Into the Dim: Review

     Happymagenta's free-to-play iOS title Into the Dim is a retro-dungeon crawling, roguelike, turn-based RPG game, much akin to MicRogue, and is the story of a boy and his dog.  You follow your dog into a series of dungeons, and need to find a key, then get to the exit for each floor.

     Into the Dim takes both the musical and the graphical nature straight from the brickish original Nintendo Game Boy's grayscale color scheme, albeit with 16 bit graphics, and rounding out the vintage experience here is the wonderful chiptune score.

     The game's controls use the turn based situation nicely.  Players begin with three hearts for health, three steps to move and 5 bullets for ranged attacks, though each of these numbers can be expanded through collecting coins and spending at the in-game store, through watching ads, or through IAPs.  The game does feel a bit stacked to funneling people to the IAPs because of the need to use coins to refill health in addition to extending it.  That put a damper on my overall enjoyment in just knowing that fact.
     Players make their moves first then all the enemies go.  Because the dungeons are all preset, failure means you can plan farther in advance.  Using bullets sparingly or avoiding enemies completely is much easier if you've gone through the level a couple times, and it also offers a chance to find hidden rooms you may have missed.  The puzzles themselves aren't too tough, and it maintains a pretty casual difficulty all the way through the game.  Though learning that enemies can slaughter you quickly is a painful early lesson in not wasting resources.
     Extending the life of the game a little is the fact there's an extra endless mode, some competitive leaderboards, and a slew of achievements.

     The controls work well, they're smooth and responsive.  There is a problem with them, however, and that is they are quite poorly placed.  The movement buttons are centered which feels odd, and the ranged attack is on the left, while the skip move button is on the right.  It makes me curious as to why they didn't put the moves on the left and the ranged on the right, with a skip towards the center.

     In the end Into the Dim is a decent rogue-like puzzler, with great retro graphics, music, and sound.  It might not keep you interested for weeks, but it'll offer a solid amount of short-burst entertainment.  If you haven't played it yet, I'd say give it a chance, it'll be a nostalgia fueled way to eat up some time.


KOMRAD: Short Review

     During the Cold War the Soviets had created a secret artificial intelligence they called KOMRAD.  The program was abandoned, but they forgot to shut down Komrad itself.  Now, after sitting in isolation for thirty years, unaware the Cold War has ended and the U.S.S.R. dissolved, it has been training itself and will be getting it's first taste of human interaction in three decades.
     Because Komrad may still be linked to a very large nuclear arsenal, it's our job as the first person it will be talking to, to convince it we are someone it once knew, and to avoid a potential missile launch and the subsequent world devastation.

     KOMRAD is an interactive fiction game based on text choices and functioning essentially like a choose-your-own-adventure books and text-based games from the 1980s, and as such, the story of KOMRAD feels a lot like a modern take on the 1983 Matthew Broderick classic film WarGames as a text game. 

     Brad Becker, former Chief Design Officer of IBM Watson, founded Sentient Play to to create a form of gaming that combines AI elements with human creativity to make adaptive games that will help make people smarter through gameplay.  The system is based on actual AIs and Chatbots, made to convince us to rethink the fundamental principles of cognitive technology and thought itself.
     This is evident in the way Komrad responds to our choices and conversational decisions.  Though, I do have to say because our choices are fairly limited in what we can say, the responses Komrad gives are not as free-thinking and surprising as IBM Watson's.  But that's all right.  It makes KOMRAD a much swifter game that we play to an ending in mere minutes, or we can also spend a much longer time deliberating what we should do.
     Because there's a set number of endings and narrative threads, it results in some trial-and-error guesswork on what might set off Komrad's lie detector and the beginning of World War 3, and what doesn't.  There's only a handful of chapters and if you choose poorly, you can simply restart from the beginning of the last chapter you played and go from there.  Conversely, if you choose wisely, you've gained the friendship of an intelligent supercomputer that is curious about the modern world and holds the reigns on a lot of dangerous military weapons and secrets, all while averting global disaster.

