Audiosurf

Genre: Casual, Driving (?), Music Driven

Developer: Dylan Fitterer

Publisher: Dylan Fitterer via Steam

Released: 2008

Zolgar paid: $9.99

Beaten: there is no beating Audiosurf

Zolgar's rating: 8/10

Replayability: High

Audiosurf is a very hard game to describe because when you try to explain it, it just sounds stupid. I have never seen it described in such a way that made me go "I want to play that!", even the game's official 'sale's pitch' doesn't. Instead of failing miserably at my own words, I'm going to cheat and use the official description:

Audiosurf is a music-adapting puzzle racer where you use your own music to create your own experience. The shape, the speed, and the mood of each ride is determined by the song you choose.

You earn points for clustering together blocks of the same color on the highway, and compete with others on the internet for the high score on your favorite songs.

See what I mean? A music adapting whozawhata? It sounds potentially cool, but mostly on the curiosity factor. Thankfully they offer a demo to sate said curiosity factor. It's a lot better than it sounds though.

Really, I think that kinda sums up my review. “It's better than it sounds, try the demo and see!” so yeah.. I think I'm done.. *saunters off to get a samvich*....... *wanders back* What, you're still here? Fiine, I guess I have to write a real review.

The description says it's a puzzle-racer. What does that mean? Well, it means that they have to declare it a puzzle game because you match color boxes, heaven forbid it be called a SKILL game, because that's what it is. It's not a puzzle game, and it's not a racer because you're always going to finish in the exact same amount of time.

I'd call it a skill game with driving elements. You pilot your 'car' on a 3 lane track (with a shoulder on either side), on which spawn colored blocks, 5 colors to be precise, worth varying amounts of points. When you collect and connect at least 3 blocks of the same color, they clear from your board and give you points based off the number and color you cleared. There are an assortment of powerups as well, such as 'paint' which turns every block on your grid the same color, 'organize' which sorts your blocks to be most efficient, and a score multiplier.

Your track is a unique track derived from the specific music file you decided to load: the speed at which you move, the twists and turns in the track, and even the block spawn, are all calculated by the song. This means that you can readily choose the feel of your game. Want something insane and intense? Just pop in Dragonforce or some other Speed Metal or the like. Want to wind down and relax? Just put in something soft and mellow. Want to try and get motion sick? Pop in something that has a beat like how Captain Kirk talked. You.. know.. like.. this.

In addition though, there are 6 'characters' you can play, each one with their own traits that make them unique to play, altering the gameplay further.

• Mono: Mono changes the game a lot. Mono's track has no shoulders (except in the casual version), and only two colors of blocks. Colored blocks, which change color depending on the intensity of the song, and gray blocks. In true block-match 'puzzle' game fashion, grey blocks are bad and you don't want to hit them, in this instance they clog up space in your match bar and take a while to go away, also lowering your over all score. For each colored block you grab in a row you earn an increasing number of points (capping at 200) just for picking them up, this is reset when you hit a gray block. Due to the difficulty Mono has of getting the other bonuses, he has a special bonus of an extra +30% to your score for hitting no gray blocks.
  Mono's special moves are: Left click: Wings, gather from all 3 lanes at once (including grays!), right click: Jump, leap over blocks if you can't get around them. (Elite mode loses jump in favor of shurikens, which damage gray blocks in your inventory, due to them not decaying over time.)
• Vegas: As the name kinda implies, Vegas is the gambler, and is based mostly on luck, and knowing when and how to press your luck. The trick to Vegas, is trying to hold out until you get something good to give you a nice large-scoring move. Just watch that you don't over fill!
  Vegas' specials are: Left click/move to shoulder: Shuffle existing blocks in grid. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Right Click: Over time, Vegas will random generate a power up, a right click will use one. She can store up to 3.
• Eraser Man: A bit of an odd one, and possibly the most tactically minded, able to build up some very impressive chain reactions, with skill and planning.
  Eraser Man's specials are: Left Click: erase all blocks from your grid of the color you just hit. Right Click: Undo last erase. (blocks will return in the same column, in the first open slot as if you hit them again)
• Pointman: Another tactical one, but somewhat less so. Pointman picks up blocks or specials and can save them for later, or drop them in a different column. Basic planning can net some nice chains or better matches.
  Pointman's specials are: Left Click: pick up block/special you just hit (up to 3 can be stored). Right Click: Drop block/special in current column. (If more than 1 is stored, you will drop the most recent.)
• Pusher: Lacks the tactical versatility of Pointman, and the massive potential of Eraser Man. Pusher tries to appeal to those who like to plan ahead, but he's far too spontaneous for that, what with only being able to push blocks left or right.
  Pusher's specials are: Left Click: nudge block you just hit one space left. Right Click: nudge block you just hit one space right.
• Double Vision: I have one word for playing Double Vision “bwah?” Double Vision is designed to be a two-player game, or one player who is just stupidly coordinated. DV has 4 lanes, and 2 cars. One car is in the left two lanes and controlled by the keyboard. The other is in the right two lanes and controlled by the mouse. Bonus points are awarded for matches that cross the center line. DV has no specials.

There are also 3 difficulty settings, though, Casual only offers Mono, Pointman and Double Vision, while Elite offers ll of them except Vegas (This is a slap in the face for me, as I enjoy Vegas the most), then there's also Iron mode, which moves faster, and it's game over if you over fill, instead of the normal loss of points.

There is also complete control over the colors of the game, as well as the ability to apply certain effects to the screen, and there's an assortment of use created mods and utilities out there for further customization.

For a casual game, Audiosurf offers a lot of options for how you want to play it.

Audiosurf also offers Achievements. 18 of them, in fact. Guess what? I'm not going to bitch about them, seriously! Audiosurf is one of the few games where I do not feel a single achievement is a pointless, worthless achievement that is tantamount to saying “congratulations, you just opened a door!” All 18 of the achievements are real achievements, and while some are royal pains in the ass to get, they're not devoted to stupidly long amounts of time. No achievement in AS has been earned by more than 80% of the players, and one has only been earned by 0.2% (I believe it can only be earned in certain songs, with Pointman or Pusher, and a lot of luck.)

