Wednesday, August 13, 2014

AltecApollyon : This Week's Gaming

This week quite a few games have gone through my addicted twitching fingers. I traveled up north on a train to have a weekend away with my family (they were already there) and so I had some good alone time in the train to check out some iPad games I hadn't had a chance to.

Blek (Kunabi Brother), Eliss Infinity (Little Eyes) and Tengami (Nyamyam) I played on the iPad in the train. I had blown through about 30 levels of Blek  the first time I played but now I am quite stuck at level 38. Eliss Infinity I booted up just to catch up with my iPhone savegame because I got stuck as well and thought that I might be able to get further using the larger screen of the iPad (makes sense if you see what the game is about). Tengami I have been wanting to play for a while and after playing it for about 20 minutes I decided I was going to keep it to show my daughter since it seemed like something we could do together. Loving the style of that one though. There seem to be a growing number of games influenced by origami - I'll have to start making a list.

I ended up spending two days of my three day weekend almost completely in bed because I was dying of allergies. i guess I wasn't designed to be out in nature. When my eyelids weren't scratching my eyeballs like sandpaper and I wasn't gulping for air I was playing Device 6 (Simogo) and Xibalba (Phoboslab) on my iPhone. I finished both that weekend! One night my wife and I checked out Talisman (Nomad Games) on the iPad. It was difficult to enjoy through watering eyes and sinus migraine and I really want to give it another chance at home with Airplay. I do however have something against digital boardgame conversions that are heavy on the usage of dice.

On the way home in the train there were a few quiet moments where our two children were happily playing or distracted by something else. When this happens my wife and I never speak for fear of interrupting it, we just enjoy the moment and let them be - I checked up Kiwanuka (CMA Megacorp) and David (Fermenter Games) for the first time both which failed to really grip me, which I found surprising. I also started Deep Loot (Monster and Monster) which I wasn't immediately taken with but then over the next few days it got me and I bought the coin doubler and invested some time in that.

We came home on Sunday night and the daily routines resumed immediately. All week while bringing the kids to bed or pass the time waiting, I was playing Deep Loot. I also downloaded it onto the iPad to see if my daughter could play it.

Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe (Adult Swim) came out on OUYA last week and I jumped at it, even though I already own it on the PC. It's a great fit on the OUYA and I've been preaching that since I first played it. It's also something that my wife will play so that's an added bonus. We got ourselves some snacks and once the kids were in bed we had a match (we count until 21 wins) and as expected it plays well on the little console.

I also found the time this week to play another episode of The Wolf Among Us (Telltale). The last time I tried to play it my computer died on me and after sending it to a friend for diagnosis it turned out that my RAM was fried. So this time I played the first 20 minutes of the episode cautiously even though it wasn't really the game that caused the problem. The storytelling in that game rivals TV shows.

The other evenings were used to try to make progress in Gods Will Be Watching (Devolver Digital\Deconstructeam) which has turned out to be a seriously difficult game - apparently I am not the only one that thinks so, Deconstructeam has announced a new update with a new difficultly setting.

Of course I had to pop on to our Minecraft Realm (Mojang) to do my chores and get some resources. I made the mistake of playing while my two year old son was watching - at the moment he always wants to see spiders - and I died in an abandoned mine under my house and lost my enchanted chest plate and a really special enchanted bow. So I felt that I needed to make up for that a little at least by getting back what I had lost.

On the weekend I played Secrets of Raetikon (Broken Rules) and Haunt the House: Terrortown (SFB Games) for the kids. Their attention span isn't long so I didn't have much time with either - but it's fun to show them some games and hear how they interpret what is going on. My daughter even helped me with some of the buttons in Terrortown since there is no real time pressure in the game.

I also tried to checkout Godus  (22cans) and I bought Crawl  ( Powerhoof) based on their awesome trailer (as I already posted about) and picked up Cook, Serve, Delicious (Vertigo Gaming) for a measly $2 at the Humble Store. Work simulators are also a strange genre but somehow I like them.

Alright, so I played too many games this week. I need to cut back and really concentrate on a few. I know that already thanks, but the original idea of this blog was actually to log what I was playing to give me an overview; why I do and what I choose - and also to get me writing again and to be more aware on how I spend my time. Well, now I know.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Jazzpunk (PC)


Tonight I bought Jazzpunk, produced by Adult Swim games. I watched a bit of a playthough trying to avoid having to purchase yet another game, but with this trailer do you blame me?

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Godus (iOS)

Big launch yesterday : Godus for iOS. From what I have gathered (from one video interview with Peter Molyneux) it's MMO God-game. Peter Molyneux's quite the galvanizing personality in the gaming world and responsible for some great hits over the last 20 years; Populous (the first God Game, starting a genre), Syndicate and Dungeon Keeper with Bullfrog (RIP) and the Fable series and Black and White with Lionhead Studios. Godus is his new company, 22Cans' second game (the first being Curiosity – What's Inside the Cube?) and it is, as he is, quite ambitious. I booted it up yesterday (its "free") and straight away loved the visual style.