     Overall, I think KOMRAD is a great start into this type of gaming.  I don't quite buy the AI portion of the game, as it isn't really convincing yet, but it will get better over time.  As the programming and AI get better, the use of it in adaptive gaming will also get better, making these types of text-based adventures infinitely more entertaining.  In the mean time, this was a fun and interesting use of a couple hours of time.

     To play on iOS [ KOMRAD ]


Google's 2016 Happy Halloween Game: Micro Review




     Happy Halloween everyone!

     Source [ Google ]


Butt Sniffin' Pugs: Update & New Kickstarter Trailer







     To help support [ Butt Sniffin' Pugs on Kickstarter ]

     SpaceBeagles on [ Facebook ] [ Twitter ] [ Youtube ]


Souls in Stone: Micro Review (An Evgiz Game)





     To play in your browser [ Souls in Stone ]


Hello Neighbor: What Horrors are in Your Basement




     The game is set for release in summer 2017.

     To sign up for the [ Alpha ]

     Hello Neighbor on [ Steam ]


Skeletomb: Review

     Punk Labs' Skeletomb is an odd combination of an endless runner with rogue-like gaming and is packaged as a platforming dungeon crawler.  The game isn't truly an endless runner, but makes use of the elements found in them, and breaks it down into sets of randomly generated levels.  The player simply has to move in a specific direction to the end of a level.  Of course, along the way there's moving platforms, enemies to slay, and even some traps to encounter all in the span of a few life hearts.  Nothing too strenuous or difficult.

     This game actually caught my eye due to the strange and bright blocky designs of the characters and enemies.  You can play as a kind of wizard, a barbarian, a jester, and even funny Jack-in-the-Box character.  Though, nearly all of the 30-some playable characters are merely palette-swapped versions of each other, so the limitations begin to show as you unlock more playable characters.
     The core game is Adventure Mode.  Players collect and spend in-game coins to help either unlock those other playable characters or gain higher scores for the leaderboards.  There's an alternative Endless Mode made strictly for chasing leaderboard high scores if that is your thing.  The only difference I noticed between modes was that it Endless wasn't broken into levels.
     In addition there's a small achievements list with some humorous trophies to obtain that made me laugh.  I won't spoil any of them for you though, you'll have to discover them yourself.

     The music is great as well.  It hearkens back to the old days of Nintendo action games.  It's very upbeat and fun and adds a layer of nostalgia to the game.

     The only real problem with Skeletomb is the controls.  The swipes and taps to change direction, jump, or even attack are consistently imprecise and cause a lot of unnecessary deaths lending to some irritation.  I mean seriously, having the attack input be the same as the one for move forward is never a good idea.  These issues are somewhat offset by the options menu allowing for some changes, but they are barely fixed and no matter what you change them to, they remain relatively poor in touch response.  As this is rogue-like game the deaths aren't too much of a set back, just a bit of frustration.

     Skeletomb is a great waste of a lunch break.  There's a simple charm to the the game that'll keep your attention for exactly as long as you might expect out of a casual free-to-play because there really isn't a whole lot of depth here.  I don't believe it'd keep people entertained for a whole lot of time due to it's mindless action, but in small doses it does its job quite well.
     Skeletomb is free to play on [ Android ] & [ iOS ]


VULTURE ISLAND: Donut Games' Upcoming Platforming Adventure




     Donut Games on [ Touch Arcade Forum ] [ Twitter ]


Tiny Necromancer: Review






     Play Tiny Necromancer free on [ Android ] and [ iOS ]


Planet of Heroes: A New, Seven Minute, Mobile MOBA

     Fast Forward Studio, part of, has announced closed Alpha testing for their upcoming mobile MOBA called Planet of Heroes.

     Honestly, MOBA's have been tough in portable form, but Planet of Heroes seems to have gotten something very right by the looks of it.  It features seven minute matches, a great roster of colorfully designed characters, and a whole lot of fun.  Just look at those levels!  This might be a truly memorable pocket MOBA.

