Review Category: Games

Review: Strange Loves – Hex Boyfriends / Publisher: Tin Man Games / Platform: Android App / Release Date: Out Now

The urban fantasy/paranormal romance genre is one that has been steadily growing for the last couple of decades or so. You know the drill; modern day settings, supernatural happenings bubbling on under the surface mixed up with the usual “boy meets girl” style story that’s been told since stories began. The success of both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight has broadened the audience so greatly that it’s almost mainstream these days, and can be found in everything; books, TV dramas, theatre productions and of course, phone apps.

Hex Boyfriends is an interactive adventure game book that you play on your phone. Those familiar with Fighting Fantasy and the like should be familiar with the format; rather than a regular linear novel, this is a book that changes depending on the choices that you make. You take the role of a young person at college, who is on the lookout for a hot new boyfriend. (The game let’s you play as a boy or a girl, but your character is a person who happens to be romantically attracted to men; the clue is in the name.) You happen to be a witch, and of course you end up dating someone with a similar interest. Some choices will end up with your death (dating is always tricky) and others will give you a much worse fate. Happy endings are possible, but like in real life, you’ll have to work for it.

The mix of humour, romance and paranormal terror is very well done here. Though light and fun-filled, some of the scenes are genuinely sweet, whereas others work very hard to scare the reader. There is a smorgasbord of romantic and supernatural clichés on display here and that’s exactly what you should demand from this sort of thing; nothing too heavy, but it isn’t afraid to land the odd punch or two. Other Tin Man games have features that emulate the dice-rolling fun of adventure games books, and Hex Boyfriends doesn’t have these, as it is more focused on story-driven results than beating up monsters. This is the right call, and makes the story flow much more smoothly.

This is perfect for anyone looking to get the Twilight or Charmed fan in their lives to broaden their horizons a little more, and will also appeal to those fond of romantic fiction and supernatural stories. It’s deep enough to survive multiple replays and doesn’t have too much repetition between choices. Recommended for those looking for a bit of Halloween fun.

Developer: Quantic Dream / Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment / Director: David Cage / Writer: David Cage / Platform: PlayStation 3 / Release Date: Out Now

If Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is one end of the video game storytelling spectrum, Beyond: Two Souls is right at the other. One tells its narrative purely through gameplay, while this title explains events through more traditional film and television storytelling, but with a choice. Between cutscenes, quick time events and well recognised actors, it follows on from the likes of Heavy Rain but takes advantage of new ideas and mechanics.

You play as two characters, Jodie Holmes (Ellen Page) and a mysterious entity linked to her known as Aiden; an invisible and immaterial psychic being which she communes with to grant powers. Cutting back and forth between various stages in her life in non-linear fashion, you see how the world responded to Jodie’s actions, and how she became connected to Nathan Dawkins (Willem Dafoe) and the military.

As with Fahrenheit and Heavy Rain, how the story is told and the level of interactivity is a major draw for the title, along with the acting. While not SquareEnix level cutscene graphics, humans and environments have a very genuine feel and help to give the title an edge over others of its kind. Minor details and the designs of the environments are especially worthy of praise, not just due to the level of work put into them but how they can be interacted with. Hidden details like a small knife embedded in a tire or the headlines of a newspaper can result in unexpected information or actions by the characters. Along with being a very compelling tale the fact the story is told in a professionally structured non-linear manner, explaining how each point comes about in turn, adds an additional drive to see what happens next.

The actual mechanics themselves are far from the most impressive ones to be given to a title, it’s how the world reacts to them and the choices you make which give the game impact. At many points you have the opportunity for Aiden to truly abuse his powers or take events on a very different path, especially during stages when Jodie is homeless and during her childhood. The downside is that these don’t offer as much re-playability as most multiple choice games would have, and the quick-time interactions can easily become tedious for those not fond of them. Furthermore, the slow pacing or lack of answers at times can prove to be a major point of frustration if you’re playing in bursts.

Beyond: Two Souls should be treated as more of an interactive story rather than a video game, but an excellently told, well developed and extremely fascinating one none the less. It’s definitely worth the time of anyone who values story and doesn’t mind a lack of gameplay in places.

Review: Terraria – 1.2 Patch / Developer: Re-Logic / Publisher: Re-Logic, 505 Games, Spike Chunsoft / Platform: PC Game / Release Date: Out Now

With the developers finally concluding all work on the Minecraft-esque 2D sidescroller before moving onto Starbound, Terraria’s 1.2 update is one massive send-off to the fans to the point where it might as well be its own game. With the addition of several hundred new objects, enemies, biomes and even a few NPCs, what we have here is more or less a sequel in its own right, one that builds upon what we had before while extensively improving upon it.

