Monday 21 January 2013

2D Voxel Madness (XBLIG) Review


 2D Voxel Madness is available now on the XBLIG Marketplace.

I never played the prequel to this game, Volchaos, so I am in no position to compare the two. I played this game as a stand-alone game, as when I first approached the developers that's what I understood it to be. I was soon corrected upon loading the game!

Now I have to just say this game is weird. I've just finished playing it and I'm still struggling to adequately put my thoughts into words for you. I'm not undecided on the game or anything, but I guess I don't have that much to say about it.

It's easy to see that this game could easily become a time-sink. Put it on for five minutes and there is a large possibility you'll still be sat there an hour later. If you don't know much about the game let me give you a quick overview. You're a little guy mining for diamonds and fighting off weird monsters. There doesn't seem to be an overall objective from what I could gather. You collect stuff, destroy stuff and can build stuff. It is like the most simplistic version of Minecraft ever.

Now I have to be honest and say I did struggle to see the point in playing this game. There is no rhyme or reason to it at all but it is not an horrific game. It's ok. And at 80MSP you can't really go wrong. I'm betting there are people out there that could do all sorts with this game, but personally I don't have the patience. It is a nice simple little game, but it does have scope for more if you're a more patient person, or have more time on your hands.

Graphically it's quite nice. It kept my daughters attention with the cartoony monsters anyhow. And the music is nice too. As I say theres nothing I hate about this game, but nothing really that stands out either.
5/10 TRY IT!
A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Sunday 20 January 2013

Black Knight Sword (XBLA) Review


Black Knight Sword is available now on the XBLA Marketplace for 800MSP.

Black Knight Sword is a 2D side-scrolling hack and slash game. But it is unlike any other I have played before, I'm still undecided whether this is a bad thing or not. I'm gonna begin this review by saying this game is intriguing...make of that what you will.

The art style is beautiful, in places it is really stunning. All of the game plays out on a kinda stage, complete with curtains around the screen. Curtains down when you pause, or die. It's a pretty neat little concept. The music as well is brilliant. It really fits the art style well and makes for pretty atmospheric gameplay. The voiceover is a little freaky, but again it does fit in. The loading screen continues the stage show theme by giving us a silhouette audience which is pretty cool.

So yeah that all sounds pretty good, right? And that bit is, but I still can't honestly tell you I enjoyed this game. I don't know whether it's because it's just a little too weird, or purely because I'm easily bored with hack and slash games. This game definitely is a button basher, there is no sense of needing any real tactics to this game, just bash and hope and you'll be fine.

This game is really weird. Item boxes, yeah they're in the form of microwaves. Yup, doesn't make any sense what-soever, but then neither does the game. It all feels really disjointed, like it was trying hard to be this weird. Nothing is really explained. The shop is one of the weirder moments. The first time you trigger the shop, by catching a little eye-thingy, a big eye pops onto the screen and thanks you for rescuing her child. Now to repay you she will sell you stuff, extra lives etc. STRANGE!

This game is beautiful, no one can take that away. It really is pretty stunning. But the gameplay is dull as dishwater. I found myself bored pretty sharpish and I had a headache. That's no fun.

And the JUMPING. Eurgh. I hate games that include jumps that are a little too big for a single jump so you have to double jump like an idiot all the way round the level. Irksome to say the least.

That being said I don't think everyone will hate this game. A fair amount of you will probably love it. If you're looking for something a little different, or love hack and slashers, definitely give this a try!
6/10 TRY IT!
A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Thursday 10 January 2013

Vampire Slayer FPS (XBLIG) Review


Vampire Slayer FPS is available now on the XBLIG Marketplace for 80MSP.

Vampires are cool right? Well this game gives you the choice of playing as them or against them, either online or with bots and the biggest thing you need to know about this game is that you should BUY IT! There review complete!

Just kidding, obviously I'll give you more than that. So here are some details.

Upon loading this game I have to admit to feeling a little disappointed at first. The graphics are pretty bad. BUT I overlooked this for the moment to see what else this title had to offer and I'm so glad I did! I chose to play as a Slayer in my first bot-match. And it was pretty damn scary! This is a game which I felt gave real credit to how difficult vampires would be to kill. They are frightening! I found myself cowering in the corner for a good part of my first match because all I could hear was the vampires creepy noise and all down my screen was a list of my team-mates being decimated by the vamps. No fair!

I mustered up the courage and was basically met by a vampire who seemed to appear from nowhere. I came off worse in that meeting. Renewed though I kept trying and eventually I could almost hold my own against them, so it was time to try out the Vampires themselves.

