Indie games, at least in my mind, have a pretty bad reputation for being weird just for the sake of being weird. In the pas year or so, however, there has been a large influx of Indie games that have been really, really good. Which category does Audiosurf fall in to? Read more to find out.
Audiosurf is a very unique music/rhythm game, that some have described as F-Zero meets Guitar Hero. You choose from one of 14 ships that all play radically different, choose a song, and then speed down a track, collecting colored blocks. Whenever you get 3 or more blocks of the same color touching, you get points.
The 14 ships each represent a different game mode, and they are all extremely unique. Every ship has one or two special abilities, which are used by clicking the left or right mouse buttons. Some ships can jump over unwanted blocks, while others can push blocks into different columns, making it easier to sort out your colors for maximum points. One mode even has two ships, one of which you control with the mouse, and the other you control with the keyboard.
One of the best things about Audiosurf is the songs. You can play any song you have on your PC, provided that it's the right filetype. This is where I ran into a few problems. You see, I prefer not to get sued by the RIAA, so I buy all my music from iTunes. For some reason, only some of the songs I had bought are compatible with the game, while some are not. I don't know why, as they all came from the same place, and I assume they all have the same DRM. However, I haven't had any problems running songs I had ripped from CDs or anything like that.
Once you find a song that's compatible, that's when the fun starts. As I mentioned, you speed down a track that has been specifically designed for the song you're playing. A slow song will have a pretty straight, uphill track, whereas a fast, energetic song will have lots of curves and will mostly be a fast downhill track. The graphics are pretty simple, but the atmosphere is great. It usually nails the feel of the song perfectly.
Audiosurf surprised me in that it's actually a really unique game, and one that doesn't get as old as I thought it would. Since you can use any song ever created and every song that will ever be created, just like a game like LittleBIGPlanet, you can play forever and theoretically never run out of things to do. 4 out of 5.
Showing posts with label PC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PC. Show all posts
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Review: Mass Effect (PC)
Unlike just about anyone who ever owned an Xbox, I never played Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic much. I had also never played any game from developer BioWare, and I've never much been into RPGs. The last RPG that I can remember really, really being into was Fable. Well, that was until I played Mass Effect.
It is the year 2148. You are Commander Shepard of the Normandy, one of the largest, fastest, and most powerful ships in the Alliance fleet. You are sent to Eden Prime to investigate a mysterious Beacon, and the story takes off from there, I just don't want to spoil it. It really is a fantastic story. One of the coolest parts is that you can set your character's backstory in the extensive character creator. You can choose from things like being a War Hero, to a Sole Survivor of an epic battle. It doesn't really change anything except for maybe a few conversations scattered throughout the game, but it adds an extra layer to your character, which is nice.
Along with choosing your backstory in the character creator, you can also, duh, create a character. It can be either a male or female, and you can choose from several different classes, although you can't choose to play as another race, you have to be human. Honestly, though, with all of the other choices, it doesn't really make that much of a difference.
Through your travels, you will happen upon some NPCs, who, for different reasons, will join your crew. These are characters who you can take out with you, up to two at a time, on missions to help you, so you will be spending a lot of time with them. I became very, very attached to these characters, and it hurt when I had to decide the fate of some or more of them. There are very few games that actually make me have feelings for and sympathize with characters, but Mass Effect did it perfectly.
Like I said, I owned KotOR, but never really played it much. I just couldn't get into it very much, and the combat was one of the biggest reasons as to why. I never liked how it wasn't real-time, and your just sat and watched most of the time. Luckily for me, Mass Effect is nothing like that. The combat in ME is all played out in real-time, and it's not just your stats that decide if you will come out victorious. Since it's a shooter, it actually requires some bit of skill on the player's part, which I really liked. Don't get me wrong, you don't have to be the best Call of Duty 4 player to be able to play ME, but it's not passive like KotOR was.