Along with the Corruption, players need to now worry about the Crimson, an unholy red-tinted Mordor filled with extremely mobile giant spiders and demonic entities. Replacing the traditional purple-tinted realm of the Eaters of Souls, it’s a new addition which forces players to fight their way through multiple worlds to see everything. Furthermore, the previously relatively tranquil snow biome is now home to its own enemies, making it only slightly less hostile than the infamous Jungle.

Traversing these deadly worlds has been made considerably easier thanks to the new programming. You can now simply walk over single blocks as if they were stairs, and there are also new additions like climbing claws, lava waders and water boots. Not to mention the extremely helpful inclusion of a mini-map allowing you to plot underground excursions with far greater ease.

Crafting has been taken to an entirely new level. Along with the inclusion of tungsten, tin and other ores, you get workbenches such as the extractinator which directly converts silt and slush into new items. This offers everything from money to unique items such as mosquitoes in amber which permit you to summon dinosaur pets as fighters.

The chief problem with this latest patch is the same one which plagues any changes: the bugs. There are a few here, from the frustratingly irritating such as the aforementioned giant spiders (Blood Crawlers) walking along environmental backgrounds to potentially game-breaking ones such as items disappearing from chests. While far from frequent, they can prove to be a major irritation at times, especially when vast amounts of valuable rich mahogany disappear into thin air. Furthermore, a number of items and enemies remain console exclusives, outdoing even this updated version in a few areas like pets.

Still, these are only minor shortcomings. With new weapons, new places to go and many improved basic gameplay elements, Terraria remains a fantastic title. A winning combination of Diablo’s murdering of monsters for loot drops and Minecraft‘s style, it’s definitely a game worth anyone’s time. Buy it if you don’t have it already, you won’t regret sinking a few hours into this one. Terraria can be purchased on Steam.

Game Review: Day One: Garry’s Incident / Developer: Wild Games Studio / Publisher: Wild Games Studio / Platform: PC Game / Release Date: Out Now

We have seen some truly dire titles over 2013. From Gearbox’s betrayal of the Alien franchise with Colonial Marines to the truly dire Ride to Hell: Retribution, we have seen the worst of the worst over the last year. Day One: Garry’s Incident only continues that trend, proving itself to be an unstable, poorly programmed, badly animated, bug-ridden open world survival game.

For as little as it matters, you play as an alcoholic pilot named Garry Friedman. Between drowning his sorrows over his dead family, he spends time shifting cargo for whoever will pay him until an erupting volcano causes him to crash in the Amazon. With some very strange goings on, and managing to gain an ancient Mayan laser cannon, he sets out to survive in the jungle. With a synopsis divided between B-movie cheese and sincere storytelling, it’s about as well thought out as the gameplay.

Almost everything about the game speaks of inexperience, and Wild Games’ ambition exceeding their skill. Poorly thought out choices like relentless quick time events are added to give a sense of realism but end up turning healing/panther fighting into a tedious chore. Furthermore, the health system seemingly means nothing, giving you no indication of how much damage you can truly take. Full health can mean anything to taking multiple blows without flinching to keeling over upon stumbling upon the glowing eyed natives of Arrakis who’ve somehow ended up in the rainforest. This is only somewhat offset by the horrible detection, with crouching turning Garry all but invisible to everything around him, no matter what he does.

Any survival themes are made difficult as a result of poor design. The feeling of survival and experimentation is undermined by the easily found recipes and ability to harvest only from certain creatures. Panther meat? Fine for some reason. Parrots and monkeys? Inedible. Items from humans? Good luck picking them up. Along with the jumping ability of the average Call of Duty soldier, Garry can find himself in a featureless void upon reloading saves or have everyone around him suddenly die for no reason.

The real name in the coffin when it comes to immersion is the visual quality. While textures and the lush environment seem fine, stiff, repetitive and mechanical animations and terrible physics doom the game’s combat to unintentional hilarity.

With poor AI, terrible bugs, bad programming and an idea which was clearly beyond the dev team, Day One: Garry’s Incident is a cautionary example of knowing one’s limits. There’s nothing here worth your money, skip it and get something else.

Day One: Garry’s Incident is available on Steam.

