80 Days (Steam) - Review

80 Days is available now on Steam and is priced at £6.99.

I've spent all day playing this game - well a good seven hours of my day - which considering I own Fallout 4 and Star Wars Battlefront is a pretty big deal. Something about it just kept me going.

80 days sees you become Philes Fogg's valet, Passepartout, as you try and circumnavigate the globe in 80 days. You must find routes from place to place, look after Fogg's health and make the money necessary for your travels as you try and win the Fogg's bet.

I have yet to do it in the required 80 days. On my 1st attempt I did it in 95 days which I didn't think was too bad for a first run. On my second play through I had gotten to Yokohama in 25 days, but then had to wait for ages for a bank loan and then the bank to re-open after the weekend. Gutted. I managed that in 93 days.

I think what is just so addictive about this game is the need to do it in 80 days. I feel compelled to do it now, and can't imagine I will leave this game alone until I have done. The writing in the game is brilliant, I honestly didn't expect to find it as entertaining as I did. The story is great and takes loads of different paths. At times it reminded me of the 'create your own adventure' books I had as a child - no bad thing - and I half expected to be told I was stabbed in the street the moment I turned my back if I picked the wrong dialogue option.

The game tracks all of your attempts too and shows the routes you have taken on a globe in the menu. When you do go in for another try (which you will!) you are shown your previous routes. At first this confused me and I didn't realise I hadn't opened that route in this game yet, leading to a few wasted days. But once you realise what is happening it's a great way to maximise the amount of cities you've visited.

In my opinion 80 Days is really pretty cheap for the amount of fun you can have it with it. If you're hankering for a challenge then grab it now. But everyone should at least put this in their Steam Wishlist and wait for a sale. You won't regret it.

9/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review. 

Planets Under Attack (XBLA) Review

Planets Under Attack is available now on the XBLA Marketplace for 1200MSP.

I love strategy games, but until I recently received XCOM I never enjoyed them on console. DS = Great, iPad = Great, PC = Great, Console = severely lacking That's usually how strategy games make me feel.

This game isn't as bad as many, many other attempts at strategy on console. But it isn't all that great either. It can feel like you are totally being snowed under sometimes and the game becomes a constant battle to keep up with yourself.

IT'S 3D is what my boyfriend yelled when first launching the game. He's right. And the 3D is VERY impressive. The planets do really look like they're floating around in the room with you. It's very strange. I have to be honest I'm not such a mad fan of 3D, it strains my eyes fairly quickly, but it is nice to be given the option. And the graphics are beautiful!

Each stage or level has loads of planets, some are moving about in orbit and others are stationary. Capture the neutral and enemy planets and bobs your uncle. You can then upgrade them to suit your galactic needs best, be it population increase, making more fleets, money makers or just plain old defense. You don't control your armies or anything like that, it is not a totally in-depth strategy game, you just choose how many of your ships to throw at a planet in an attempt to take it over.

Then the game for me anyway, all starts to fall apart. Not necessarily in a bad way. But I am naturally quite a stressed person. Couple that with OCD tendencies and this game plays havoc with my head. As I mentioned before i felt like I was always chasing my tail, I couldn't keep up, for what felt like ages, with what I needed to be doing and what was happening. Stressful!

Be that as it may though, once you get into the swing of things and you've worked out your strategy (duh) this game is fun. Difficult to get into, but even more difficult to put down. Anyone who has even once enjoyed a strategy game should probably pick this one up.

8/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.