Along with your regular guns, you also have Biotic powers to manipulate your enemies, such as Throw, Lift, and Warp. While fighting, you can hold the spacebar to bring up a menu of sorts to pause the game, and from here, you can pick your target, choose a Biotic power, and when you release the spacebar, your character and/or squad will carry out the action. You can also control your squadmates to an extent, not unlike Rainbow Six, but I can't remember one time where I really used this funtion.
I've talked so much about the shooter aspects, but I can't forget the RPG/exploration side. Just like any other RPG, you kill enemies, gain EXP, level up, invest Skill Points in your class-based skills, basically just typical RPG stuff. The exploration, though, is something else entirely. Using the Normandy, you can explore the galaxy, moving from solar system to solar system, finding resources, doing sidequests, and, well, exploring. Some planets will even let your land with the Mako, your land rover, so you can explore the galaxy, as well as some of the planets. One of my favorite sidequests is one that takes place on Luna, Earth's moon, just because it's so awesome.
The sound in Mass Effect is fantastic. There are so many talking characters, several different alien races, and I can't remember any of them sounding alike. There are so many recorded lines in this game, it's unbelievable, and on top of that, many of them were rerecorded for if you chose to play as a female. All of the lines feel very real and natural, which is very good for a story-driven game like this. The electronic music sounds just like something out of an old 70's/80's Sci-Fi movie, and always seems to set the appropriate mood.
Even while I think this game is fantastic, there are a few problems, even though they're fairly minor. First, is that while the graphics look great 99% of the time, in the close-up shots, some of the textures look very blurry. Second, there's no Anti-Aliasing. This just doesn't seem right for a PC game nowadays. Third, and this is a very rare glitch that I only experienced 3 times in my 30+ hours of play, is that sometimes when I hit the Quicksave button, it would crash the game. Again, it only happened 3 times, but it was frustrating nonetheless. Lastly, some of the sidequests feel a little repetitive. Most of them are of the "go down to a planet, find the base, kill everyone in said base, exit" variety. All of those can be overlooked very easily, even if they are semi-annoying.
Actually, I do have one more problem (and this is probably the biggest problem). The game just feels too short. Sure, it took me 25+ hours on my first playthough, but it was so awesome that it felt like 3. Thankfully, the game offers extreme replayability, because you can go back through with another class, make different choices, try to go to every planet, etc. The added achievements are nice, too.
Mass Effect is an amazing game, and one that every RPG fan/Sci-Fi Lover/Self-respecting individual should play. The story is brilliantly written, all of the voice acting is prefectly executed (although hearing Seth Green was a little weird, but only because I wasn't expecting it.), and both the RPG and shooter elements work fantastically. 5 out of 5.
It is the year 2148. You are Commander Shepard of the Normandy, one of the largest, fastest, and most powerful ships in the Alliance fleet. You are sent to Eden Prime to investigate a mysterious Beacon, and the story takes off from there, I just don't want to spoil it. It really is a fantastic story. One of the coolest parts is that you can set your character's backstory in the extensive character creator. You can choose from things like being a War Hero, to a Sole Survivor of an epic battle. It doesn't really change anything except for maybe a few conversations scattered throughout the game, but it adds an extra layer to your character, which is nice.
Along with choosing your backstory in the character creator, you can also, duh, create a character. It can be either a male or female, and you can choose from several different classes, although you can't choose to play as another race, you have to be human. Honestly, though, with all of the other choices, it doesn't really make that much of a difference.
Through your travels, you will happen upon some NPCs, who, for different reasons, will join your crew. These are characters who you can take out with you, up to two at a time, on missions to help you, so you will be spending a lot of time with them. I became very, very attached to these characters, and it hurt when I had to decide the fate of some or more of them. There are very few games that actually make me have feelings for and sympathize with characters, but Mass Effect did it perfectly.