Review: Alien Rage – Unlimited / Developer: CI Games / Publisher: CI Games / Platform: PC Game / Release Date: Out Now

With a generic sci-fi setting, plenty of guns and a storm of clichés and bullets, Alien Rage – Unlimited looked to be a throwback to what the modern FPS has been often missing. Openly advertised as such, it placed heavy emphasis on promotions, with its variety of weaponry and rewards for accuracy as players pull off skill shots.

Said skill shots, along with the physics and destructible environments, are likely what players will remember the most coming out of this one. With a scrolling series of numbers in the top left corner, players are encouraged to pull off the most overt kills they can manage ,with occasional markers showing up to indicate what certain attacks are classified as. It worked in Bulletstorm and it manages to work here as well, despite some flaws we’ll get into, with players encouraged to continually switch between guns and spend time seeing what they can pull off.

Despite the point system however, the weapons themselves are a mixed bunch, even with additions like alternate fire modes. The shotgun especially turns out to be useless with its short range, while others, like the minigun, can be a lifesaver in the right situation, especially when the enemies can so easily blend into the environments.

The true shame of Alien Rage is that it feels as if the developers were going for a classic FPS approach, but were caught between two stools. It suffers from the Duke Nukem Forever issue of trying to contain many of the fun elements of old shooters, but never going far enough and keeping too many elements of modern military FPS titles. A lack of a health bar, emphasis on cover, iron sights and lack of any real durability prevents it from becoming a budget Bulletstorm.

Matters aren’t helped by an unfortunate number of glitches and zerg rushes of braindead foes, both of which prevent the game from becoming truly engaging and at times make it frustrating. The latter especially as, rather than providing a real challenge, Alien Rage just opts to throw mobs of gun-wielding aliens at you in the hopes sheer attrition will take you down.

While there are definitely nice elements here and there, like fighting the Vorus God Mech or some of the better planned battles, Alien Rage ultimately comes off as a confused mess. There’s definitely worse out there, but it just doesn’t deliver what it promises. Even accepting shortcomings as a result of budget constraints, we’ve seen the idea of classic throwback FPS done far better in recent years with the likes of Hard Reset. Stick to those over this.

Review: Omikron – The Nomad Soul / Developer: Quantic Dream / Publisher: Eidos Interactive / Platform: PC Game / Release Date: Out Now

If you’ve heard of this one at all, it’s likely due to the later successes of its creator, David Cage. Having been released in 1999 on the Dreamcast and with cancelled ports to Playstation and Playstation 2, it’s not as well-known as it should be. But why should you have it on your radar? Because it takes a borderline insane approach to mashing together the gameplay of multiple genres and just about manages to make it work.

The story here is as near-crazy as you’d expect from Cage. Fourth wall? There isn’t one. You, as in you the person behind the screen, are possessing the body of police officer Kay’l in a dystopian cyberpunk universe. Having been on the run from corrupt officials and with a deep dark mystery to solve, Kay’l openly enlists your help. However, nothing is quite what it seems in Omikron and there’s more to worry about than just the rampant corruption of the city.

Omikron has three main attractions: the investigation, the environments, and David Bowie. Resembling something out of Marvel 2099 or mid ’90s comic books, the city has all the sci-fi brilliance of its era along with a plot which fully embraces its setting – ludicrous enough to keep you excited, but immersive enough to keep you going. As well as a few inventive ways of dealing with situations, the puzzle-solving and adventure elements are well thought out leading to some great investigative moments. It’s not every adventure game which gives you the option to just drug your boss or bribe them in order to get past certain barriers. Furthermore when the plot twist hits, it comes at exactly the right time and is built upon extremely well.

Unfortunately, with the good comes the bad, namely the combat. While good for breaking up the slow pacing of the investigation, the FPS elements of gunning mooks down and beating more powerful mooks up Tekken-style is far from perfect. The former especially is lacking even in comparison to the likes of Goldeneye, a problem given how prominent it becomes in later stages. These sequences are serviceable, but not much more and the game fails to merge the different styles together as well as the Riddick titles did years later.

Ultimately, Omikron is definitely a flawed gem but a gem nonetheless. Even taking into account the dated graphics and various other issues, those with the right mindset will find fun among the city’s streets. Come for the adventure gameplay, stick through the combat elements, stay for the story. Omikron: The Nomad Soul can be found on GOG.com and now Steam.

