110 public reviews
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Lume is indie adventure game developed by State of Play which consists of two British gentleman. The game was nominated for Excellence in Visual Art at this years (2012) IGF Awards, loosing to Dear Esther . Lume tells a short story of girl named Lume is visiting his puzzle-obsessed grandfather. No, this doesn't take place in Professor Layton or Scoggins. But might as well. Lume is main objective is simply to restore…
Someone who has soft spot for pixelated indie puzzle platformers the premises here sure sounds good. Add to the fact there isn't really another game with similar gameplay idea out there. Sure plenty of puzzle platformers , but not in the same way as this. Objective is simple, collect hearts and find an exit. Where this gets tricky is that the game screen is divided into small sections like a comic book strips.…
ThruSpace is somewhat innovative puzzle game for Wiiware platform. I am using word somewhat here since game uses Tetris blocks. Which hardly is original. Also the puzzle description can only be used loosely here. The main idea of the game is to control one Tetris block (or a Keydrons as its called here) through a set of walls. Each wall has a specific shaped hole which the block must be guided through. The Keydron…
Recently I was given an opportunity to have a play through of sequel to No More Heroes from 2007. First game was somewhat enjoyable game. It had few minor complaints, but all and all it is a good game, even still. NMH 2 follows up more of the same. Story picks up few years after the events on the first game. A tragic event causes the hero Travis Touchdown to be involved with the UAA organization again. UAA which…
OK this has nothing to do with Asterix . Nor tower defense, which was my impression of this game for some reason.This is Qix. They added dragons, cannons and power-ups, but it is still good old Qix. Dragonix On the original Qix and its countless clones&remakes the idea is always the same. Player must claim the screen by drawing boxes/fencing off sections of the screen while dodging random moving object in middle of…
Nikola Tesla is a popular videogame character. His inventions are ideal for crazy stories that video games often have. Tesla - Weather Man is developed by two man indie studio called: Thoughtquake Studios. Game is available on Gamersgate for ~£2 (or ~$3). Game can be also bought for a similar price directly from the developers. Link here . Game can be categorized under the platformer genre. More specifically physics…
Art Style games which were called Bit Stream games back on the GBA days have pretty much all received a updated version. Such as light trax which (originally dotsream on GBA)has been done for the Wiiware and gotten a 3D perspective. Don't get all too excited though. This is still minimalist and stylish arcade fun. The basic premises of light trax is simple. You are controlling a white line who needs to compete…
Cheap to start an review with a comparison analogy. So here goes, I will do just that. Toki Tori can be considered to be a mix of Lemmings and Braid. A puzzle platform in other words. Comparison to Braid is not really accurate since original Toki Tori was released 10 years ago for Game Boy Color. The PC and Mac version got its release almost 10 years later (2010). Quite an long life for a such mediocre game. Purpose…
The Fantasy Wars name doesn't leave doubt what this game is about. Fantasy themed turn-based strategy is of course the idea behind here. Actually not too different from Heroes of Might and Magic and Disciples series. Can not really distinguish the difference further since I've played only the early version of these aforementioned games. My version of Fantasy Wars is from the fine people of Good Old Games . Game is…
Aztaka's developer is called Citérémis. This Canadian indie dev claims to be one of the first solar powered gaming studios. Their twitter boasts also a Fairtrade brand. Surely you can not get more indie than that? Gameplay and genre is not as far out there as the French-Canadian Fair-Trade studio would imply. Traditional 2D platformer is the main idea behind here. Setting is in old Mesoamerican ( Aztec ) theme in…
Continuing my journey off the beaten indie-track, more specifically the XBLIG trail. Once in a blue moon, this platform has a proper gem as well. “Pun intended”. This is definitely the case with Epic Dungeon. The game was part of 2010 Indie uprising. After all this time I find myself coming back to this still. Quite a good value for something that cost meager 80MS points. Epic Dungeon is old school dungeon-crawler,…
I am sucker for cheap games. Steam , of course is ideal for this thanks to their generous sales. In one these Port Royale 2 found it's way to my cart and ever growing library. Still (foolishly) imagining to play all of these games one day. Port Royale 2 is Pirates themed business simulator. Not too different to the excellent Pirates! game which some of the older geezers might remember from the C64 days. Not that…