If I still haven't convinced you that Audiosurf is worth your time (and money), then seriously, go play the demo. Remember, the first hit is always free.

TL:DR

*noms samvich* Vas? You really want a TL:DR now? I already gave you one.. Ah well, fine.

“It's better than it sounds, try the demo and see!”

Availability and price:

Steam: $9.99

Now lemme enjoy my samvich!

Beat Hazard Ultra

Genre: Arcade, Action (space-shooter), Music Driven.

Developer: Cold Beam Games

Publisher: Cold Beam Games via Steam

Released: 2010

Zolgar paid: $3.74

Beaten: There is no 'beating' Beat Hazard

Zolgar's rating: 8/10

Replayability: High

There are two versions of Beat Hazard, technically. Beat Hazard Classic and Beat Hazard Ultra, they are mostly the same, with Ultra having more enemies and more shinyness. As such, my review will mostly be focused on Ultra.

Beat Hazard is an arcade-style Space Shooter in the style of Asteroids, and if you had to click the link to find out what Asteroids was, congratulations, you have made me feel old. Simply put you fly your ship around the screen blasting enemy ships and flying rocks trying to kill you, while you collect power ups.

As far as an Asteroids Clone goes, it's actually pretty good. A lot of enemies to face, both in-game pickups to boost your power, as well as upgrades to your vessle that carry through your game. Of course there are also assorted game-play modes, and multiplayer for if you feel like it. Paired with nicely polished, very shiny graphics, you get a game that is well worth playing.

However what stands out about Beat Hazard is it's engine. Music powers Beat Hazard, and any music you feel like playing from your computer in fact. The tempo of a song determines how fast enemies move and how fast their attacks move, and in general how many foes there are. Unfortunately it also determines how fast you shoot, and seems to adjust the power of your attacks, too.

This means though, if you're wanting something slow and mellow, very relaxing to play, you can just hit a soft slow song, but if, instead, you want something insane and fast paced to play you can pop in Dragonforce or the like, allowing you to control how your game plays out. As an added bonus, you're guaranteed background music that doesn't suck.

The bigger music collection you have, the more options you have and the more replayability Beat Hazard gives you.

Beat Hazard offers 4 main gameplay modes:

"Standard", One track at a time, try to avoid dying much, rack up a high score and get money.

"Survival", It plays through one album, or folder of music, and if you survive it all, starts over again. Last as long as you can!

"Boss Rush", Like Survival, only every wave is bosses. See how many waves you can get! (great source of money)

"Chill Out", The mode for if you don't want to worry about death and score and stuff. It plays like Survival, except you have infinite lives, and several perks automatically maxed out.

There is also 2-player co-op or Head to Head, available either through an ingame server, or playing on the same rig (requires at least 1 game controller that the game believes is an Xbox controller).

For the completionist there are a few extras:

23 Perks to unlock. Perks alter the game, usually in your favor, some add a spawn of random powerups at the start of the game, some increase your score multiplier, others give you new equipment. Only a limited number can be active at any time though, unfortunately, so it requires you to decide exactly what you want to be able to excell at. While Perks are unlocked by gaining Ranks, you have to purchase the Perk to be able to activate it, then you can use money to further upgrade your perk to make it more effective.

26 Ranks to achieve, ranks are based off your total score. Every time you go up a rank, you unlock a new Perk, although if you go up more than 1 rank at a time, you only unlock 1 perk still.

43 Achievements, by now if you've read many of my reviews you know I like to mock achievements, because they're anything but. Beat Hazard is really no exception, there are a few achievements that are 'real' achievements, but most of them are just the same crap that passes for achievements in every other game, playing the game how it's supposed to be played, or playing for an arbitrary amount of time. Thankfully there's only 43.

One further note about the two versions of the game. You might be tempted to just buy Beat Hazard classic as it's only $9.99, but it really lacks the polish and options of Ultra. And if you consider, the Ultra upgrade is $4.99, and the iTunes file support is $1.00, combined that would be $15.98, while Beat Hazard Complete is $12.99 with everything.

TL:DR:

"Beat Hazard, Asteroids' raver of a little brother."

Availability and price:
Steam: $12.99
XBox Live: 400 points
(I am unsure if the XBL version is Ultra or not)

Freebie Friday: GemCraft: Labyrinth

Genre: Tower Defense

Developer: Game in a Bottle

Publisher: Armor Games

Release year: 2011

Freebie type: Flash

Paid option: Premium Edition upgrade: $5 US.

Zolgar paid: $5

Beaten: No

Zolgar's rating: 8/10

Replayability: High

So after bashing Sanctum a bit a couple weeks ago, I decided for the next Freebie I actually needed to do what I feel is one of the best Tower Defense games on the market, especially for the price.

GemCraft: Labyrinth is the 3^rd in a series, unlike many Flash game series though, it's not a case of “it's the exact same game just reskinned”, yet the developers managed to still keep the feel, style and playability, but simply improve on the design.

Now, if you've played a lot of Tower Defense, you're probably sitting there wondering what is so great about GemCraft: Labyrinth (and the rest of the series, in fact), because after all.. all TDs are basically the same game. Honestly, that's kind of true, they're all basically the same game.. but saying that is like saying “All first person shooters are basically the same game.” They all use a predefined formula, but those that stand out are ones that find a way to deviate from that formula.

Take Sanctum, as a TD is follows the formula to the letter, but it then lets you take part in the action in FPS mode. It's not, however, the first TD give you a 'player character' that assists the towers. I forget what it was called, but there's a Platformer TD that you have a gunman in it as well as the towers.

The GemCraft series deviates from the formula quite a lot, and Labyrinth shows it the best.