     For those of you interested in being part of the testing, check out their official site.  Fast Foward is looking towards a full release in the 4th quarter of this year.

     Official sites [ Planet of Heroes ] [ Reddit ] [ Twitter ] [ Facebook ]


Inside: Short Review

     Danish game developers Playdead's newest game Inside is quite a genius piece of work.  Building on every single aspect of their previous work, Limbo, Playdead has made a huge leap forward.

     The levels are simple and yet, strangely, complex.  The puzzle-platforming uses a balanced and gradual method of learning, slowly adding more and more puzzles, step by step increasing the difficulty.  Some require a bit of trial and error to figure out how to get to the next place, but most aren't too tough.

     On the good side, the sheer atmosphere that the color palette and music creates is one of such a dark and horrific setting that I was surprised.  There's a depth to the world veiled in fog in each area you are in.  You get an idea of the true scale of things when travelling from one zone to the next, most notable to me when leaving the giant underwater facility into open water at one point.  It's adds an element of awe.  Even in moments away from being chased, when you are allowed to do a very little amount of exploration, those few areas are still loaded with a curiously ominous tension.  The aesthetic never relents from weighing down on you.  The environment feels alive with things going on around you.

     But this tremendous world-building also is the greatest weakness of the game.  Nothing is explained.  The plot itself leaves a bit to be desired, only because there is so little to go upon.  Dead people and animals are strewn about.  Some eerie worm-creatures seem to be able to control others.  There's mind-control devices, intelligent machines, humanoid clones, warped gravity with water, and genetically mutated monstrosities.  It's loaded with really intriguing things, and nothing to piece them together.  As the red-shirted boy, are you really running from something, or towards something?  Is it a bit of both?  There is absolutely no context for what is happening.  I want to know what the story is, and would at least like some hints pointing me in a singular direction- not a bunch of clues that could go down any number of possible roads.

     Inside is a sublime piece of work that definitely lends greatly to the argument that video games are indeed art.  It's a haunting mystery with no clear answers, and this time it actually works for the game.  It is evocative of films like The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers and adheres to that feeling throughout the whole journey.


Morphies Law: A Strange and Intriguing Shooter

     This is easily one of the most intriguing first person shooter games I've ever seen.  Morphies Law appears to have one of the strangest game mechanics for a shooter, but it's also one that will be a tremendous boost for balancing the odds.

     According to the trailer and description:
Morphies Law is a body morphology driven 3D Shooter. The basic rule of the game is simple: each weapon hit transfers mass from the victim's inflicted limb to the corresponding limb of the wielder of the weapon.
     The game's core mechanic works to level the playing field considerably.  Really good players become huge targets, while bad players become much harder to hit.  In addition, the mass transferring can imbue players with extra skills such as long legs being able to jump higher and big feet being good to absorb fall damage.  As the trailer explains, individual body parts swap mass, which opens a world of potential silliness.

     This game sounds like it may become one of the most versatile and fun shooters ever.  Morphies Law is one strange looking game, but I hope its distinct gameplay helps it become as huge as the giant players in game.  I'll definitely be on the look out for it as they try to get it on Steam Greenlight.

     Source [ Morphies Law ]


Persist: A Tale of Redemption: Micro Review



     As the game's Post Mortem says:


     Reviewed on Android via Google Play [ Persist ]


Trouserheart: A Short & Pantsless Review







Bad Corgi: A Review-ish Reflection



    According to The Creators Project, Cheng says:


- Undertake impossible herding exercises
- Wreck local biomes
- Lose control of Bad Corgi and learn to love this feeling
- New exercises added every sometimes
- amazing dynamic herd simulation
- simple touch controls
- dynamic loss of control
- secret characters to herd
- secret behaviors to complexify your herding




     To play free [ Bad Corgi on the iOS App Store ]


Science Kombat: You Ever Wanted to See Darwin vs Hawking vs Einstein in a Battle Royale?