Numen: Contest of Heroes is an action roleplaying game. Developed by small indie developer called Cinemax, hailing from Czech Republic. Game is available on Steam, Impulse and Desura. Like most of the games on Steam Numen has gone through one of Steam's generous sales already. At one point going only for mere £2/$2/€2. Including my copy. Setting in Numen takes in ancient Greece . With it's rich mythology is ideal…
No doubt Sonic franchise has gone through lot of abuse during the years. Luckily for us few remaining fans, the last couple of games (ignoring that Kinetic effort) have shown some signs of improvements. First Sonic Episode 4 with it back to roots approach and then Sonic Colors month later with even more of that pure platform joy. The infamous Sonic Cycle came to everyone's mind when Sonic Colours was announced…
Here is my effort of reviewing this strange game. Effort used in sense that I need to restrain myself and consider this as a videogame not a process document for my work. Interesting fact about the creator of this game is. The fact that Zachtronics Industries is the creator of precessor to Minecraft with it's Infiniminer game. Zachtronics have since that done bunch Flash games based on different logic puzzle based…
Treasure Treasure is a PC freeware game from 2008. The Xbox 360 Live Indie game version is more or less the same game. Only notable difference seems to be the fact that the Xbox 360 version has 21 treasures where PC version has only 20. By looking at the screenshots one might mistake this to be an original Gameboy game. The gameplay also points to this retro direction with simple platform gameplay. Difference to any…
Original Lugaru was released back in 2005 and this is apparent from the screenshots. Despite the HD treatment few years later the game looks rather crude today. Lugaru was included in the 2010's Indie Humble Bundle which is where I got my version from. Idea with martial arts anthropomorphic IE. rabbit with swords what Lugaru island is populated with is not exactly new. Name-dropping Usagi Yojimbo a comic book and…
So, Archon was a classic Commodore 64 game that can be loosely categorized as action battle chess. Game was presented with a chess like board. Each player having their own side and set of characters. Or pieces as its called in chess. Objective is to clear the opponents pieces simply. The pieces loosely follow chess rules as well. Front row is armed with knights or ogres which is the disposable unit with only single…
Big Brain Wolf is an indie puzzle/adventure game available on Steam . Theme in the game revolves around classical fairytale's as the title indicate. Player is in control of an genie in training, who also happens to be a wolf. And is ridiculed by his wolf community for being a vegetarian. Action takes place on the wolf trying get her mother free. Who has been framed for an murder. Catching the real perpetrator and…
WET is one strange game. It is stylish and borrows lots of cool elements from other popular games. For example bullet time from Max Payne , parkour style running from Mirrors Edge and vehicular battle in moving car ala Pursuit Force . Plus tons of more. Not the most original game and I can live with that. Had this only been a fun game. The strange thing here is game manages absolutely on every form make a mess. That…
Thankfully the overused song in the title does not exist in Brutal Legend. Double Fine delivered this heavy metal inspired action game in 2009. It might not be fair to categorize it as just an action game since there are lots of elements from RTS, racing and even brawler games. Eddie Riggs is our main protagonist who is voiced by and roughly modelled on Jack Black . Eddie is a roadie who gets involved with ancient…
As a child of the 80's Turtles have special place in my heart. This is franchise that has more or less always been handled pretty well. Even the remake series was good. Worst treatment have been maybe the movie's. The four green shelled ninjas that borrow names from historical Italian masters are as eager after pizza as they were back in the 80's. This is actually a remake of a old SNES game Turtles in Time . Which…
Read the full review Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled
Originally Eversion was a freeware PC game. It has received a graphical overhaul, new secrets and a price tag on it's Steam version. Which I had chance of playing recently. I would recommended playing the game without reading a single review. This is because of the layer mechanism that is way cooler without any knowledge of it. Well too late now. Start with this.. Eversion is a traditional 2D platform/puzzle game.…
Joe Danger is one of the few top high profile PSN games. Developed by four man team Hello Games and was released in 2010. This was a good year for indie games and Joe Danger is no doubt right on top of the best games list. Would have done even better had it not been a PSN exclusive game. Gameplay for this light hearted arcade racer/puzzle might not be the most original one. Excitebike from 1984 already had the same…