First, the game actually has a story! We're not talking a generic “OMGz0rz the Creep(tm) is attacking your Convenient Plot Device(tm) following a set path, use these nonsensical weapons you shouldn't have anyways to protect it!” Especially Labyrinth gives you an actual story progression as you play through the game. The gist of the story is that you are a student of the GemCrafting school of Wizardry (not taught at Hogwarts, no), which is the discipline of creating weaponized gems. You discover the source of the creatures that have attacked, and nearly destroyed, the village you were protecting.. and go after it. I know, I know it sounds generic.. but it gives you a lot more than that as you play through.

Then, there's a bit of an RPG element to the game, or more to the point what the game industry calls an RPG element. Because clearly “Leveling Up” makes an RPG (you know, instead of things like.. choices and consequences.. OK, I won't start ranting about that). As you beat a map, you gain experience, this XP is determined by how good you do, as you gain XP you level up. Levels grant you skill points, skills have passive effects on the game, anywhere from granting you more mana, bonus to damage, bonus to Gem attributes, reduced creation costs, etc. Also, it allows you to reset your skills at will, to try something else.

The number of Towers (“Gems”) you get is, in and of itself rather impressive. This isn't the classic TD fodder towers (slow high damage, fast low damage, explosion damage blahblahblah), no sir. While some of the Gems have standard TD tower attributes, others are completely unique to GemCraft, and their 'special' always improve as the gems get higher in level.

• Chain Hit: Moderate base damage with a chance to hit multiple creatures, damaging all of them.
• Multiple Damage: Decent base damage and has a chance to add a multiplier to the damage the gem deals.
• Blood Bound: Low base damage but takes a percentage of the total kills a gem has and adds that to the damage of the gem.
• Mana Gathering: This is your standard 'extra money tower', it generates mana (your 'money') with every hit, deals low damage of course.
• Poison: This one is pretty self explanatory, slightly low 'hit damage' with a DOT (Damage Over Time, for you non-slang-savvy folk.)
• Shock: Fair base damage and has a set chance to Shock (freeze in place) a foe for a set amount of time.
• Slow: Also fairly self explanatory, decent base damage.
• Armor Tearing: A semi-common one in TDs, this one reduces the armor of it's target, making it take more damage from towers, deals low damage on it's own.

You might be thinking “Well that alone isn't much.” and you know what? You're right. You can also combine gems, not once but twice. (Well, you can actually combine gems as much as you want, but after 3 type gems they get weaker, and only the dominant 3 gems work.) When you combine gems, the multi-type gems gain a bonus to damage, range and attack, but also gets a penalty to it's specials. To counter that? It has multiple specials. So you can do things like:

• Chain Hit/Multi Damage/Blood Bound: This gem is honestly broken. It deals multiple damage, hits multiple foes, and for every kill it deals more damage.
• Slow/Mana Gathering/Armor Tearing: These are the perfect companion to the above-noted brokenness. Slows your foes down, makes 'em take more damage, and give you more mana to boot. Especially if you happen to use them in Traps (I'll explain later).
• Slow/Chain Hit/Poison: You can't tell me that's not a killer combo.

And that's just scratching the surface, you can create .. well, if my brother-in-law and I are correct: 129 different towers. (Please feel free to provide me with math that shows I'm wrong, but don't say I have it wrong if you don't have the equation to back it up.)

Next up on the list, you also get more than just Towers. You also get Traps, Shrines, Amplifiers, and Bombs.

• Towers: Are obviously what you drop the Gems in to in order to make them shoot at the Creep.
• Traps: Are akin to towers in that you place Gems in them to damage the Creep, but in this instance they are placed in the pathway and have a fixed, very small, range. The Gem has it's damage reduced, but it's special (or Specials, for multi-gems) increased.
• Amplifiers: Also get Gems placed in them, but they do not directly harm the Creep, instead any Tower or Trap adjacent (including diagonally) receives a buff to damage, range, firing speed and it's special(s).
• Bombs: Say something slips past your last tower, you can grab a Gem, turn it in to a Bomb and drop it on the Creep to do an AoE explosion for decent damage. The damage and number of critters the explosion can hit is based off the tier of the Gem you use.
• Shrines: Shrines are slightly strange. These deal damage in a predefined pattern (either an AoE, or straight lines on the N/S and E/W axises), based on the tier of Gem your sacrifice to them, in addition they have a cool-down time so you cannot simply spam them.

Now most TDs have like 10-30 maps, maybe 50 levels with lots of duplicating maps. Not CG:L, 165 (I think) standard story maps, plus 4 challenge maps that can be unlocked, and so far none I have found have been exact carbon-copies of another, though obviously there are only so many viable patterns before you start to run in to “this looks kinda familiar.” Each map also has default Gems 'unlocked' for it, but for a bit of Mana you can unlock additional Gems for use for that fight.

There are also your Battle Settings. Say the game isn't hard enough for you, or you want to get a bit more XP, as you level up, you unlock modifiers for battles. 20 modifiers in total (for the free version), which add more monsters, add more waves, make monsters stronger, etc.

Lastly, there's the Achievement system. By now, if you've read many of my reviews, you'll realize I like to mock achievements. GC:L is not exempt. It does have a lot of meaningless “Congratulations, you blew your nose!” achievements, I'm sorry “Amulets”. What it does well though, is it breaks them down in to different categories. One of which is actual honest to the FSM achievements! Radical concept, eh?

Now, no game is perfect.. CG:L is no exception to that rule:

The Creep is simply generic. A few models, 'tough slow' 'weak fast' 'swarm' 'normal' and 'boss' monsters. Not even flying monsters. Everything that went in to the rest of this game, I would have really liked to see a little more creativity with the critters.

The balance of the Towers is .. slightly skewed. Know that combo I mentioned back there? Blood Bound/Chain Hit/Multi Damage? While I was writing this, I was also playing GC:L, and I was on Endurance mode.. I got past wave 150 with one of those towers (surrounded by 8 amplifiers), not even any traps. By the end it was doing something like 20,000 damage per hit, and hitting at least 2 foes every shot. I've had other combos prove good, but nothing is as good as that.. and it's just insane if you pair it with mana/armor tearing/slow or shock traps.

