Indie Finds - Super Amazing Wagon Adventure

When I saw the folks over at Giant Bomb do a Quick Look of this Xbox Live Indie Title, I knew I was in for a treat.

Super Amazing Wagon Adventure is a game by Sparsevector in the vein of old Oregon Trail games. You even need to hunt for animals to stock up on food for your journey (the best part of Oregon Trail, in my opinion).

That's where the comparison ends.

What you'll embark on is a fast-paced journey across space and time in a saga of survival, loss, ninjas, zombies, dinosaurs, unicorns, dragons, and more (yes, there's more).

I'll admit that I've spent hours with this game (don't judge me), and have yet to see its end.

You'll unlock new wagons for your journey along with a handful of survival modes to test your skill. The weapons are also plentiful here, ranging from a dismal pistol to a flamethrower to a trained falcon, and everything in-between.

The Atari-esque art aesthetic is awesome, and the soundtrack is pretty dang impressive. You can also switch between normal viewing or a CRT mode, for an extra dash of nostalgia.

The value that you get when you spend 80 Microsoft Points (approx. $1.00) on this game is insane. If you have a few extra points, please click here and show your support. If you'd like to pick this up on the PC, Sparsevector has a link here that'll get you the game for the PC for $2.99. The game has also been submitted to Steam for their Greenlight program. Click here to make sure this great title shows up on Steam!

Marvel: Avengers Alliance

While I'm waiting to finish my second game of Game Fest 2013, I need to talk about a Facebook game. I typically don't waste my time with social gaming. Marvel: Avengers Alliance is my one exception.

Avengers Alliance is a chapter-based combat game. It follows the established social game formula of utilizing a reservoir of energy, where each combat encounter costs a fixed amount. The combat is turn-based, very similar to early Final Fantasy.

I like the game for a few reasons. The Marvel license really helps here, with the pool of included characters being fantastic. Many social games are designed to hide what you want most out of the game behind a payment barrier. In other words, if you want to play as much as you want, you have to pay for it. To get the best loot right now, you have to buy it. Avengers Alliance doesn't put a lot of its content behind a payment, which I appreciate. What it does do, is allow you to acquire the higher cost characters and loot through playtime. The idea of acquiring the best through an investment of time rather than money, is a social game formula I hope more companies utilize.

I use Facebook a lot. I also like to support social games. Avengers Alliance gets my time because I don't have to bug my friends or shell out money to feel like I'm getting the most out of it.

Give it a try. If you feel like joining the Alliance, look me up!

Call of Duty: Black Ops II - 2013 Game Fest - Game 1

The second Call of Duty offering by Treyarch Studios is their best yet.

No one can deny the innovations that the COD franchise has brought to the competitive multiplayer arena in video games. Black Ops II delivers once again on the COD competitive multiplayer package. Multiplayer, however, is not where Black Ops II shines.

The real gem of Call of Duty: Black Ops II is its campaign.

A COD single-player campaign, I believe, consistently delivers on one thing: hollywood-style, edge-of-your-seat thrill-rides. As the player, you hold your controller and allow the game designers to take you down whatever road they have planned for you. The game infers a sense of urgency upon you, and if you don't move quickly, lives will be lost. In the end, you can't really fail. If you don't breach and clear a room properly, you'll be able to do it again. If a captor executes a hostage, you'll get another chance to take him out.

Black Ops II effectively takes away your safety net. The desperation behind your actions is very real. The execution of a prisoner with key intel in the past will change the outcome of a critical mission in the future. Failing to stop a terrorist from escaping with a hostage will prevent that hostage from helping you stop a very real terrorist threat. Not moving fast enough during the raid of a drug lord's mansion will result in the destruction of crucial documents.

Black Ops II is refreshing. If Infinity Ward can keep up with the standard set by Treyarch,  then I believe we'll continue to see great things from this franchise.

The Walking Dead, and the moment after.

I literally just finished The Walking Dead by Telltale Games.

I just saw the credits roll five minutes ago. I've left the world of Lee and Clementine, and put to rest the people I left along the way. How do I feel? Empty...but I feel like that's a good thing.