Like I said, I owned KotOR, but never really played it much. I just couldn't get into it very much, and the combat was one of the biggest reasons as to why. I never liked how it wasn't real-time, and your just sat and watched most of the time. Luckily for me, Mass Effect is nothing like that. The combat in ME is all played out in real-time, and it's not just your stats that decide if you will come out victorious. Since it's a shooter, it actually requires some bit of skill on the player's part, which I really liked. Don't get me wrong, you don't have to be the best Call of Duty 4 player to be able to play ME, but it's not passive like KotOR was.
Along with your regular guns, you also have Biotic powers to manipulate your enemies, such as Throw, Lift, and Warp. While fighting, you can hold the spacebar to bring up a menu of sorts to pause the game, and from here, you can pick your target, choose a Biotic power, and when you release the spacebar, your character and/or squad will carry out the action. You can also control your squadmates to an extent, not unlike Rainbow Six, but I can't remember one time where I really used this funtion.
I've talked so much about the shooter aspects, but I can't forget the RPG/exploration side. Just like any other RPG, you kill enemies, gain EXP, level up, invest Skill Points in your class-based skills, basically just typical RPG stuff. The exploration, though, is something else entirely. Using the Normandy, you can explore the galaxy, moving from solar system to solar system, finding resources, doing sidequests, and, well, exploring. Some planets will even let your land with the Mako, your land rover, so you can explore the galaxy, as well as some of the planets. One of my favorite sidequests is one that takes place on Luna, Earth's moon, just because it's so awesome.
The sound in Mass Effect is fantastic. There are so many talking characters, several different alien races, and I can't remember any of them sounding alike. There are so many recorded lines in this game, it's unbelievable, and on top of that, many of them were rerecorded for if you chose to play as a female. All of the lines feel very real and natural, which is very good for a story-driven game like this. The electronic music sounds just like something out of an old 70's/80's Sci-Fi movie, and always seems to set the appropriate mood.
Even while I think this game is fantastic, there are a few problems, even though they're fairly minor. First, is that while the graphics look great 99% of the time, in the close-up shots, some of the textures look very blurry. Second, there's no Anti-Aliasing. This just doesn't seem right for a PC game nowadays. Third, and this is a very rare glitch that I only experienced 3 times in my 30+ hours of play, is that sometimes when I hit the Quicksave button, it would crash the game. Again, it only happened 3 times, but it was frustrating nonetheless. Lastly, some of the sidequests feel a little repetitive. Most of them are of the "go down to a planet, find the base, kill everyone in said base, exit" variety. All of those can be overlooked very easily, even if they are semi-annoying.
Actually, I do have one more problem (and this is probably the biggest problem). The game just feels too short. Sure, it took me 25+ hours on my first playthough, but it was so awesome that it felt like 3. Thankfully, the game offers extreme replayability, because you can go back through with another class, make different choices, try to go to every planet, etc. The added achievements are nice, too.
Mass Effect is an amazing game, and one that every RPG fan/Sci-Fi Lover/Self-respecting individual should play. The story is brilliantly written, all of the voice acting is prefectly executed (although hearing Seth Green was a little weird, but only because I wasn't expecting it.), and both the RPG and shooter elements work fantastically. 5 out of 5.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Review: Ricochet (PC)
As a reviewer, I feel I should be somewhat balanced in my scores, to not seem so biased. Last night I got to thinking, "Most of the games I reviewed have all gotten fairly high scores. Maybe I should try to find a bad game to review." I was thinking about all that again today, and then I remembered I had gotten Ricochet as part of the Counter-Strike 1 Anthology from Steam (which also included Deathmatch Classic, Day of Defeat, Counter-Strike, and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero), and thought "That game is PERFECT for a bad review!"
Ricochet. The Half-Life mod that nobody knows about (or has tried to erase from their memory). It makes me sad to think that this game has disgraced the likes of Half-Life for eight years now. I was sitting here, thinking about what I was going to say in this review, when I realized that this game is so bad, I'm not sure I can put it into legible words, but I'll give it a try.