I feel certain features are lacking in the Free version. In order to get Endurance Mode (unlimited waves), you have to purchase the Premium Edition, and most of the Challenge Amulets required Endurance Mode. The previously mentioned 4 unlockable maps? To get those, you have to get all of the Challenge Amulets.

It moves slow. I can comfortably keep up with the game on 'Fast Forward'. It really needs another tier of speed that makes things move even faster.

If you purchase the Premium Edition, you are still forced to play online, logged in to one website or another.

Not a lot of detractors though, especially not for a game you can play absolutely free of charge.

Finally, a word on the Premium Edition:

Honestly, I was on the fence about purchasing it for two reasons. First, it seemed it would slightly off-balance the game, and second.. it's a Flash game, which I have to play in my Browser on Armor Games. If I have no internet, or Armor Games goes down.. I have no game. The factor that made me decide to buy it was deciding that I had already gotten more than $5 worth of enjoyment without even paying for it, and I am a firm believer in supporting Indy developers.

The Premium Edition doesn't even throw the game balance off much, though it does make it a lot easier to level up, and start out if you buy it before you start playing.

It gives you 30 extra skill points (doesn't mean much after about level 30, before that it could be really useful though.)

It gives you access to 9 new skills (some are useful, so are not so much), none of which are exceptionally game-breaking.

Lastly: it open up an extra 10 Battle Settings, these include Endurance Mode, Tenfold monsters, Bosses Only, and 7 more almost as challenging.

TL:DR

“Jokes about The Sorcerer's Stone or Family Jewels will not be tolerated.”

Available from:
Armor Games
Game in a Bottle

Dino D-Day

Genre: FPS (Multiplayer, team-based)

Developer: 800 North and Digital Ranch

Publisher: 800 North and Digital Ranch via Steam

Released: 2011

Zolgar paid: $14.99 (for 4 copies)

Beaten: N/A

Zolgar's rating: 5/10

Replayability: Since you can't 'beat' it, you I suppose you're never 'replaying'?

This is one of those games that when I first saw it, I busted up laughing and knew I would have to try despite my general aversion to FPS. Then of course I forgot all about it, until Steam ran a 'free weekend', so I tried it. That free weekend happened to coincide with a 50% off sale, which happened to be shortly following the devs decision to half the price.. so I bought it, too.

Now, you can't mean to tell me you've never been looking at a history book, reading about World War II and thought “Maaan, what if they had dinosaurs? That would make this history stuff worth reading about!” and then spent your history class daydreaming about Nazis riding dinosaurs, instead of reading about the concentration camps.

Well, now you can stop daydreaming and start fighting! Join the Allies and fight against Nazi Super-Dino-Soldiers! Or, you can side with the Nazis and BE one of the Super-Dino-Soldiers!

...Maybe after a long weekend of playing Dino D-Day you'll be able to pay attention when they try to teach you about Auschwitz. (Depressing read, you have been warned.)

The premise of Dino D-Day is pretty simple:

Jurassic Park, only with Nazis instead of a crazy old scientist, and taking over the world instead of an amusement park.

Though there's a nod to JP in one of the bits of 'flavor text' from the games website:

I am astonished that the promised recreational park featuring these noble beasts did not materialize, even though Mister Goebbels sent us convincing tickets of admission and discount coupons to the park gift shoppe. However, it appears now that this was a well planned deception. I now believe that Hitler has planned all along to use these dinosaurs for evil, and that there shall be no park in our time.

Let's be honest though.. Nazis+Dinosaurs.. who needs anything more?

As of writing the review there are 7 playable characters for each side.

For the Axis we have:

• Streicher, an assault trooper equipped with a Mauser K98 (bolt-action infantry rifle), an MP-40 (machine gun), grenades, and a knife. He's a grunt, an elite grunt mind you, but still a grunt.
• Hissman, a sniper equipped with a scoped Mauser K98, a Luger (semi-auto pistol), grenades, and a knife. He can also call down a kamikaze pterodactyl rigged with explosives.
• Von Graff, a .. veterinarian!? Armed with an MP-44 (Assault Rifle), a Luger, a med-kit, and a knife. He can heal his wounded allies, warm or cold-blooded, or toss them med-kits to use when they need them.
• Velociraptor, if you don't know what a Velociraptor is, go watch Jurassic Park. Now. I'll wait. … .. .. OK, anyways where was I? In combat, you have 2 options, claw your opponents, or pounce them. Clawing does good damage, pouncing is an auto kill. You main weakness? No armor.
• Desmatosuchus, “Tankasaurus”. Seriously, heavily armored and armed with a cannon that fires explosive projectiles. This dino is basically the 'easy button'. Though it IS slow as all hell and can't jump.
• Dilophosaurus, unfortunately this dino doesn't take a cue from JP, it doesn't have a frilled neck and spit poison. It claws it's foes, charges them, and it can pick enemies or goats up and throw them as a weapon. When in doubt, throw a goat.
• Stygimoloch, a fairly well rounded dino, average speed and durability and equipped with a machine gun.

On certain maps, the Axis also obtains a T-Rex, which is big, slow, hard to kill and equipped with dual machine guns that mow down everything in it's path.

Then for the Allies we have:

• Hardgrave, a grunt equipped with an M1 Garand (Semi-automatic infantry rifle), a Colt .45 (I don't even need to explain), Frag grenades, and his fists. If Hardgrave scores enough kills he can 'rage': Unarmed combat, increased damage, increased damage resist.
• Spencer, a grunt equipped with a Tommy Gun (Do you need to ask?), a Colt .45, Sticky bombs (self explanatory, I hope), and his fists. Spencer can also call in an artillery strike.
• Crossley, heavy weapons. Carries a shotgun, a PIAT (anti-tank weapon), smoke grenades, and his fists.
• Vike, sniper. Equipped with a Scoped Mosin-Nagant (Infantry and Sniper rifle), Nagant Revolver, a dead rabbit!?, and her fists. Vike can lob the dead rabbit on to the battle field in order to distract a velociraptor to be so she can kill it safely.
• Brun, medic. Equipped with a STEN (machine gun), P38 (pistol), medkit and, you guessed it, her fists. Brun is pretty good as a 'run and gun' character due to having a decent full auto main weapon, and the ability to heal her allies is a nice touch.. if her player uses it.
• Frank, something of a tank, equipped with a BAR (automatic rifle), a Flechette gun (a gun that fires a scatter shot of blades), frag genades, and his fists.
• Trigger, Allies only dino. A Protoceratops equipped with a machine gun. Basically a re-skin of Stygimoloch.

