I stumbled upon this game during a sale about a year ago, picking it up for a whopping $2.49, down from $9.99. To sum this game up, you’ll be building a base with power plants and defenses in an attempt to ward off waves of enemy aliens. While I do appreciate the game’s many modes, they all revolve around the same general premise. I would have liked a mechanic that rewards the player for sticking with it from game to game, possibly something like a tech tree of sorts. As it stands, you’ll either try to survive and/or score as many points as you can. There is a creative mode that lets you build to your heart’s content, but I mainly used this to perfect my defense strategies. Final verdict? “Harvest: Massive Encounter” is a fun game that is worth buying, but it could use a little more depth. I recommend picking it up during a sale, if at all possible.
Video Games
Queue zombie game number seven million, three hundred and sixty-five thousand, nine hundred and twenty-two. Usually, the zombie games I review include some sort of special feature or tactic that draws the player in. “Nation Red” however, is just a straight up slaughter fest. A player will be controlling a character with the sole intent on staying alive and mowing down zombies in an arena-like setting. It may appeal to some, but even with the perk mechanic (which resets with every new game), I found it to be repetitive after about five minutes of play time. Then again, I picked up this game for about a dollar during a Steam sale. Overall, I think it’s great for some fast and mindless zombie killing (especially when playing with friends), but it ceases to be anything more than that.
I recently published a review on “Gratuitous Space Battles” (hereby dubbed GSB), a game that involved creating a fleet of ships to combat an enemy task force. You were able to outfit various ship hulls with weapons, defenses, and other tools to help them succeed in their mission. “Gratuitous Tank Battles” (hereby dubbed GTB), despite the title, plays a bit differently than its predecessor. This time around, you’ll be able to take control of both offense and defense, offering players the chance to come at their strategies from both sides. Before we begin seeing to the safety (or in some cases, destruction) of tanks en masse, I’d like to thank Cliff Harris for providing me with a free review copy.
I’ve lost count as to how many games I’ve played that involve both space and “pew pew”, though rarely do I come across a game that allows me to customize my own fleet and send them headlong into battle, without having to wade through the process of building a successful economy first. In “Gratuitous Space Battles”, you pick loadouts for your ships, assign formations, and watch the fireworks. It’s a very simplistic process, but I found it to be engaging nonetheless.
Steam usually comes through for me by way of holiday sales when I’m unable to obtain review copies from the developer, but this time Green Man Gaming hooked me up with “XCOM: Enemy Unknown” for just under fifteen bucks. Considering I’ve already put ten plus hours into this game, I’d say it was fifteen dollars well spent. So, what is this game and why is there so much controversy behind it? Is it worth buying at full price?
“Oregon Trail” was one of the first games I ever played on a computer, so writing this particular article was not only a joy but nostalgic. “Organ Trail: Director’s Cut” takes gameplay elements from “Oregon Trail” and adds its own unique spin, which happens to include zombies. Yes, “Oregon Trail” and zombies…I’m not going to complain. Before the dysentery jokes begin, I’d like to thank Ryan Wiemeyer for providing me with a free review copy.
“Crazy Machines Elements” is the final game of this review series, having been released late 2011-early 2012 on various systems. Shortly after its release, two DLC packs were made available to the masses, adding even more to the base game. Before we take a look at “Crazy Machines Elements”, I’d like to thank Andrew Emond from Viva Media for sending me the “Crazy Machines Complete Pack” to review. To that end, I’ll be taking a look at each of the games in that pack, in turn. You can find the other reviews (assuming they are finished) by clicking on the “Video Games” tab above.
2007-2008 marks the beginning of the “Crazy Machines 2” era, and I say beginning because of the numerous DLC packs that followed in its wake. Never fear, I’ll briefly touch on those too to give you an idea of what they are like so you can decide whether or not you’d like to purchase them. Before we take a look at “Crazy Machines 2”, I’d like to thank Andrew Emond from Viva Media for sending me the “Crazy Machines Complete Pack” to review. To that end, I’ll be taking a look at each of the games in that pack, in turn. You can find the other reviews (assuming they are finished) by clicking on the “Video Games” tab above.