Now, I've never seen the movie Tron, but I'm pretty sure that Ricochet was inspired by it. The neon graphics look similar, and I think that there were some throwing discs in the movie.
I'll admit, I haven't played very much of Ricochet, but there isn't really much to do. It's kind of a one-trick-pony. You go into a game (if you can find one. The most servers I've ever seen open at one time was 11, and at 10:30 P.M. CST, there was only 10 servers, and only one of them had any players, and even THEN, there were only two players and they were both assholes.), and you go from platform to platform throwing discs, trying to knock people off the platforms and down into the abyss, where they die and you get a point. There are a few problems with this. First, you can't jump. You just have to run onto little arrows on the platforms which flings you across to another platform. Second, your discs are your only weapon, and you can't aim them up or down. That's right, you can only throw your discs parallel to the ground (more on that in a minute). Third, you can only have 3 discs at a time, and even though they replenish, they don't do so nearly fast enough. When you have 3 discs saved, you can right-click to throw out a Decapitator disc, which is just what it sounds like, but even that is boring.
Now, back to the aiming. There are several levels of platforms which you can get to by going to the right jumps. Separating those platforms are bars that you cannot shoot through. They just bounce off (hence, the title of the game). Since you can't aim up or down, you can only shoot someone when you're on the same platform as them, or when you're in the air. The problem with that is, when you get shot by a normal disc, it doesn't kill you, it just pushes you a little, meaning if you get shot in the air, you'll probably end up missing your jump completely, and then fall to your death. Another problem is that this is one of those games where you can't walk through other players, so if two people are jumping at one another, they bump into each other and fall, killing both. It's also hard to hit people unless they're right in front of you, because your discs move extremely slow.
There are a few power-ups, although they're all things you've seen in plenty of other games, like Multi-Shot, Power Shot, and one that just freezes you, leaving you defenseless.
The graphics are really, really bad, even for the year 2000. They're boring, lifeless, and I think that Half-Life looked better, despite being two years older. Actually, I took a screenshot (click to enlarge (that's what she said)).
When I decided I wanted to review a bad game, I think I did good in choosing Ricochet. This is a game that should never have seen the light of day, much less the $5 that Steam wants you to pay. There is not an ounce of fun in this game, and I really tried hard to like it, but I just couldn't. As a reviewer, and as a person who doesn't generally wish the worst on people, this is a form of torture that I couldn't wish upon my worst enemy, much less recommend it to anyone I care about. If you already have this game, you have my condolences. 1 out of 5.
EDIT: I forgot I took this video earlier today, when there were about 10 people on.
Ricochet. The Half-Life mod that nobody knows about (or has tried to erase from their memory). It makes me sad to think that this game has disgraced the likes of Half-Life for eight years now. I was sitting here, thinking about what I was going to say in this review, when I realized that this game is so bad, I'm not sure I can put it into legible words, but I'll give it a try.
Now, I've never seen the movie Tron, but I'm pretty sure that Ricochet was inspired by it. The neon graphics look similar, and I think that there were some throwing discs in the movie.
I'll admit, I haven't played very much of Ricochet, but there isn't really much to do. It's kind of a one-trick-pony. You go into a game (if you can find one. The most servers I've ever seen open at one time was 11, and at 10:30 P.M. CST, there was only 10 servers, and only one of them had any players, and even THEN, there were only two players and they were both assholes.), and you go from platform to platform throwing discs, trying to knock people off the platforms and down into the abyss, where they die and you get a point. There are a few problems with this. First, you can't jump. You just have to run onto little arrows on the platforms which flings you across to another platform. Second, your discs are your only weapon, and you can't aim them up or down. That's right, you can only throw your discs parallel to the ground (more on that in a minute). Third, you can only have 3 discs at a time, and even though they replenish, they don't do so nearly fast enough. When you have 3 discs saved, you can right-click to throw out a Decapitator disc, which is just what it sounds like, but even that is boring.