Now, the first problem we see is: Axis has 4 dinos, Allies have 1, and honestly, who wants to play a silly human? On servers that don't autobalance, this leads to Axis outnumbering Allies frequently.

As well, the balance between Axis and Allies is slightly skewed. The Axis generally feels a tiny bit more powerful, but what shows even more is that the Axis characters all work fairly well solo while for the Allies to really shine they need good solid teamwork.

Problem is? Axis also shine with teamwork.

Balance aside, another major problem with Dino D-Day is it's learning curve. I thought that I was just having problems because I haven't played a FPS in ages.. nope, the controls are not entirely intuitive, and and most of the classes (including most of the dinosaurs) have quirky issues for trying to learn how to play them.

Paired with the lack of any form of single-player/training/practice options and you will find that you spend a LOT of time dead at first.

I will also address a complaint that I have read many times on the game's forum:

They're selling an unfinished MOD as a full-fledged retail release game!

First, it's not a mod, it just uses the Source Engine, though it's original release was as a mod to 'test the waters' so to speak, to see if there was interest in the idea.

As for it being 'unfinished' and 'marketed as a full game', both of those are completely, 100% true. The developers have said, many times, that the game isn't finished. They're constantly working on new updates and content for it, and so far there has been no mention of DLCs for it. So yes, they're selling an 'unfinished game', but the developers need to get income so that they can fund working on their game.

I blame Steam for the marketing, personally.

At present, the game offers 3 gameplay modes, determined by what map you're on:

• Death Match: If I have to explain this to you, please do not ever buy a FPS. There are 3 maps for this option, one includes the T-Rex. (Imagine that, on the map that gets the T-Rex, Axis wins about 9 of 10 times, as opposed to about 3 out of 4 on other Deathmatch maps.)
• King of the Hill: Simply put claim a location and kill your enemies who try to take it. Presently only 2 maps for KotH.
• Objective: Instead of “Rawr, kill everyone!” these 3 maps require you to do specific things, 2 of the 3 are very simple straightforward objectives.. Allies: deliver 5 bombs to an Axis target. Axis: Stop the Allies! The third I've yet to play, but it involves taking machine gun bunkers, and safely escorting a giant dino-tank across the map, while the Allies try to kill it.

Right here, I see a way that the game could be improved: KotH and Objective maps available for Death Match. They have released the DevKit for Dino D-Day so that mapmakers can create their own maps though.

Unfortunately right now most of the dedicated servers are running the T-Rex map 24/7, which .. well.. the map is skewed towards the Axis in the first place, it has the T-Rex which is horribly balanced, and Axis are slightly stronger.. so it gets kinda boring.

They are talking about adding a couple more gameplay modes, including a single player campaign (WOO!) and Survival Mode. Very little details have been given as to what these modes will be like, I would personally like to see Survival Mode have 2 options, 1 a straight up 'survive a horde of enemies' mode, the other more like L4D.

I would also like to see Bots, I know bots suck, people hate bots.. but honestly, especially with the learning curve, a way for someone to play solo would be really useful.

Now, the player base.. right now, due to the rather new nature of the game, and the fact that it's rather poorly balanced, the player base is actually not too bad. I've yet to see excessive taunting and asshattery on wins, nor have I seen mocking and berating of n00bz for not knowing how to play.

So, I gave it a below average score, what would bump it's score up to over five?

• Balance. Balance balance balance balance.
• Single player options, even if it were just the ability to have bots.
• Making certain specials easier to use (I'm looking at you, Raptor Pounce and Dilophasaur Throw).
• More maps, especially balanced maps, and more non-DM maps.
• Death Match mode on all maps.
• More gameplay modes.
• Did I mention balance?

All of them would be nice, but even just a couple would greatly improve my opinion.. especially the balance.

And, a word on achievements: Many of the achievements should be my pet peeve of “you're playing the game how it's supposed to be played!” achievements, but due to how awkward some of the controls are, they're really not. I'm sorry, a standard mechanic being a pain in the ass to pull off doesn't make it a 'real achievement'.

Oh, and a word to my German readers, all.. uh.. one of you:

The game is available in Germany too, as they edited the images and have removed the Swastika, the SS logo, etc. These have all been replaced by actual WWII era German insignia, but ones less known or less associated with Nazis.

For those who are rather opposed to this, I'm just going to leave this here.

TL:DR

“Nazi dinosaurs. That is all.”

Availability and price:
Steam: $9.99

Plants Vs. Zombies

Genre: Casual, Strategy (Defense)

Developer: PopCap Games

Publisher: PopCap Games

Released: 2009

Zolgar paid: $9.99

Beaten: Yes

Zolgar's rating: 7/10

Replayability: Moderate to High

Plants Vs. Zombies (PvZ) is one of those games which “real” gamers looked at and said “wow, that looks like an absolutely stupid game.” especially coming from PopCap (considered kings of casual gaming). However, once they downloaded the free demo and played it, they realized it was actually a very well made, fun little game.

PvZ has been called a 'gateway' game, leading casual gamers to playing “real” games. If you ask me, that's a very accurate definition of it, and it also got “real” gamers looking at casual games for entertainment (which makes it the perfect game for those of us who love both already). It's a quick, simple game to pick up, but it has a depth of strategy to it that actually makes you pay attention to what's going on.

PvZ is a form of Tower Defense game, though not in the typical sense that people are used to. The basic premise is Zombies have attacked! and you have an assortment of weaponized plants to defend your home with. Your yard is conveniently broken down in to 5 straight lanes, which the zombies are restricted to.