The only other experience I've had with The Walking Dead is through the AMC show. My wife and I watch it, and we talk at length about this desolate world these people live in and the impossible situations they have to deal with. As I reflect on that experience, I compare it with what I just went through and they don't even begin to compare.

I chose who to save in a Macon Drugstore.

I decided, amongst women and children, who got to eat one day.

I put a man's brother to rest.

I decided what was best for a little girl in a world where I was all she had left.

This game is setting a standard for player choice. There has been player choice in other games, but this one is different. I think the subject matter has something to do with it, but where this game shines is how it reflects upon you as a person.

Lee doesn't have a whole lot of definition as a protagonist in this game. You know minimal details about his past, but the rest? You have to fill in the blanks. You fill it in with your goodness. Your moral fiber. The content of YOUR character. There's really not a whole lot of black and white here. Who is Lee Everett? He is who you are...and that's what matters.

Set some time to yourself. Alone. Play The Walking Dead.

Note: This game contains gore, violence, and harsh language. For any parent, please read the ESRB rating before playing any game.

Game Fest 2013 - A Year of Review

This blog has been neglected for too long.

I've been wondering for a long time, "What am I doing with this thing?" It was meant to be something that would help me get into the industry as a game designer. I'm to the point now where I don't care what the job is. I just want a job in the games industry somewhere.

My wife is the better blogger than me. She does a fantastic job over at her Touching Paper blog, and I wanted her help to make mine better than it is. So I made an early New Year's Resolution along with a few changes.

First, reviews will start on a regular basis at the beginning of the year. Among my family and friends, I would say I am one who knows a lot about games and feel as though I could be fair enough to give people information as to what to buy and to play. I will do my best to write my reviews to explain games like I was speaking to them. Reviews, in general, I think are a hard thing to do. You always trust good movie and book recommendations from people you know, but in the end, if you want to read or watch something, you'll do it anyway. I hope that as you read this, you'll start to understand who I am and what I like and go from there.

Second, I hope to try and shed some light on a few things around the business that people might not know. Much like the general public knows the names of Steven Spielberg or James Cameron, I hope that you'll get to know names like Peter Molyneux or Shigeru Miyamoto.

Third, I've decided to do something I'm calling Game Fest. It's something that I'll do throughout 2013, and what this means is that I'm filling my Gamefly queue (50 games at a time) and playing through as many games that I possibly can in a whole year. If they are great, that'll make this easier. However, this isn't meant to play great games the whole year. It's meant to help me learn from as many different games that I can.

Well, that covers that for now. In the upcoming months, I hope to get a fresh coat of paint on this thing and see if I can squeeze out a review or two before the end of the year.

They call it a mine...a mine!

Hey all!

I know that it's been almost a year since my last post, but what a year it has been! Enough about me though, let me tell you about my latest craze in gaming.

Minecraft


Now I typically don't do a whole lot of PC/Mac gaming these days. Whenever I happen to have a free moment (and I don't happen to be hanging out with my wife) I enjoy a good console game. After my time with Minecraft, however, I'm here to tell you that there are some great things to be played on your computer.

Minecraft is a sandbox construction game that was created by Markus "Notch" Persson. I first came to know about it a little less than a year ago. The interesting thing about this game is that it technically isn't even released yet. When I picked it up, it was still in its Alpha stage and just recently reached its Beta stage of production. Markus has built the game by himself, but with people buying into the game and aiding its production, Markus has been able to start up his own company and facilitate the game's production further.

How does it play?


Minecraft is fun to play. Hands down. Now you might read this post, go look up Minecraft, and think something else. That's okay, Minecraft might not interest everyone. Before you write it off, let me tell you this one story.

During your time in the world of Minecraft, you will get a new world tailored to you every time you start a fresh game. As you explore, you'll need to craft tools and find materials essential to your survival. During my first experience, I was mining away at some stone in one of the naturally formed caves near my shelter I had created. As I chipped away, I noticed that the space behind the stone was hollow. As I watched this occur on the screen, the soothing melody of the music that played in the background continued, and I knew I had made an incredible discovery. I used my Pick to chip further and further down until I reached the stone floor below. Using the torches I had crafted to light my way, I realized that the stone floor I came upon was part of a larger, more expansive cavern equipped with it's own underground waterfall.

Now if that experience is something you don't want to have happen to you, then don't play Minecraft.

