Michael Walbridge

Runespell: Overture: Puzzles, questing are in the cards

July 20, 2011

PC / Reviews / by Michael Walbridge Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Sometimes these PopCap-y games get a little old. They’re either too easy or they’re simply another form of Tetris Zen, putting blocks here, switching jewels or shapes there, removing a stick or inserting a ball. Occasionally there are, ahem, gems in titles like Plants vs. Zombies or Puzzle Quest in which you are making some sort of progress, there is a definite end goal in sight and you will feel like you will have successfully consumed a game. It was a great ride and now is an appropriate time to stop, a lesson Runespell: Overture has taken to heart. READ MORE

Frozen Synapse: firing on all cylinders

June 14, 2011

PC / Reviews / by Michael Walbridge Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Do you love Chess’s analog nature? Chess by mail? A chessmaster playing 25 people all at once, rotating around tables? What about the board sitting on the living room table that has a move made on it by your opponent only once or twice a day? How about leaving the game for as long as you want, having as much time as you want to ponder a move, or simply being told when it’s your turn while you do something, anything else in between? A game like this would still be competitive, while exacting no demands on your time and done at the pace you want.

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Revenge of the Titans

April 1, 2011

PC / Reviews / by Michael Walbridge Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Tower defense is a niche genre that wears out its welcome quickly for some, and if that has happened to you, Revenge of the Titans won’t do anything to make you come back. However, if it is a genre you crave, then Revenge of the Titans’ unique options and opportunities for creativity will satiate your thirst. 

In the game, you are defending Earth from Titans, extremely large aliens that seek to destroy humanity. You then take the fight back to them. The commander and researchers will provide amusing, though usually useless, updates on what your research for that level will be and what the new titans will be. The weakest point of the game hinges on this—the descriptions for the research and buildings are often vague. Sometimes the needed building or ability is asked for in one level, but is 3 to 4 levels away in the tech tree. Some towers end up being highly useful in some situations, some are always useful, and some are usually not. At first this is a disappointment, but that really is part of the magic of deciphering the code and mechanics in tower defense.

The real treat is the design of titan paths and level layouts. The maps are more like maps from RTS games, with varying mountains and crystals to mine. Instead of one or two obvious paths, the titans can start from 5 or 8 paths. Some start in the middle. Some can be directed off course by the decoy building or simply by building money-producing refineries in the middle of nowhere. All buildings are placed instantly, and all have limited ammo that must be reloaded. Ammo can be reloaded manually. Powerups also appear in random spots or upon killing some titans. The ability to instantly place mines or barricades can make for some close calls. 

Difficulty and campaign progression is done well also. The first two section are generally easy (though I suspect just about every player underestimates the first mega titan on the tenth level), but the difficulty really starts to ramp as further on. If you have a hard level, you can lower the difficulty just for that level in order to progress and come back to it later. The money is also kept over from each level to the next, as are the powerups, making each level’s performance important, even the easier ones. Levels can also be saved in real time. Making the campaign truly a campaign in the strategy sense rather than have it be level progression is an old trick on a new dog, but it works well.

The other two modes are Survivor and Endless. Endless is a campaign in the classic sense, with shorter levels and even lesser story. In Survivor, you can pick a type of map and a map size and then go as long as you can. The unique element here is again that you can save it in real time–there is a record that goes longer than a day.

There are unique elements and ideas in some of the buildings, too, but nothing here really shines. There is a decent amount of content, the mechanics work well and there is a lot of furious on-the-fly action, but as someone who has played plenty of tower defense games (at least a dozen), there isn’t anything exciting here. If you’ve played plenty and need something new, this will fit the bill, but if you’re new to the genre or looking for something impressive, I would recommend trying Lock’s Quest for the DS or Defense Grid: The Awakening for Xbox 360 or the PC/Mac.

Pros: Real-time save feature, experiments in the genre worth seeing, map layouts, titan-pathing

Cons: Lots of bad buildings, cluttered and confusing tech tree, lacking story (even for this genre), frustrating learning curve

 

Poker Night at the Inventory

January 12, 2011

PC / Reviews / by Michael Walbridge Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Poker Night at the Inventory is nothing other than what it pretends to be: Texas Hold ‘Em poker against four A.I. characters. If you’ve got a rudimentary understanding of poker you won’t find the game too challenging, even on hard mode. However, if you don’t understand some theories or basic principles, you may feel the A.I. cheats.