So as the Zombies shamble down the lanes, you place your various offensive and defensive plants. Things like Pea Shooters, Sun Flowers, Wall Nuts, Potato Mines, Chompers and so much more. Hopefully, you've built a defensive structure that provides you with an adequate amount of resources, and kills the Zombies before they reach your house. If they reach your house though, all hope is not lost! Each lane has a final line of defense, a lawn mower. If a Zombie reaches the lawn mover, it fires up and tears down the lane it's on, killing every Zombie in it. However if a second Zombie reaches the end of that lane, you're frelled.

Unlike the traditional Tower Defense, you do not get additional (resource) by way of killing the Creep, nor do you get it at the end of each wave.

There are two forms of resources in PvZ:

Sun: This is your 'building towers' resource, which comes in two forms. The first is falling from the sky in daytime levels, the second is from certain plants. When it spawns, you have to click it within about 20 seconds (I think) else it is lost forever.

Money: Money is used to purchase things like additional plant types, seed slots, etc. from your crazy neighbor. Money come primarily as random drops from defeated Zombies, as well you gain a bonus for each lawn mower remaining at the end of the level.

The game has 3 main 'stages', front yard, back yard and roof, each with a day and night phase as well. Front yard, daytime is the easiest and teaches you how to play the game, from there each one has certain special traits. Night time, of course, you get less Sun but you can use Mushrooms, which have a much lower sun requirement.. though this is countered by them not being usable during the day (without a special plant). All together totaling 50 individual levels.

If that's not enough for you, PvZ also features an assortment of mini games (such as 'Wall-Nut Bowling' where you use Wall-Nuts to bowl down incoming zombies), a puzzle mode (which I don't recall, it's not unlocked on the machine I'm playing it on now), Survival mode, and a 'Zen Garden' for if you just want to simulate a garden (with really weird plants). Meaning there's more than enough content to keep you happy for a while.

Also, PvZ has Achievements (at least on Steam), and for once we're not talking generic, pointless achievements that you earn for playing the game. Almost all the achievements in PvZ are ones that you have to do something special to get, like beating a daytime map with Mushrooms or activating Mustache Mode (which I won't tell you how to do).

As one might expect, the graphics are somewhat cartoony, however they're very well drawn, and I believe they will age well over the next few years.

Still not sure it's the game for you? Try the Demo. Remember, first hit's always free!

You can also get your fix on Android devices, iOS devices, Macs, Nintendo DS, and soon: LCD implants behind your eyelids, so you can play while you sleep. (OK, so one of those is a complete fabrication.)

(Screenshots shamelessly stolen from Impulse and Steam)

TL:DR

“Addictive, time-sucking games, and always a free trial version.. PopCap or PopCrack? You decide.”

Pricing and availability:

Steam: $9.99

Impulse: $9.95

PopCap: $19.95 (wait what?)

D2D: $9.95

Amazon (physical): ~$15.00

Terraria

Genre: Crafting Sandbox/Adventure

Developer: Re-Logic

Publisher: Re-Logic via Steam

Released: 2011

Zolgar paid: $7.49

Beaten: There is no 'beating' Terraria

Zolgar's rating: 6/10

Replayability: I'm going to classify Terraria's replayability as an MMO, despite it not being one.

If you buy Terraria right now, you will most likely have fun with it, but find that it feels remarkably unfinished.. truth is, it IS unfinished you're paying $10 for the alpha release. As of writing this review, Terraria has only been in development for a little over 6 months.

Why, you ask, why did they release it so soon? Well, I'm not sure as to why, I've heard a rumor, but I also have a theory, if the rumor isn't true. The rumor is that the alpha was leaked, and rather than have a highly unfinished, buggy, feature-less pirate running rampant online ruining their reputation they decided to release the game.

My theory though, is that due to it's similarities to Minecraft, and the massive popularity Minecraft has built up, they decided to release their game while Minecraft is still 'in'. Also, there are plenty of games which have had people pay for the 'beta version', Minecraft included. If you think about it, for an indy developer it makes a lot of sense to sell the game early and release updates, because usually they're trying to develop the game either in hopes of making money, or in their spare time.

And unlike some games, Terraria isn't making you buy the game multiple times. $10 seems to get you the full game. Though that isn't to say there won't be DLCs later.

If you search around at all, you will see a lot of "2D Minecraft", while I've not played Minecraft myself, I can say that this assessment is .. somewhat accurate, but after actually playing Minecraft, I can say that this statement is rather inaccurate, it would be akin to saying:
"Diablo is a real-time Baldur's Gate" sure they have similarities, but they also have a lot of differences. It would be more accurate to say that Terraria is a 2D sidescroller hybridization of Zelda and Minecraft.

In short, you gather resources, most of them are gathered by digging in to the Earth, though some are harvested topside, and others are gathered from defeating enemies. With said resources, you build a house, craft items for your house, craft arms and armor, and improve your house.

Then you improve your gear, dig deeper to find better stuff.. and .. you get the idea. There's no plot, there's no quests, there's no 'end'. There's greater challenges, such as a dungeon and the Underworld, but that's it. Your whole 'goal' is to get better, so you can get better. That will keep some players entertained for quite some time, in and of itself, due to the size of the world the game spawns, and the fact the world is completely random.

The other draw is the building. The world is a fully destructible environment, that you can modify however you see fit, as long as you have the resources. You can create a vast underground fortress, a lake-side mansion, a solid-gold castle in the air, or just a simple log cabin.. in the middle of the ocean.

Between the exploration and the building, it's the type of game that is heavily fueled by the player's own goals and the sense of 'ooh, what's over there!', as opposed to built-in goals.

The game does have some downsides though:

There's no form of mini-map, no way to know where the hell you are in relationship to everything else. This can get really annoying, especially when you're trying to either dig your way back to the surface, because you stumbled across an underground lake which flooded your previous tunnel.

Most of your weapons are 'semi-auto' which means you have to click every time you want to attack. I've found that this leads to for most things, the pickaxe being a better weapon (as it's 'full-auto').