I had my suspicions upon loading this game that the vampires would be pretty hard to master. How right I was. I found myself constantly overthrowing where I wanted to be and again, was coming off worse. I was dying continuously!

Anyway long story short I feel this game provides more than enough of a challenge for most gamers. It's great to pick up and play for a quick match, but at the same time you could sink hours into trying to master it. Yes the graphics are bad BUT the game isn't and at 80MSP what does it even matter. We spend more than that on a bar of chocolate. Skip the choc for today and treat yourself to this instead!
9/10 BUY IT!
A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Red Bull Crashed Ice Kinect (XBLA) Review


Red Bull Crashed Ice Kinect is available now on the XBLA Marketplace for 400MSP.

 I need to start this review off by saying this mental game is based on a REAL-LIFE SPORTING EVENT. Yes some of you may be aware of that, I however was not and upon learning this I tweaked my score a little. Just a little mind.

So what happens is this. Your avatar gets all decked out in pads and you meet him at the top of an icy slope with ten tonnes of obstacles in the way. Make your way round them faster than anybody else.

As the title shows, this is a Kinect title so if you are a gamer that is averse to moving anything but your digits look away now. This game is a pretty good work out. To gain speed you have to swing your arms about, something my three year old found VERY amusing to watch. Duck obstacles, hop onto others and block your face to get through walls and that's about it.

This game is good fun. But it does get old pretty quickly. As is now usual I find with Kinect titles the tracking is a little off and at one point this game seemed to be tracking a lamp in the corner of my living room. And lets be honest here, sometimes a Kinect only title is just REALLY what you don't wanna play, right? You have to be in the right frame of mind to play Kinect and if you just want a bit of active fun go for this. It's cheap and cheerful at just 400MSP and will provide a bit of fun. A hell of a lot more than some other Kinect titles though! At this price you can definitely afford to give this game a go!
7/10 TRY IT!
A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Wednesday 9 January 2013

Three Dead Zed (XBLIG) Review


Three Dead Zed is available now on the XBLIG Marketplace for 80MSP.

 Ok so even if you're the biggest Zombie-nerd ever you could be getting tired of the endless Zombie clones finding their way on to your Xbox. Nothing feels new anymore with Zombies (except The Walking Dead) there doesn't seem to be much creativity in them anymore, right?

Wrong! Three Dead Zed is a zombie game with n actual difference. Albeit a few slight ones but still it is NOT a carbon copy!

This game has coupled HUMOUR with ZOMBIES. No, you didn't read that wrong. They have made Zombies funny. Whilst this may be refreshing for some, I can imagine some of the more hardcore zombie-fans getting pretty annoyed right now. To be honest I thought I would hate a humorous take on Zombies to but this game doesn't totally stink.

Basically some scientists are trying to create a smart Zombie. You play as three of their creations. You morph between them to suit the levels needs. The first one, default Zombie can flick switches, the second can run pretty fast and bounce off walls. The third one is a heifer that can crush pretty much anything, or at the very least move it out of your way.

Graphically it is impressive, it's done in a real nice cartoony comic style. It does look a lot better than a lot of indie games. Unfortunately this can not be said for the controls. I am not normally one to just slate controls in games but this one is ridiculous. The controls are all over the place. There are more than a few points in that game that had me annoyed. The running zombie on all fours can cling onto walls and jump onto the next. Sometimes this works great, but at other times he would only bounce off the wall if you hit a teeny tiny bit of the wall. Irritating.

It is a pretty fun game though. It is pretty short-lived fun though with the problems it has at the minute. I found myself getting too irritated to carry on a few times, and I struggled with motivation to attempt it again because of the poor controls. I do like the system of weaknesses and strengths in different Zombies though, and feel like this game pays enough attention to each Zombies shortfalls.

Overall this game is a pretty good idea executed pretty poorly. With a few patches though I think you should give it a try. It is good fun, sometimes.
5/10 TRY IT!
A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Thursday 3 January 2013

Code Breaker (XBLIG) Review


Code Breaker is available now on the XBLIG Marketplace for 80MSP.

I know there are a lot of people that don't see the point in games like these. But give them a chance people! They keep your brain active and are actually pretty fun. Obviously you aren't gonna spend hours immersed in a game like this, but it's easy to pick up and play for a quick battle against a friend or computer.

The point of the game is simple, solve the code in as few moves as possible. There will be a green light under it if it is correct, a yellow light if it appears in the code but not quite there and a red light if you're completely barking up the wrong tree.

Quick, simple fun for when your killing half an hour. At just 80MSP there really is no reason to pick this one up. The art style is nice, like a notepad with lots of scribbles on in the background and the game itself is good fun.
8/10 BUY IT!
A code was provided for the purpose of this review.