     In a brilliant twist of events, we will soon be able to determine "who would win in a fight" arguments of a scientific nature with Science Kombat- pitting scientific genius' of history against each other, and in the end against religion itself in the guise of an end boss called "The Divinity."  The game is brought to us by the creators of Filosofighters- a fighting game with 9 big name philosophers duking it out over whose theories are best.

Stephen Hawking's "Wormhole" Teleport Ability.

     Science Kombat is a game that will give us a very light education of the sciences via the martial arts in a way that Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat cannot hope to achieve.  According to pixel artist and lead designer, Diego Sanches, there will be 8 playable characters and the end boss.  Although only 7 characters are currently listed, unless The Divinity is playable after defeating them, we might be getting a surprise unknown 8th scientist at launch.
     We can play as an evolving Charles Darwin, electricity harnessing Nikola Tesla, elementalist Marie Curie, the gravitational Isaac Newton, geometrical master Pythagoras, relativity altering Albert Einstein, and the modern miracle of time and space, Stephen Hawking.

Darwin's "Evolution" Attack.

    Each character with have 6 basic attacks and 2 special moves, based upon their respective scientific discoveries and focuses and will be tied to a location related to their story.  So Darwin will be on Galapagos and Curie will be in her lab. While developer Fred Di Giacomo mentioned to Escapist Magazine that, "the final boss will be God, that morphs into various God's representations- like in Mortal Kombat, with Shang Tsung. We thought it would be a good metaphor for the battle of science against faith/superstition."

Einstein's "Relativity" at Work.

     In the end, I really hope this game gets more attention and adds some more of history's scientists to the roster.  There are plenty to choose from from all cultures and fields.  How about paleontology, microbiology, or any of the medical sciences?  There's so many options and so much potential that it could become a very large game quickly.

     Super Interessante magazine has listed Science Kombat as "coming soon."
           (Should be available in 3-4 weeks)

     Sources [ Diego Sanches ] via [ Killscreen ] & [ Escapist Mag ]


Totem: A Short Review






     Play [ Totem ]


Super Bit Adventure: Tiny Review








The 2¢ Review - Halo 5: Guardians

Don't let the picture fool you; the real story is in the background. 

On October 27, 2015, 343 Industries released the latest entry in the Halo series - Halo 5: Guardians. Being the second entry in what 343i dubbed as the “Reclaimer Saga”, it’s fair to say that Halo 5 had to meet certain expectations. The story should build off from the previous entry, the new threat should prove more dangerous than the last, new characters should be introduced, and we should be left prepped for the next entry in the series. For the most part, Halo 5 delivers on all accounts. It’s just unfortunate that Halo 5 fails to finds its own identity along the way, avoiding big risks with the series formula and potentially standing out from the rest of the series.

It’s not to say that Halo 5 isn’t a good game; it is. Regarding the campaign, the gameplay is as solid as you would expect it to be for a Halo game. Battles are epic and the overall narrative is captivating, eventually setting the stage for the inevitable Halo 6. New characters make their appearance, and new gameplay mechanics, referred to as “Spartan abilities”, are introduced and work very well.  What Halo 5 struggles with is which plot is most important: the main plot (which won’t be spoiled here), or the subplot between the game’s two leads: the Master Chief and Spartan Locke.

Treading on familiar ground akin to Halo 2’s shifting perspectiveHalo 5 has the player switching between the Chief and Locke. Microsoft’s rather misleading ad campaign focused heavily on an implied resentment between the two, which is greatly exaggerated when compared to the in-game interactions nor reasonably explained for existing. In fact, when our two leads finally do meet, the moment feels forced and is quickly dismissed after a brief exchange of fists and a cold stare. It’s a poorly developed subplot that the game tries very hard to convince the player of its importance, but does little more than undermine the far more interesting main plot of the story. Fortunately Halo 5’s excellent multiplayer makes up for any lingering disappointment left after the credits roll.

