humanity and help you along your path. What is great about this, is that the game also supports spell fusion. You and your co-op friend can combine spells for new effects and devastating results. Even if you are not playing the co-op campaign, you will have to learn how to combine spells to find certain objects or weaknesses in the bosses. Hitting some sand with fire will produce glass, or terraforming the landscape around you to make the environment more suitable for you and not your enemies are strategies that you need to learn to complete Son of Nor.

While I found the story interesting and gripping, the game play is by far the strongest part of the Son of Nor, even with some control issues in place. Stillalive Studios did a great job in making the environment part of the game and allowing you to truly interact with your surroundings to give you the advantage during combat. This does mean that the developers did hid the collectibles and secret areas in some interesting places, so you will need to learn to use your abilities to their fullest extent if you hope to find everything there is. Minor frustrating control issues aside, the Son of Nor delivers on some really fun game play.

Aesthetics

Son of Nor looks good, both aesthetically and visually. Aesthetically, the design brings the world of Noshrac to life. The characters and architecture all look like they truly belong to this world of sand and rock. You have some choice in aesthetics for your main character, including gender, outfit, and colors worn. The graphics of Son of Nor look good, even on my aging machine. The animations of the characters and some objects, though, feel a little less fluid then I would have preferred. Sometimes, objects just seem to move on their own, and the motions of the Humans and Sarahul just feels like there is some missing animations.

Sound design and voice acting are really well done for this game. The music brings the desert world alive and gives you some nice background sound to listen to. Voice acting is done well enough, without being over the top or having everyone sound bored. I do wish that your character had a voice and a personality. I feel that having a character that speaks for themselves and has opinions and motivations would really complete the story of the Son of Nor, instead we have someone who feels like they are just going along with what everyone else is saying.

Final Thoughts

Son of Nor falls solidly in that Kickstarter category of “great idea but really needed some more money to polish the final product”. The story line, game play, and aesthetics all have great things about them, but also have those little areas that need improvement. The story is the epic story line of saving Humanity from an aggressive race, but falls short in main character development. Game play is really innovative, gives the play a vast amount of options during combat and is outright fun, but there are some control issues. Aesthetics look good and the design is solid, but it feels like the animations could have used a little more polish and the main character needed a voice. Overall, the Son of Nor is a good game to check out and play, if you have the ability to forgive a slight lack of polish. Son of Nor is available now through Steam.

[easyreview title=”Son of Nor Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3″ ]

Stronghold Crusader 2: The Princess and the Pig DLC – A Review (PC)

2015/04/06

Judgeman

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Firefly Studios has released their first DLC pack for Stronghold Crusader 2, named the Princess and the Pig. This DLC pack contains a new skirmish trail with seven solo missions to play, 2 new AI opponents, new achievements, and the Princess and the Pig themselves. This pack occurs on three new maps, to add some extra life to Stronghold Crusader 2’s solo play mode. Firefly Studios wanted to create a DLC pack that would add to the main game, but not make the main game incomplete for users that do not intend to buy The Princess and the Pig, and I feel that they did accomplish this goal. You can pick up the DLC and add all the missions and characters to your game, or not and would only be missing the single player skirmish trail. So, is The Princess and the Pig worth picking up? Let’s take a closer look at what you get in the pack.

Story and Game Play

What I found interesting about The Princess and the Pig is that the back story for each character influenced their AI design and how they will utilize their resources during games. I liked how story line and game play worked well here to give you some interesting opponents to deal with. You cannot simply use the same tactic against the Pig as you would against The Princess or even Saladin. You will need to change your tactics to fit your opponent.

The Pig began life in England experiencing starvation at the hands of an abusive parent. When the Pig was old enough, he ran away from home and joined a group of bandits. Having proved himself quite capable in combat, the Pig quickly rose in ranks and began taking the finest spoils of each raid for himself. Taking to overeating, the Pig eventually grew in size to match his name. Having become a force to be reckoned with, the Pig eventually earned a Dukedom by allying himself with The Wolf.

The Pig plays Stronghold Crusader 2 like you would expect him to based on his back story, with brute force and no finesse. He will use very thick walls, arranged in layers to help protect his castle from siege. Even if you do find a crack in his defense, you will be met with heavy macemen in thick armor to beat back your attack. On offence, the Pig’s tactics remain the same. He will use the same macemen and heavy catapults to crush your walls then beat you into submission.

The Princess is a completely different type of character. Being born into privilege, the Princess has never had to prove anything to anyone nor has she ever wanted for anything. After securing her place in the royal court, she began to test herself as a military commander on the battlefield, earning victory after victory. The Princess is a confident and fearless opponent on the battlefield, taking risks that always seems to come up in her favor.

The Princess builds her army for any type of situation that she might imagine. Her castle is defended by armored knights and many towers manned by archers. While easier to break into then the Pig’s fortress, the Princess’s fortress will whittle your force down by using the long range of the archers before you even reach the walls. Her army is made up of a combination of heavy troops and faster, mobile troops that are supported by archers and siege weapons. The Princess comes to battle expecting any situation and has the ability to adjust to a different situation on the fly.

The Princess and the Pig DLC pack for Stronghold Crusader 2 is a pack that the long time player will absolutely love due to the subtle nuances of the AI within this game. If you have only spent an hour or two with Stronghold Crusader 2, you will like the new missions and the new dialogue that you will get from the new characters, but you will not see how each character will handle their armies and the fluid situation of the battle differently, unlike someone who has spent hours with the game.