While I was playing my opponents got some hands that felt unfair, but in the long run I got just as many hands that felt likewise, such as when I won an all-in hand from a three-of-a-kind that beat a two pair formed with the river’s highest cards.

On the subject of poker there isn’t anything else to say, as it is a simple card game with no multiplayer options. But that of course isn’t the reason you’d buy Poker Night at the Inventory. You’d buy it for the content: watching the Heavy from Team Fortress 2, Max from the Sam and Max series, Strong Bad from Homestar Runner and Tycho from Penny Arcade trade barbs and banter with you and with each other.

On the plus side, your opponents are well-presented. Every sight and sound make for accurate and faithful representations and not once did I ever think the characters weren’t true to form. But they still generally aren’t that funny, and you will get your first repeated comment within your first hour. At that point, it becomes a grind to hear everything that gets said. By two hours you’ve heard plenty of repetition. Many of the jokes get ruined by incomplementary delivery or the flat way they end. 

It isn’t entirely without worth. Particularly funny are when Tycho asks Max whether he hooked up with a special someone, or when Strong Bad asks the Heavy if he knows of any hot spies. Strong Bad’s one-liner insults are often dead-on in delivery (“Those are your cards? I feel bad for your mother”), and the Heavy is sincere as always. Tycho is simply creepy, crude, condescending, and nerdy, and even fans of Penny Arcade might find him a bore (I am a fan, and I did). Max is his usual self but doesn’t mix well, mostly talking to himself. I personally find his world and his partner Sam a better companion for him.  

It’s five bucks when it’s not on sale and it’ll easily pass a few hours, but it’s the kind of game you’d play when you don’t want to try hard in order to see content or get to the next thing. Personally, I play games to either further a plot or to beat a challenge, and if that’s why you play this game might not be it for you. As for the content, it’s simply a slideshow of clips, not that it pretended to be otherwise. The humor is a bit juvenile and crude, and if you are into insults and trash-talking you might give this one a whirl. 

Pros: faithful adaptation of characters, good mix of personalities, well-presented scenery

Cons: Juvenile humor and some flat deliveries and punchlines, repetition starts early

 

Super Meat Boy

December 12, 2010

PC / Reviews / by Michael Walbridge Make a comment! / Tweet it!

I get really excited about a game maybe once every year. Maybe only twice every three years. So when I say you must buy Super Meat Boy, I’m not saying it’s the best game I’ve played in a few months, or the first game to scratch an itch that’s needed scratching for a while. I’m saying this is one of the best games to be released for any platform in a long, long time.

If you don’t know, Super Meat Boy is a platformer. Originally released on XBLA, the PC version has more content, and developers promise more updates for this version. 

You play as Meat Boy, a red square, and you must save your girlfriend, Bandage Girl, a pink square, from Dr. Fetus, a mean fetus that operates a suit. The game has over 100 levels, and each is frenetic and challenging. Think N+ with higher speed and less-floaty jumps. There are falls, wall jumps, speed runs, well-timed obstacles that are hard to dodge, missiles, flying jaws that explode into other jaws and moving buzzsaws.

I probably missed something.

There are an additional 120 (or whatever) levels that are the “dark world”. These levels are similar but much harder than their original counterparts. There are also warp zones to be discovered and pockets of three levels for which only three lives are given for each level (the regular game has no “lives”, you just try over and over again). There are over 10 other characters to be discovered with different specialties to use, too. Having the options make the game much more fun. So does having a replay at the end of every level with an option to save that shows all your failed attempts and one successful attempt at the same time. Twenty-five headcrabs flying across the room is a sight to behold. 

The graphics are simple, but the animation is highly crisp, which makes the game feel new and classic at the same time. The music is mainly metal in order to match the pace of the game.  

I thought it was impossible for developers to make games that make challenges rewarding for their own sake. Not for the sake of content, completionism, achievements, or competition (though SMB has all those elements) but just its own sake. I took the trip and somehow, I feel like a satisfied person for it. Almost like I did something meaningful. Better than a Mega Man ever made me feel. What games do that anymore?

Note: The game warns you to use a controller. This is advice you ignore at your peril. This game will ruin your hands if you let it, even with a controller. You won’t get very far using the keyboard.

Pros: Funny, well-executed, engrossing, highly challenging while feeling fair, well-presented

Cons: somewhat buggy, practically demands a controller

 

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