There's no means to craft things quickly, if you have 1000 sand on you, which you want to turn in to glass to make glass bottles, you'll be sitting there for a very long time clicking your mouse button over and over and over again.

I stand corrected on this point, as it was pointed out to me that holding down the Right mouse button acts as 'auto craft'. Very useful piece of information I missed somewhere.

If this were an MMO, I would say it's not 'casual player' friendly. As it's not an MMO, you really don't have anyone to compete or keep up with, but it's still very demanding and requires a lot of time to really get anywhere.

The size of the world vs. Travel speed makes it somewhat unforgiving, and very unfriendly towards distance exploring. It wouldn't be so bad if there were the option to build another house and teleport between them.

• An edit to this note. While I still feel it's valid, it was pointed out to me one thing I neglected to mention here. Terraria allows you to create 3 sizes of worlds (small, medium and, large). Especially early game though, even small worlds are not friendly to distance exploration. Once you have a few key items distance exploration is nothing in a small world, and only a minor irritation in large.

There's no readily available 'delete item' function.

Apparently the developer listened, and there as been a trashcan slot added to the inventory. Not as convenient as just hitting 'delete' on each item, but better than nothing.

The 'Guide' NPC doesn't provide some of the most needed information for newbies. PCGamer has a very good Beginner's Guide though, and there's the Wiki.

Despite being released this year, it looks like it's like 15 years old. I think this is probably a style choice, but I think they could have gone with slightly nicer 2D sprites, personally. (Still looks better than Minecraft though)

While that seems like a long list of detractors to the game, they are all fairly minor, and just conveniences we have grown accustomed to with our new-fangled games that practically play themselves, and Terraria is still being developed, so it's quite likely that plans will be made to improve some of these as time goes on.

If you like Minecraft and/or oldschool Zelda, odds are very good you will get more than your $10 worth of entertainment out of Terraria.

TL:DR

"ZOMG! It's like a 2D Minecraft! Let's buy it!"

Availability and price:

Steam: $9.99

Special update: Aleph, an in-development indie RPG

I bring you another special edition of The Budget Gamer today, to point you in the direction of a Kickstarter project for anyone who is a fan of oldschool Final Fantasy style RPGs.

Aleph

Planned release: 2012
Planned release price: $20ish w/ pdf book, more with physical book. (Pledge $20 or more to the Kickstarter project on or before July 14th and you will get a copy of the game, and something special and silly.)
Developed and published by: PVGames

So I know what you're thinking "But Zolgar, that's $20 for an indie game, most sell for $5 to $15!" and normally, I'd say that you're right PVGames, however, has some very impressive plans for this baby.

First thing to mention is this is an RPG in the styling of the 80s and 90s RPG epics, many hours of gameplay to drive an epic story. So, if you're a lover of the JRPG genre, you'll get more than your money's worth out of it. (And you get the warm fuzzy feeling of supporting an indie game developer!)

That, alone, however is not enough to get me to do this special update. That's more what got me to share it on my Failbook. PVGames has some plans that put many modern games to shame.

World size: You think Final Fantasy has big worlds? Hah, the overland map would take upwards to half an hour for a player to walk from tip to tip, if they could do it in a straight line. Fear not though, players will be able to obtain a vehicle that will do the trip much faster.

Realism: Aleph will have such mechanics as players requiring food and water, being able to break bones and be infected with diseases. It makes progressing the story feel like far more of an achievement than some little pop-up that says "you took a poo."

There is also a rather in-depth Crafting system planned, but PVGames has not made any announcement pertaining to specifics.

The game also sports a rather massive back story, to give you more of a feel of what's happening in the game world, and make you feel like what you're doing has more of an affect on the world than a fly sneezing. If you'd like to read the general back story, it can be found here. It will also be revealed over time and through finding things in the game world.


The game world itself will be a rather impressive feat, as well, the goal is to create a fully organic, 'real' world. Borrowing a quote from PVGames 'promotional material':

It is a large open world, meaning everything is to scale and persistent. There is a day/night cycle which can effect a number of game elements, as well as a weather system. Townsfolk do not exist just to spout one-liners and are highly interactive. In fact, the whole world of Alpeh is interactive. If something is not nailed to the floor, you can pick it up and bring it wherever you wish. This offers a large myriad of opportunities for you to create housing, bases, storage areas for your equipment, and so forth as you see fit. Although you do get an official housing area, there is nothing stopping you from taking any number of locations in the game as your base of operations. Libraries are overflowing with books, many of which offer relevant or helpful information to the player who can utilize it right. Aleph is a living, breathing world, but only if you can protect it from the scores of hideous creatures out to destroy it!

This leads in to what is perhaps the most ballsy move for an indie developer:
Moral choices, and the consequences thereof.

Yes, you can kill anyone, you can take anything that isn't nailed down.. you can even amass an army and send it to destroy towns on a whim. You can become the ultimate Evil Overlord! If you do so, though, you have to live with the consequences. Followers may abandon, or even turn on you, other cities will hate you, you may even get heroes gunning for your head.

Most games use a 1 or at most 2 axis scale. "Good/Evil" and maybe something like "Law/Chaos" Aleph uses a 7-axis scale, which ames things far less clear-cut as good and evil.
Cowardice/Tenacity
Ignorance/Wisdom
Apathy/Empathy
Artifice/Sincerity
Arrogance/Humility
Indulgence/Restraint
Blasphemy/Piety

And almost every action in the game will move at least one scale. You might find your 'champion of justice' is an arrogant son of a troll. In most games, that's to be expected, but in Aleph.. you're facing an evil entity which is made up of all of man-kinds negative traits, so that arrogant streak gives it a hold on you.

The two 'main endings' are the 'pure good' and 'pure evil' endings. However, there are numerous other endings available depending on your 'alignment' and how you handle numerous things throughout the game.

Oh, and did I mention that you can raze towns? This is the mechanic that really sparked my interest.