Why you won't see a review of Star Ocean: The Last Hope...

I typically like the console RPG. I have fond memories of playing Final Fantasy on the Super Nintendo and I have loved the adventures I used to go on with these great characters. I've always loved a good story, especially how some RPGs tell that story.

Until now.

I think I literally played Star Ocean for about twenty minutes or so before I slapped all three disks back into its Gamefly envelope to be sent back from whence it came. Visually, I thought Star Ocean was great. Bright, vibrant colors made the game quite a thing to look at. Movement really took some time to get used to, and I was okay with that.

It really came down to the core element in any game: gameplay. Tutorials are nothing new when it comes to any game. Star Ocean had tedious tutorial menus that were no fun whatsoever to play. I went through the first of seven other tutorials, and couldn't take it any longer...I had to get to the action. As much as I wanted to get into an adventure in space exploration, I just couldn't...I had to watch a cutscene. And another cutscene. And...well, you get the idea. By the time I got to someplace that wasn't my ship, I had no idea were to go. I had given up.

My philosophy is to typically play through any game (no matter how bad it is) and give a review on my blog on the highs and lows. Maybe later, I'll get back into this space exploration adventure and glean what I can from the experience. Right now, however, I've got homework to do.

In the meantime, here's what the good folks at GameTrailers thought of it: Star Ocean: The Last Hope Review

Assassin's Creed

Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
PC, Xbox 360, PS3, DS, Mobile
Level of Difficulty: 3.5 out of 5
ESRB Rating: M for Mature

1UPs: Very compelling story! The idea that your DNA contains the memories of your ancestors is incredible...and the cherry on top is that the main character's ancestor was a Crusades-era assassin is awesome. The design makes you feel like you are a killing machine of incredible skill. It's definately fun to play.

Goombas: The downside to all that is that it's probably good for a playthrough. There are numerous flags strewn throughout the game and if you're a completionist, then it would be good for another playthrough to get those. The "blend" mechanic is also not properly done. I could silently kill two guards standing next to each other, and not alert the guards as long as I was blended.

Rent or Buy: Buy - I'd recommend this for a buy, but with some stipulations. If you get hooked on this story (which is really unique and inventive in my opinion) then you'll enjoy having this game in your collection to play once a year or so. Otherwise, one to two times through the game will probably be enough to get the gist of what's going on.

On a related note, the sequel will be coming November 17th, 2009. Assassin's Creed II takes place in the Italian Rennaissance and features a new assassin, Ezio. Check back here for a review as soon as it's available!

Price: $19.99 - $27.99 depending on platform.

Shadow Complex

Publisher: Epic Games
Developer: Chair Entertainment
Available only on XBLA
Level of Difficulty: 3.5 out of 5
ESRB Rating: T for Teen

1UPs: The game adds a facelift to the side-scroller and gives you a large playground to explore and to kick the collective behind of the entire Restoration Army. Collectibles and varied levels of difficulty are a big plus to a fun downloadable thrill ride.

Goombas: From what I've seen, the only draw back has been some graphical issues. I noticed one issue during the ending cutscene, but other than that the game plays very well. Although the voice acting is phenomenal, it seems as though the plot wasn't too distinguished. I've read Empire, which the game is based in, so I knew what was going on. If you haven't read the book though, you might get lost from only the story that is described in the game.

Buy or Try: Buy - The game is a blast to play. With a nice throwback to Super Metroid, you can tell that the designers knew the best elements of such a distinguished game. For the price and the replay value, this is probably the best original XBLA download I've ever seen.

Price: 1200 Microsoft Points

Braid

Publisher: Number None, Inc.

Developer: Number None, Inc., 2008

XBLA, PC/MAC

Level of Difficulty: 4.5 out of 5
ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+ (E10+)

1UPs: Mind-bending puzzles that require you to alter the flow of time. Amazing artwork and serene music set the stage, while the written story is entertaining to read.

Goombas: Not much to say in the negative sense here, except that the ending didn't make a whole lot of sense to me...but that's just me.

Buy or Try: Buy - This one is going to go down as a classic. If you're a fan of any game, you really need to pick this one up. It's the perfect mix of just enough challenge and just enough reward.

Price: 1200 Microsoft Points