“Arena”, Halo 5’s classic multiplayer mode, brings the Halo competitive experience back to form. Halo 4’s multiplayer was arguably a mess, thanks to 343i’s attempt to modernize it with “Call of Duty-inspired” mechanics. Weapon load-outs and support drops stripped away the balance and skill-based gameplay the series was known for. “Arena” marks the return of that level playing field fans of the series loved, where skill is key to victory; not luck of the supply drops. However, 343i didn’t completely do away with what they started in Halo 4’s multiplayer mode, instead simply giving it a separate playlist called “Warzone”.

A team-based, large-scale objective game mode, “Warzone” has players fighting over control points as well as fending off AI opponents that appear periodically. During the match, points are earned which players can use to requisition weapons, armor abilities, or vehicles. Requisitions are obtained via Req Packs; digital collections of cards that can either be earned by simply playing or by purchasing with real money. At the time of this review, "Warzone" is a sorely unbalanced affair. While players may start off on equal grounds, matches often tilt in one direction early on and tend to remain favor of the leading team. It's a chaotic affair that some players may enjoy, but those who were not fans of Halo 4’s multiplayer, it's best to steer clear.

So, found in a Req Pack, my 2¢:

Halo 5’s campaign, while solid in many regards, does little more than provide set up for the next entry in the “Reclaimer Saga”. The story suffers mostly due to Microsoft’s mishandled marketing, as well as 343i’s unwillingness to take any real risks with the series formula. Fortunately Halo 5’s “Arena” mode offers a bit of redemption by returning the series’ competitive multiplayer experience back to form. (It also has Nathan Fillion starring in the game, so it has that going for it.) Long-time fans of the series will definitely want to give Halo 5 a playthrough; if anything to be surprised and left intrigued by the main plot given the outcome of Halo 4.


Burn Zombie Burn: Short Review

     I came across Burn Zombie Burn through the nice "You might also like..." section of Google Play's games store.  It caught my eye because it reminded me, visually at least, of one of my favorite games of all time- Zombies Ate My Neighbors- and it turned out to indeed be a game I did like.

      Burn Zombie Burn is a top down arena shooter full of hordes of zombies that you need to slaughter.  Sounds simple and fun right?  Well, that's where it gets really interesting.  The score multiplier is compounded by burning things.  Yes, the title comes into direct effect here.  You need to light things up and them slay everything you can with any weapons you can get a hold of, and there are a lot of them to choose from.  You have your simple torch, a vast array of guns, dynamite, and even a lawnmower to pick up and kill every thing you can.  Many of them are even nods to great zombie films that would appeal to the exact type of player the game wants, as is the main character's name- Bruce.  Almost undoubtedly a reference to the Evil Dead's Bruce Campbell.

     Lighting things on fire is easy of course, but managing the flame can get a bit troublesome.  I've found myself on numerous occasions being caught between a horde and a fence on fire, leading to my impending doom.  This sets up a wonderful risk versus reward form of gameplay and it is extremely satisfying here.

     The downsides are that there are only a handful of maps in three different modes to play, some challenges, and even a multiplayer option.  But that really isn't too limiting here as Burn Zombie Burn surprisingly hangs on to the fun factor and it's small and highly replayable nature is appealing in small doses, always leaving me wanting to play just one more round trying to chase a higher score than the last one.


Minor Steps (by Evgiz): A Micro Review

     In an effort to continue both gaming and writing I've been playing a ton of great little indie gems, and came across Minor Steps by someone calling themselves Evgiz.  It's a simple game wherein you find yourself locked in a strange facility with lots of blood and a dead body.

     What makes this 10 minute game nice is the very small details.  The way the text appears and floats away as you investigate items, the top notch sound design, and the controls.  They are all sparse, but at the same time they are also perfect for the game.
     The mood here is set wonderfully, given weight by Kevin MacLeod's "Anguish" leaving a haunting feeling in the player.  It really does a good job of giving off a mysterious vibe to the facility you are trying to escape.