You can use your finger to stretch or shrink the layers, changing the landscape (although, unfortunately it seems that you are going to be spending most of your time trying to get everything to be flat so your followers can build something). A few times I couldn't get it to work on the iPad and the layer jumped away from me, but apparently there are still a few bugs that will soon be squashed. 


Like in previous games, you explore and learn and build - eventually you will be able to leave the island and meet other players. You get abilities for your followers with cards that unlock with stickers in small chests you find while exploring. During the first few minutes your hand is held pretty tight as you are led though a tutorial of sorts.


That world just looks great, check out those layers. I found myself wanting to see more of the world and even play this game as a RTS on my PC. Though, when it works, it works really well on the iPad. 


'Belief' (that little pink sum in the bottom left hand corner) is the currency in the game and will most likely be he reason for the IAPs - that and to speed-up build times. I look forward to playing a game that could really grow with me over time and through saving in the Cloud I could continue to play on my next device.


After what seemed like only half an hour the game was already asking me to rate the game, I felt like I had barely scratched the surface of the surface so this begging for a rating was definitely premature and I opted to do so "later." Directly after this the game surprises you with a login screen using either Mobage or Facebook (well done getting people to rate BEFORE that by the way).

After this though, the game keeps locking up on me and shutting down. I have tried a few things but it really does seem not to progress. I deleted it today and I might give it another try in a few weeks if I hear of some updates. Too bad, it looked really good and I want to know what all the fuss it about - I am still sad that I missed Curiosity, so I don't want to miss another!


Saturday, August 9, 2014

So Many Me (Ouya)


There have been a lot of new releases on the Ouya lately and one of them is the platformer "So Many Me." There's no demo for the game on the Ouya  (which is kind of strange) and I'm not about to spend $10 on a game that I have never heard of even if I do want to support the system and the developers.

Stranger more, while installing some Chrome extensions on the same day I saw that there was a Demo as an app in Chrome. So I turned it on for about 20 minutes.


You jump around as this little pea with legs activating buttons and using teleporters. You eventually bump into more of....you but with different personalities. I thought this was interesting because I was at one point writing a short story about a guy with split personalities that actually manifest into alternate versions of himself - erm, this game doesn't really go into that in the demo but at least you can use those little guys to do things like help you across large gaps or leave them behind to press buttons. Oh and they do have different personalities when they say something.


Apparently there are going to be different "forms" that you can take on during the game to through different barriers.  The game is definitely colourful and cute, perhaps a little too cute even for me.


Our little hero pea has to save a princess. Surprising.


There was a boss at the end of the demo that looked like something out of Plants vs. Zombies and as the demo came to an end I could tell that this wasn't a game for me. I have nothing really too negative to say about So Many Me, it had some funny parts in the demo but overall had that feel of 'seen-it-before' - maybe that's just something that's going to happen to me a lot now after 20+ years of gaming.

I think if my daughter was a little older I would get this game for her. It's rooted in some good gameplay mechanics even if they are executed a little too simply. Steam actually suggests that if you like 'So Many Me' then you might like 'Battleblock Theater' but I actually didn't really like that much either (bought it on the Xbox) so I guess that makes sense. There are quite a few people recommending it on Steam, so again, I guess it's just not my genre. I'd rather go back and play Super Meat Boy, Guacamelee, Braid or Mark of the Ninja again....

I hope it does well on the Ouya but I also hope that Extend Interactive doesn't blame the console for lack of sales.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Crawl (PC)


I just watched 22 seconds of this trailer and immediately stopped the video to buy this game. It sounds and looks great - and a dungeon crawler where your friends control the monsters? Genius. Pure and simple. Powerhoof - you've got my vote.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Shelter 2 (PC)


Might & Delight are a studio overdue for a big hit. They remind me of a baseball player who has that classic home-run swing, but is struggling - everyone knows though, once he connects it's going to be a big one.

Falling to really connect seems to be the key for Might & Delight. When people saw Pid they were blown away, but the gameplay was a let down. Shelter looked great again, it was a little on the short side for some and lacked replay value. Their games look so original and beautiful you just wanted to love them. This time with Shelter 2, they might be looking at the break-though success that they deserve. I hope so.



If the artwork and trailer are anything to go by it's going to be one of the most visually pleasing games of the year. I hope they have buffed up the gameplay to really give us something to sink our teeth into, or at least something to leave a real lasting impression. I really respect their tenacity in making a sequel to this game. They could have just gone back to the drawing board and tried another idea - but they knew that there is something more there to the idea of Shelter - just as I do. 

I enjoyed Shelter so much that I bought my wife a little badger mug as a souvenir, but as soon it was done I was jotting down ideas how to improve on their formula. One of my ideas was a sequel in which you could choose your own animal (maybe, a choice between 4 different animals). It seems that Might & Delight seem to have added more emphasis on exploring in this game where you will play a lynx this time around.

Their webpage says "Fall 2014" but Steam has it listed as "August 2014" - in any case we wont have to wait much longer to delve back into that quilted wonderland that Might & Delight created.

More information on Shelter 2.

Be sure to add it to your Steam Wishlist so you'll be notified as soon as it's released and in the meantime check out Shelter (the original).