So you can steal, murder, lie, cheat, and so forth... but what is really the most evil thing you can do? How about wipe out a village with your own personally-funded army? From within the designated player housing area, you can at one point in the game begin to build your own small army to do your bidding. You talk with your strategist and send the troops to designated locations for differing reasons. There are two primary functions (so far) to raising an army: Securing dungeons and razing towns. If you send your army to secure a dungeon, the troops will clear out the top several levels of any monsters that might live there. This allows the player to explore at his liesure and not worry about encountering any creatures until the lower levels. If the army is sent to raze a town, then that town will be destroyed, but all of its plunder will be yours!

So few games let you get even close to that! The only complaint I have with that mechanic is there's currently not plans to allow you to send your troops in to re-build the town and have it be re-populated but under your control.

If you're not willing to back it, come back sometime in 2012 when I give you my review of it!

Freebie Friday: Prometheus

Genre: Puzzle (First Person)

Developer: Quantum Flux Games

Publisher: Quantum Flux Games

Release year: 2009

Freebie type: Demo

Paid option: Not yet.

Zolgar paid: Nothing!

Beaten: yes

Zolgar's rating: 6/10

Replayability: Low

I was first planning to review one F2P MMO or another for my first Freebie Friday, but let's face it. F2Ps come and go faster than a John. I stumbled across this little gem by complete accident though, and instantly fell in love with it.

Prometheus is.. well, on the surface it seems like a Portal rip off. Oh who am I kidding? It IS a Portal rip off. It's a mod for a FPS engine (Unreal), which uses an atypical mechanic to create a rather unique puzzle game. But you know what? It does it well! So well in fact, that I decided to review a fairly short demo (of a game that doesn't look like it'll actually get released).

The game play in Prometheus is simple and honestly, not all that original. It's been the central focus of several Flash games.. however, Prometheus brings it to 3D and actually puts a story behind it. A story that leaves you wondering what the bloody hell is going on, and wanting more of it at the end.

The game starts up with you coming to your senses in a testing chamber (Portal anyone?) initially you hear a brief conversation between two people, then you're welcomed to the Prometheus Project by a man who then explains that it's a project dealing with quantum states. In the brief tutorial he gives you, you are given control of a device that will split you in to multiple Quantum States.

Your Quantum States are like clones, to an extent, except that the whole thing exists within a set amount of time (say a minute and a half), and each Quantum State does a specific task.

So you run in, trigger a switch and then activate the next quantum state. You watch the previous 'you' hit the switch, and then you go through the door it opens. Simple, huh? Well, it gets a little more complex when you have a total of 5 quantum states running around, and a lot more than just 1 switch that opens 1 door. And then you get a gun. Yes, a frelling gun.

After a couple missions, you switch over to using the Epimetheus Device, which works a lot like the Prometheus device except instead of 5 Quantum States, you only get 3.. but you can control each one multiple times.

When you get to Epimetheus it's a lot like playing a really weird game of Simon. Watch your clock, run through the game the same way each time and remember when and how you did each thing, so that you don't screw one of your other two Quantum States up.

This is all tied together by a bit of a story that, much like Portal you're left to try and piece most of it together as you go.. and at the end it really leaves you hanging and wondering what the heck is going on.

Much like Portal it seems to get slightly easier as you go on, even though technically the puzzles are actually harder, because you start thinking with por- I mean Quantum States.

Now for the games flaws:

First it's short. I mean.. really damn short. If you played Portal and thought it was short, Prometheus is even shorter. But hey, it's a free game. It may not entertain you for a long time, but you'll more than get your money's worth. Depending on how quickly you solve the puzzles, you're looking at between half an hour, and an hour and a half to beat it.

It's got very little replayability. Mostly just trying to get all the achievements or beating levels faster. A slight positive note about the achievements though: it's not like a lot of games where you get an achievement for every bloody action you take! “You shot a gun!” “You walked 5 feet!” “You ate a cheeseburger!” Seriously, WTF? Game companies need to learn that achievements are meaningless when you get them every 2 seconds! Prometheus only has 10 achievements, there's the standards (beating the game, switching to Epimetheus, things like that.) The others are all things you .. don't have to do in the midst of game play anyways.

It's an indie game from '09, based on the Unreal Developers Kit, so honestly.. it's graphics suck a little.

The female protagonist is no where near as cool and well designed as the girl from Portal.

In closing: seriously, it's a free game that has a lot of potential. Go play it.

TL:DR

“Oh god, GlaDOS got a hold of the Prometheus Device! RUN!”

Avialability/Price:

Impulse: FREE!

Quantum Flux Games: FREE!

Special update: Dirt-cheap Indie bundles.

Salutations my loyal readers.. all.. 2 of you.

I come to you this fine day with a special notice, you can get 11 indie-developed games for the low-low price of $10! How awesome is that. Not only do you get games for less than a buck a piece, but you can also support indie developers.

I haven't played any of these yet, I'll admit.. so they might all be dogs, it's a risk I'm willing to take for SCIENCE! though. If nothing else, both of you will be able to enjoy me ranting about how terrible the games are in a few weeks. I'm still supporting indie developers, too. I support indie developers, even if their games suck, just like I do with musicians.

So, I bring you:
http://www.buygamesnotsocks.com/
$5 for 5 games
-Delve Deeper
-Spring Harmony
-Mactabilis
-Steel Storm: Burning Retribution
-Digitanks 
It asks for personal info, all you have to give it legitly is an email. You'll probably get spam for it, but that's what an email devoted to spam and advertisements is for!
*Download links may not last forever.

And:
http://www.indiegamespack.com/
$10 for 6 games, save 50% if you share it on failbook.
-Aztaka
-City Rain
-Puzzlegedoon
-Bob came in pieces
-Vizati
-Lylian Paranoid Friendship 
If you don't have a failbook, or don't want to share the link with your friends, you can pay the $10, still not a bad deal.
*Download link will work 9 times.

All games are DRM free, so if you're concerned you can always burn them to a backup disk as soon as you download the installers.

Act now though, these deals will expire in a week!