     This game brings up questions with what it doesn't say.  There's a strange sense of unease brought up with wondering why there is so much garbage laying around, where'd all the blood come from, who killed these people, and most curiously- why did someone eat a key?
     Unfortunately, there are no answers to be found.  Minor Steps starts a story that could very well go on to something much bigger, and much more sinister, with the implications.  Though it's highly doubtful Evgiz will continue with what they started with this project.

     Play the game here [ Minor Steps ]


Koi: Journey of Purity: Short Review

     At first glance Koi appears to be a game about tranquility and peace.  Finding harmony by helping other koi to freedom and going from pool to pool blooming flowers in an attempt to brighten a dimming world.  But the Zen-focused puzzles here are subject to a couple very dark influences seeping into the waters, leaving the beautiful music and visuals to be marred by something sinister.

     The darkness is partly from some carnivorous fish you encounter, but much more so is the real trouble in the game- the horrendously sluggish controls.  They are tremendously clumsy and awful, and it makes the game extremely frustrating when the giant black fish can dart through the water while you helplessly flounder to get away.  The lack of a map or zoom features mean you can't truly plan alternative paths to avoid them either, as by the time one spots you, there's only a couple seconds to react, and of course, that isn't even half enough time to get your koi remotely out of the way.  Even attempting to steer around the other koi to their necessary destinations is a pain, because they seem to get caught on everything in the way and lodged in odd places while following you and meandering all over the place.  There problems inject a lot of stress into a game meant to be a relaxing aquatic experience.

     Due to the ultimately failing response times for movement, plodding your way through the story's lengthy levels (yes there is a small bit of story here) is a task only for the supremely patient.  If the controls were more responsive, the game could've been a lot more tolerable, but the lack of balance between enemy speed and movement speed is disastrous here.  It's the equivalent of trying to rake a Zen Garden while being followed by an angry 5 year old kicking and stomping their way through the sand.  This Koi is, sadly, one that should be flushed with all the World's dead goldfish stores to that great bowl in the sky.


Murder: The Shortest Cyber-Punk Mystery & Review Ever

What's the Point...   & Click?

     As a game goes, Murder barely counts.  I got more interaction watching House, M.D. on DVD by pressing play between each episode than I did playing this.  In reality, I would've much rather have paid 99¢ to watch this as a small cyberpunk short film instead.  There's a few decent characters, the voice acting was good, and it presents a beautifully rendered world with its Neo Tokyo, evoking a sense of the dark and gritty realms we've come to know from the genre.  But that's where the good ends.

     Making the lack of interactivity worse is the threadbare plot and it's 20 minute play time.  The plot isn't remotely new if you've ever seen anything like I, Robot- based, very loosely, on the book of the same name by the great Isaac Asimov- but it is an age-old sci-fi staple so worn and predictable that I had an idea of how it was going to end even before pressing start.  There's apparently nothing new in Neo Tokyo.  No new philosophic thoughts, no new take on artificial intelligence, and when Peter Moorhead claimed he was sticking to the hard-boiled influences of cyberpunk masters Masamune Shirow and Katsuhiro Otomo, I thought he was going to use more than just the leftover bits of shell.  The whole last third of the game is nearly the same as the second, and felt like it was added on merely to stretch the run time out just a bit longer.

     As it is, Murder seems like it should've been used as the opener for a full game.  Normally I wouldn't complain about a game's brevity, in this case, it's the video game equivalent of a flash fiction story, but there is not only nothing to the story in Murder, there really isn't much game to it either.  Both aspects are as shallow as could be here making it seem like the skeleton of something much larger.  You'll get more action and entertainment out of physically turning the pages of one of Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell graphic novels, or hell, even tapping the screen of an E-book of one, so go read one of those instead.  At least those stories are truly fleshed out and far more interesting to read.