Crossfire 2 is one of the top titles from winter 2010 Indie Game Winter Uprising campaign. Which was an effort for putting more focus on some of the more better XBLA Indie games. Radiangames are known for their quality indie games and this is no different. I haven't played the first game but judging from the videos this seems to more of the same. Purple line is the Superfire It would be crime not mentioning Space…
.. we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.. cue Iron Maiden's: Aces High Aces High with it's fast tempo and theme around dogfighting would be a fitting song to…
This is a remake of an old NES game which I didn't know even existed. Had I not known that this was a remake of old classic I would have thought that this is a indie game. It has similar simplistic feel as many indie platforms tend to have. Also the varying game mechanism with the different beans make this stand out from the standard fare. Story is non-existent. Boy finds a crashed spaceship in the forest. And meets…
Super Meat Boy is one of the major indie games of 2010. This is very surprising especially when looking at the difficulty level of this game. This is literally is right on the top of the hardest games ever. Right in line with N+ or Splosion Man . Similarities to other 2010 top indie game VVVVVV can be also found in the short stages and the retro look. Game bears resemblances to 8bit gaming times in all fronts of the…
There is something very addicting on going through piles of loot while looking for the next best item. This was of course properly introduced to us all with the fabulous Diablo games. Runic Games have taken the same formula and perfected it even further. And added virtual pet ! Torchlight was first released as a downloadable game first which made me miss the game completely. Year later thanks to various…
Flight Control is yet another of those high selling IOS games. Firemint , the developers of this game realised that this would work fine on a PC/MAC and mouse well and made a HD version for Steam. Game got thrown straight away to Steam 's infamous sales. And made lot's of suckers to be a 5min virtual air traffic controller. Like the undersigned here. Premiss here is very simple. Player is control of a air strip, or…
End of 2010 is closing and Bayonetta keeps on popping up on various top 10 games of the year list. My Bayonetta copy has been sitting on the shelf for months and seeing how few actual 2010 titles my own list has wanted to see what the hassle with this game was about. Bayonetta can be categorized as a third person action game. It has number of different gameplay mechanism. Such as shooting, brawling and some aspects…
Recently when reviewing Sonic Episode 4 I made statement saying that there were no bad 2D Sonic games. Remembered that there was actually one game I had not played yet made me go back to this. Sonic Rush Adventure or Sonic Rush 2. This is the 5th 2D Sonic game in modern platforms. GBA having 3 and DS 2. The Hub I am certain there is no Sonic fan who can argue that the quality of Sonic games has gone down since he…
The developer behind Shatter is New Zealand based Sidhe Interactive . Sidhe's most notable game is the multiplatform game GripShift. Which was an original puzzle racer platformer game. round != fun Shatter in other hands lends a lot from Pong , Breakout or Arkanoid . Which should be in some form familiar to any gamer. This is of course a basic block-breaking action. Shatter comes with some new additions and updated…
The early Xbox 360 zombie killing simulator took its time to come top of my to-be-played pile. After playing Case Zero it would have been better to be kept there.. For some reason I had an impression that this game didn't have lot's of a story. Even after playing Case Zero earlier which had a nice and short tale. The protagonist Frank West goes to investigate small city of Willamette . Roads have been blocked but…
Shadow Complex is a modern take on traditional 2D platform game. Released in 2009 for XBLA. The game is considered to be one the better games of XBLA . Also ideal for a quick afternoon playthrough. Orson Scott Card , the author of one the greatest sci-fi literature is in charge of the story in Shadow Complex. Jason and Claire are a couple who have gone trekking. Claire gets kidnapped and is taken in to shadowy…
This funnily named indie base jumping game from 2009 has been available in Steam for a good while now. As with many Steam indie games AaaaaA! has been in many sales as well. There was one such recently where I picked up my copy. One of the cooler looking levels So base jumping simulator is the name of the game here. Player is controlling a jumper that is viewing the world from third person perspective. Goal is to…
Read the full review AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!: A Reckless Disregard for Gravity