Having recently played and reviewed “Crazy Machines”, I was curious to see what this particular game would bring. To my surprise, it unlocked two separate entities on Steam, one being the “Inventors Training Camp” and the other being “New from the Lab.” They look and feel the same, so I’ll opt to cover both in one sitting. Before we get started with “Crazy Machines 1.5”, I’d like to thank Andrew Emond from Viva Media for sending me the “Crazy Machines Complete Pack” to review. To that end, I’ll be taking a look at each of the games in that pack, in turn. You can find the other reviews (assuming they are finished) by clicking on the “Video Games” tab above.
How many of you remember “Mouse Trap”, a board game that featured a Rube Goldberg device designed to capture a player’s mouse piece upon landing on a particular space? “Crazy Machines” does something similar, though it forces the user to actually design the contraption to complete the task at hand. Before we get started with “Crazy Machines”, I’d like to thank Andrew Emond from Viva Media for sending me the “Crazy Machines Complete Pack” to review. To that end, I’ll be taking a look at each of the games in that pack, in turn. You can find the other reviews (assuming they are finished) by clicking on the “Video Games” tab above.
As I indicated in a previous article, I’ve been playing “Minecraft” for quite some time. It didn’t take long for games with variations on the theme to emerge and it wouldn’t be right to call them clones, especially if they offer unique gameplay mechanics that the original game doesn’t. “Block Story” combines both block building and RPG elements to make something pretty unique, though the question remains, does it hold up on its own? Before I answer that question, I’d like to thank Paul Pacheco for sending me a free copy to review. It’s important to note that this particular version is a single player experience only, though a separate MMO version is in the works for those of you who enjoy multiplayer.
Editor’s Note: From time to time, I may reference “Minecraft” in order to compare the two games. When I do, I’m referring to the “vanilla” or unmodded version of “Minecraft” as a standalone product. The same goes for “Block Story.” Also, this review was written 12/27/12…keep that in the back of your mind while reading it. The game has been updated significantly since then. My video series is more up to date, so go check that out after you’re done here.
This review has been a long time coming. I’ve been playing “Minecraft” ever since I bought my way into the Alpha sometime in 2010 and I’ve had the pleasure of watching it grow ever since. I’m sure there’s still some growing to be done, if the mods that the community have developed is any indication. Still, I felt it to be the right time to take a moment and revisit Minecraft to review it as a standalone product…that is, without mod support. For review purposes, I’m currently sitting at version 1.4.6. I won’t spend a lot of time on this article, mainly because “Minecraft” is best experienced as a story that one starts writing from day one. However, it should help to give you an idea of what you’d be in for, should you decide to take the plunge.
I’m not too big on PvP, but I have dabbled in it from time to time. I’ve played “World of Warcraft” for years and enjoyed (I use that term loosely) being stomped repeatedly by those who knew their classes in and out and have keybinds for everything,including the dance emote, which they often exercise over my rotting corpse. So what brought me to the world of “Forge”, a game that advertises itself as a “class based multiplayer shooter”? Before I answer that, I’d like to thank David Domm, the Co-Founder and CEO of Dark Vale Games, for sending me a free review copy.
How many of you have played “Asteroids” for the Atari 2600? Okay, how many of you know what an Atari 2600 is? *Sigh* I must be getting old…anyway, “Asteroids” put you in the role of a small ship (a triangle) that was tasked with shooting asteroids while staying alive in the process. “The Galactic Asteroids Patrol” takes that idea and modernizes it with colorful graphics and new gameplay mechanics. Before we start blowing asteroids to kingdom come, I’d like to thank Amir Abiri from Invigo Studios for setting me up with a free review copy.
Hey folks, we’re back with another game that features a video camera as the main point of view for your character. Having recently reviewed “Paranormal”, I was interested to see what “[REC] Shutter” had to offer. It’s important to mention right off the bat that this game is free. I tend to look at free games less critically, mainly because well, I didn’t actually pay money for them. Either I’m going to like it or I’m not, and any suggestions I have for making it better should be taken with a grain of salt. If the developer is accepting ideas, great…but being that the game is free, I generally don’t push the issue.
“Unstoppable Gorg” is an interesting tower defense game, mainly because it does something different than most. While there are turrets involved, which is nothing new, you’ll be able to change their orbit so that you can position them as you see fit. You’ll be fending off waves of alien ships that change their orbital path to the celestial body that you are defending, so you will need to move those turrets around quite a bit.