Review: The Basilean Legacy / Publisher: Mantic Game / Author: Alessio Cavatore / Release Date: Out Now

Kings of War is a fantasy wargame created by scrappy upstart miniatures manufacturers Mantic, who have been making waves in the industry by producing distinctive wargaming models at reasonable prices. However, nice miniatures are only one aspect of the hobby and these sort of things also require decent rules as well as a strong backstory to serve as inspiration. The Basilean Legacy is the first supplement to the Kings of War game and is filled with rules for three potential armies: the Basileans, the Forces of Nature and Forces of the Abyss. As the title of the book suggests, its primary focus is the people of Basilea.

The backstory is a nice mix of failing empires, lost secrets and rule of cool. The Basileans were once part of a greater empire, one which seems broadly inspired by European history. Much of it is pure fantasy, and they’ve clearly had a lot of fun here. The units include sensibly armoured warrior women on the backs of battle cats, and winged angels with burning swords and phoenixes. The setting material gives the reader just enough detail to create a definite feel to the army, without hampering creativity. 

The background is filled with the seeds of lots of little ideas, and these are obviously intended to inspire gamers to come up with their own ideas and theories as to what is going on. It’s clear that this is the first part of an ongoing story, and rather than having a closed setting frozen in time, it’s highly likely that subsequent books will expand the setting further, adding more layers to the ongoing story. It also helps that the flavour texts in the book are very well written, though they are closer to flash fiction than traditional short stories. Rules-wise, the units seem solid and are a safe ‘middle’ option for those who like a lot of flexibility in their wargaming armies.  

The other two factions are a nice addition to the book, but don’t really add much in terms of setting. Broadly they appear to be a neat excuse for roping in existing models (from other manufacturers) using the Kings of War rules, allowing gamers to try out the system without too much further investment. As you might expect, they’re both underdeveloped and seem more of a bonus than anything else. Also tacked on are further magic rules, which are nice, but again seem light on detail. 

Overall, though, The Basilean Legacy is a great start to what will hopefully be a memorable range of books.

Review: Star Trek Attack Wing Miniatures Game / Designer: Christopher Guild / Publisher: WizKids Game / Release Date: Out Now

Star Wars versus Star Trek has been something that sci-fi fans have loved to argue about for some time. Though the details of how a fight between Kirk versus Han Solo might work out are likely to forever remain a mystery, the issue as to which franchise had the better space-ship combat game had a clear winner: Star Wars X-Wing was a far better and more successful game than the Star Trek equivalent, HeroClix: Tactics. The Star Trek franchise decided that this would not do, and responded by purchasing the license for the core mechanics of the Star Wars game and relaunching their range as the Star Trek Attack Wing Miniatures Game. The question of course, is it as good as the Star Wars version?

The short answer is yes, but they are also quite different in key ways; not all of the rules have been ported over and this is clearly deliberate. After all, starship combat in both series have a very different feel to them. The key elements, such as counters that detail ships’ movements and a card mechanic that doubles as a critical damage table have been imported from X-Wing, but there are also enough differences (such as the way the games are set up) to make them very different. It’s important to note that the two aren’t directly compatible, though I’m sure more than a few fans have created their own conversion rules.

The biggest change is in selecting your ships. Whereas the Star Wars game has a hero mechanic, the Star Trek Attack Wing Miniatures Game is much more about selecting your crew. It’s not enough simply to have Jean-Luc Picard as your captain, you also get to carefully select your gear and crew. These tend to play off against each other; Federation ships have lots of cool stunts they can pull, Klingons sabotage and backstab, and so on. Whereas Star Wars X-Wing is all about the quick-fire action, Star Trek is more about the drama on board. The ships are also more robust, shrugging off a lot of damage and making for a more considered and tactical game.

The starter set features models from Star Trek: The Next Generation, featuring a Federation Galaxy Class U.S.S. Enterprise-D, a Klingon Bird of Prey (Vor’cha Class) and Romulan Warbird ( D’deridex Class). The models are a little chunky and blocky, but nicely done and are clearly identifiable as part of their franchise. The starter set is jammed full of counters and cards, and though fans of the original series will have to pick up an expansion or two, the core game is solid and a lot of fun. As to which game is better, we’ll leave that for the fans to decide.

Review: Codex – Tau Empire (Digital Edition) / Publisher: Games Workshop / Release Date: Out Now

The Tau are a faction in the Warhammer 40,000 game, and they recently got a much needed relaunch and overhaul, including new models and spanking new rules. This included a digital edition of their Codex, the specialist rules supplement required to play the game.