Cave Story, created by one man band Pixel Studio is a cult PC indie game that has seen a commercial acknowledgement in 2010 by getting released on Nintendo 's downloadable services . The changes from the PC version are not so different and one might wonder why pay for something that is available for free. Well first of all this is a indie game and the original creator Mr.Pixel (or Nicalis the company who ported…
Man can not to talk about Chime and not mention Lumines or Tetris. Chime lends the blocks from Tetris , the grid and the general feel taken from Lumines. Chime has also more similarities to Lumines. Both are music themed puzzle games. The purpose of Chime is to colour the game grid completely. This is done by using Tetris-type blocks for creating 3x3 shapes. These are called quads. A tracker like bar is sweeping…
Brainpire: A Plungle to Unhumanity is an award winning indie game with psychadelic visuals and a unique audio track. And.., well that's about it. Gameplay is a very simple onrails-tunnel dodging action. The player is controlling a vessel of sorts that is travelling through a pipe. Multiple obstacles and hindrances need to be avoided. The game's ten levels are randomly generated, each with their own trippy visuals.…
It is difficult to look at a new Sonic game and ignore all the terrible 3D efforts they made previously. Although if you choose to ignore all these 3D games it does not look too bad. All of the 2D GBA and DS game's have been pretty good. Sega has finally realised this and made a brand new 2D console game for downloadable platforms. This game is back to basics with a retro action and feel. No idiotic stories or…
When looking at a screenshot or video of And Yet It moves it is apparent that this is a indie game. Visuals look like these are just thrown together without lot's of time or effort. Broken Rules , the developers behind the game simply didn't have a graphics artist when making this game. This doesn't change the fact that this is still a very good game. At least on Wii . Game's idea is to control the Fido Dido…
Zen Bound 2 is a sequel to a early iPhone hit game Zen Bound . The term game used lightly here. Sequel hitting Steam with low price sparked my interested to check this out. Before venturing any further it can be safely said that Zen Bound 2 is much more of a video game than the first Zen Bound was. For anyone who has not played the first game, the premises of Zen Bound 2 is following: A rope is nailed to a three…
Danish IO Interactive is of course most know for their Hitman franchise. This is their first game in a new franchise where stars are: Mister Kane and Mister Lynch . Game play is story driven first person shooter with cover/squad mechanism. Story starts with a heist like action and then turns into a revenge mission. In the end story becomes a rescue flick. Not really original and interesting other than the observing…
Playstation 1 has always been a oddball for me. Besides the couple of major titles I've managed always to miss their exclusive titles. Such as this classic stealth action game from 1998. Decided to hook up my old Playstation and pop-in the game for first play-through . Here is my view of this experience. Hideo Kojima , the creator has since this game made a big name of creating massive storylines and cutscene heavy…
Will admit this straight away. I am not really a good poker player. In the company this game offers I don't really need to be either. When playing against people you never know what to expect and too often you end up leaving the table with less money you started with. Well not with this game. Telltale have taken Texas Hold'em with a all-star cast and planted these to a fictional bar called The Inventory. The cast…
This a number puzzle game from TrueThought that can be bought on Steam amongst other online distributors. Casual, this game is a casual game. There, I said it. Although that Everyday Genius name might give it away earlier. The casual brand comes from the simple game-play, design abd from the forgiving game-play mechanism. Same time if the numbers are your thing and you are looking for a challenge this game can offer…
Before Super Meat Boy fame Edmund McMillen used to work for Chronic Logic . where he made this game with couple of other chaps. Gish is a award winning indie platform game from 2004. Six year later it appeared on Indie Humble Bundle and same time was made open source . The bundle being reason why this found it's way to my harddisk for the very first time just recently. This is no traditional platform game. Gish ,…
EA's ice-hockey games have entertained since 1991. This being the twentieth anniversary game. For many including myself the third game from 1994 is special version and to be honest a last game that I used tons of time. Ice-hockey being very popular sport in Finland and Sweden and seeing how my friends were raving about the game thought I give the franchise a new shot. First impression after booting the game and…