Final Thoughts

The Princess and the Pig DLC pack for Stronghold Crusader 2 is how DLC used to be handled a few years ago, it adds more to the game without breaking the original game, nor does it make the original game worthless to those that do not own the dlc pack. Containing a new skirmish trail with some new maps and a couple more new AI. the Princess and the Pig DLC pack adds more content to the main game for the very modest price of $6. If you own Stronghold Crusader 2 and are looking for some new challenges that do not involve online multiplayer, then this pack is right up your ally. If you haven’t spent time playing Stronghold Crusader 2 and are looking into this DLC, I would say wait until you have finished the main campaign, you will enjoy this pack much more after spending a few more hours with the main game. The Princess and the Pig is available now through Steam.

[easyreview title=”Stronghold Crusader 2: The Princess and the Pig DLC Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]

Knott’s Berry Farm Boysenberry Festival Review

2015/03/30

Judgeman

Geek News, Misc Review, News, Reviews

Knott’s Berry Farm has a very special place in my heart, and in the hearts of most of my friends. Knott’s was the site of my very first job over twenty five years ago, and is still one of my favorite places to go. So when I had the chance to visit Knott’s Berry Farm on their opening day of their Boysenberry Festival, I jumped at the chance. Going into this review, I knew I had a bias that I had to deal with, but as a person who takes his job seriously, I knew I would be able to separate what I already feel from Knott’s and what I got to experience at the Festival.

Food

Let’s start off with the whole reason for going to the Boysenberry Festival to begin with: Boysenberries. Knott’s is world famous for their boysenberries – a berry that is the hybrid of the blackberry, the raspberry, the loganberry, and the dewberry. For me, it’s that perfect combination of tart and sweet that I absolutely love in a berry. Since this is a Boysenberry Festival, Knott’s has produced a number of great food items that can be found all around the Calico Ghost Town.

I started out the day by trying the Boysenberry Flautas. These rolled and deep fried tortillas were filled with a warm boysenberry filling, then sprinkled with powdered sugar. The two that I received were hot out of the fryer and was absolutely perfect. Easily the best thing I had to eat all day. I then had to try the BBQ Wings in Boysenberry Sauce. The wings were a tad cold, and were probably sitting out for a little bit since there was no line at the booth, but were tasty nonetheless. The sauce had a very nice hint of the boysenberry, which puts it into the sweet bbq sauce category. A little warmer or fresher off of the bbq and these would have been perfect.

I also tried the Deep Fried Alligator with Boysenberry Aioli. I have never had gator before, and thought that this was a very good dish. I did run into the same issue I had with the bbq wings, and that is my gator wasn’t as warm as I would have liked it due to sitting there waiting for a customer. Still, with the boysenberry aioli and the french fries it came with, the gator was a very good meal. With the gator I had the Boysenberry Triffle which, unfortunately, was the most disappointing thing I ate all day. Traditionally, a triffle is cake, ice cream, whip cream and fruit in layers. This triffle ended up being a cake with ice cream, whip cream and boysenberries on top. More like cake a la mode then a triffle. Besides not being what I expected it to be, the triffle was a very good tasting dessert.

Knott’s also has a Wine and Craft Beer Tasting event during the Boysenberry Festival. Inside the Dance Hall, wines from all over were being served along with appetizers in a very nice setting. Boysenberry lemonade was also being served inside, but to some peoples dislike, the lemonade took the place of one of your six tastings. Keep that in mind if you go in with a child who is thirsty. Outside of the Dance Hall, there was four craft beers being served, all with the boysenberry added. A boysenberry cider, a boysenberry stout, a boysenberry beer, and an india pale ale with boysenberries added. These beers were very tasty, some a little sweeter then I like, but tasty still. The employee who worked the draft system was incredibly friendly and helpful to anyone who had questions about the beer on tap.

For me, the food and drink is the main part of going to the Boysenberry Festival at Knott’s and I feel that the park really did a fantastic job in delivering tastes and flavors that went well together without feeling forced. Nothing I had tasted bad that day, the worst thing that I came across was just the temperature of a few items because they sat around for a little bit.

Entertainment

Knott’s started off their Boysenberry Festival in grand fashion, with a boysenberry pie eating contest. This event was sponsored by Major League Eating and would end in the world record for whomever won the contest. Twelve competitors from all over the country competed for a chance to grab the world record and the $2000 first place purse. In the end, Joey Chestnut defeated top ranked women’s eater Miki Sudo for the top prize, eating fourteen pounds of boysenberry pie to Miki’s eleven pounds. It was a great event to watch, but I kept imagining the scene from Stand By Me where David Hogan vomited during the blueberry pie eating contest. Yeah, it’s as messy as it sounds.

While the Boysenberry Pie Eating Contest was a one day event, there are other events going on during the Boysenberry Festival that you can check out. The Peanuts Gang has two new spring shows; Peanuts in the Park and Lucy’s Really Big Spring Show. There is also Salsa Dancing in Fiesta Village and a dj that plays music from 7:30 until close in Charlestown Square. Lastly, Krazy Kirk and the Hillbillies have multiple shows playing each day at the Birdcage Theater.

Final Thoughts

The big draw for the Boysenberry Festival is the food. You could spend your whole day at Knott’s Berry Farm doing nothing more then wandering around the Calico Ghost Town and eating some of the best food you every had with boysenberries in it. The park is decorated nicely for this festival, and the entertainment goes well with the feeling of spring. The day we went it was a sunny and warm day, which really helped promote that feeling of a country spring festival. I really enjoyed having a Wine and Craft Beer Tasting event in the park, though I would have preferred that the craft beer be given a little more respect then a draft system out back with only four beers. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my day at the Boysenberry Festival. I would definitely recommend this to anyone that loves the taste of the boysenberry, and wouldn’t mind spending a day at a great amusement park as well.

[easyreview title=”Knott’s Berry Farm Boysenberry Festival 2015 Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]