The background for the Tau Empire has been neatly expanded and in keeping with tradition, their story has gotten slightly darker in the retelling. Earlier editions made these young aliens a Star Trek-style race of explorers who have expanded through negotiation, trade and cultural exchange. Though these elements are still there, it’s more apparent that the Tau are now more an expansionist group of ambitious aliens who will stop at nothing to exploit the resources the universe has to offer. Their allies are a mix of dupes, mercenaries, genuine friends and mind-controlled slaves. The text is still vague enough to allow gamers to ultimately make up their own minds about the Tau, but the focus does present them more as upstart bullies rather than enlightened adventurers. The work is also peppered with plenty of references to other alien races and their diversity; there’s a sense that there are many different shapes and types of being in the Tau Empire, and this is quite refreshing. Sadly this aspect is not well reflected in the artwork and it is certainly not present in the rules.

Those familiar with previous editions of the game will remember that the Tau Empire had units from other alien races, namely the Kroot and Vespid. Though these are still present, they don’t get much of an update rules-wise and feel more like a footnote. The focus instead is on the Tau themselves, and they have a high-tech feel, with powerful (but highly experimental) robot battlesuits, incredibly well equipped frontline units and a wide range of vehicles, most of which fly or at least hover. They show up in stark contrast to the game’s most popular faction, the Space Marines; the Tau Empire is all chrome and plasma whereas the Space Marines are skulls and bullets. This is reflected strongly in the special rules for the Tau; the various bonuses and advantages they have are all named after their technology. The playstyle of the Tau is all about ranged combat and coordinated fire, but also encourages highly tactically thinking. Various options allow for a rapid re-think of strategy, and this make the Tau of interest to anyone who likes thinking on their feet.

The digital edition is essentially the same book as the hardcover; it has all the same information, pretty pictures and photographs. Its key advantage is that the layout is exceptionally well thought out and one can easily swoop from background information to rules to specific statistics and back again with the swipe of a finger. This is rather handy in play. It does require that you have an iPad (sadly it is not available on Android), but if you’re lucky enough to own such a gadget then it really is quite nifty, and makes play much easier.

Review: Pandemic 2013 / Designer: Matt Leacock / Publisher: Z-Man Games / Release Date: Out Now

One of the common criticisms of board games (usually by people who don’t know them very well) is that their competitive nature is unsuited for many social circles, especially families. Which is what you get when the only game you’ve ever played is something as bland (in every possible way) as Monopoly. What you need, then, is a nice game that requires cooperation and teamwork, possibly with a theme that everyone can get behind, and is fast paced enough to hold the attention of the dullest of wits. In Pandemic, you work together to prevent horrific diseases from wiping out mankind, which as themes go, is one that pretty much everyone can get into.

The mechanics of the game mean that each player has to make crucial choices every turn. Do they rush to one city in the hopes of slowing down the dread sniffles in one area? Or do they abandon that doomed land in order to team up with another player and perhaps cure the disease for good? Do they concentrate on Europe and hope that they can get to Asia in time to prevent further loss of life? A single poor choice can lose the game, but it’s a herculean task to predict what that choice may be. This also leads to fun discussions around the table; do we have the will to doom Paris in order to save the rest of Europe? Which let’s face it, is the sort of conversation only Hollywood actors and gamers ever have. Only through cooperation do the players have a hope of winning.

Each player picks up a different role, and each role has different useful skills. For example the dispatcher can get people round the board faster, the medic can deal with local outbreaks rapidly and the scientist can find the cure for the illnesses quicker than anyone else. Each turn, cards are drawn to see which city has been hit by which horrible thing. There are multiple diseases, and each one has to researched and cured separately. Cards also drive the research mechanics and other cards can add bonuses to play as well. Players can also build strategic research centres round the board, making it easier to get from one end of the world to the other, but this also costs resources that could be used elsewhere.

The game does survive repeated plays, but is best suited as the appetiser for an evening’s board game playing. At 45-minutes a game it’s a nice warm-up, but it becomes a little bit too routine if played three or four times in a row. It’s also crucial that players swap the various roles round between games otherwise the players can easily find themselves in a rut.

It’s also a solidly built game; the materials are all very durable, the board will last for ages and the box is pretty sturdy. All of which means you can pop it in your bag and take to a friend’s house without worrying that you’re going to break something, and it’ll survive the curiosity of a family pet or toddler. This is a fun game that has been steadily growing in popularity. The latest edition comes with very, very clear rules and a price tag of around £25, which makes it value for money, even if you only get to play it a couple of times. Highly recommended for everyone.