Now, back to the aiming. There are several levels of platforms which you can get to by going to the right jumps. Separating those platforms are bars that you cannot shoot through. They just bounce off (hence, the title of the game). Since you can't aim up or down, you can only shoot someone when you're on the same platform as them, or when you're in the air. The problem with that is, when you get shot by a normal disc, it doesn't kill you, it just pushes you a little, meaning if you get shot in the air, you'll probably end up missing your jump completely, and then fall to your death. Another problem is that this is one of those games where you can't walk through other players, so if two people are jumping at one another, they bump into each other and fall, killing both. It's also hard to hit people unless they're right in front of you, because your discs move extremely slow.
There are a few power-ups, although they're all things you've seen in plenty of other games, like Multi-Shot, Power Shot, and one that just freezes you, leaving you defenseless.
The graphics are really, really bad, even for the year 2000. They're boring, lifeless, and I think that Half-Life looked better, despite being two years older. Actually, I took a screenshot (click to enlarge (that's what she said)).When I decided I wanted to review a bad game, I think I did good in choosing Ricochet. This is a game that should never have seen the light of day, much less the $5 that Steam wants you to pay. There is not an ounce of fun in this game, and I really tried hard to like it, but I just couldn't. As a reviewer, and as a person who doesn't generally wish the worst on people, this is a form of torture that I couldn't wish upon my worst enemy, much less recommend it to anyone I care about. If you already have this game, you have my condolences. 1 out of 5.
EDIT: I forgot I took this video earlier today, when there were about 10 people on.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Review: World of Goo (PC)
First off, you just need to know that I love physics-based games. The Incredible Machine, Garry's Mod, Fantastic Contraption, I love them all. Therefore, I went into World of Goo (PC version, I haven't played the WiiWare version, but I expect them to be the same) expecting a great game. Somehow, this game met every one of my expectations. This is a damn good game. Sure, it's frustrating at times, but even then you don't want to give up, you want to go back and try again.
If you're looking for a game with a deep storyline or fast-paced action, look elsewhere. While World of Goo has a story of sorts, it's not very deep. There are a handful of cutscenes, but nothing epic or groundbreaking. Throughout the levels of the game, you'll find signs which narrate the game. They are all signed with some variation of "The Signpainter", and they can be pretty funny at times.
The graphics are simple, but they're stylized and look very good. It's completely 2D, but don't let that put you off. This game may not have the best graphics ever, but it doesn't need them. These simple graphics get the job done quite nicely.
The sound is very good, like the funny little Goo Ball shrieks. One of the biggest things that shocked me, was that the music didn't make me want to rip my ears off. It's actually good, and fits the situation pretty well.
One of my favorite things, however, is the World of Goo Corporation feature. Whenever you finish a level with any extra Goo Balls, any extras get sent to the World of Goo Corporation, where you can try and build the tallest tower you can. The cool part is that if you're connected to the internet, you can see how tall other players' towers are in the form clouds.
Now for the bad. There is no options menu. That's not a very good thing for people like me who have widescreen monitors, much less a 1440x900 screen resolution. I'm guessing that the game runs at 1024x768 (that's a guess. I don't know the real resolution, but it's definitely not 1440x900). Another thing I would've liked to see is an option to run the game in a Windowed mode. Neither of these make the game unplayable, but it wouldn't hurt, at the very least.
This is a fantastic game. Yeah, it can be a little frustrating, there are no options to change the screen resolution, and it's pretty short (I beat it in about 6 hours, but if you go back through and try to perfect everything, I'm sure the game would be considerably longer), but it's just so great. The graphics, sound, and especially gameplay are all very stylized, and I love it.
4 out of 5 (5 out of 5 if they add an option to change screen resolution)
EDIT: After lurking on the forums for a while, I happened upon a thread about the screen resolution, and this is what an Admin had to say about it:
I tried it, and everything works perfectly except for the "Continue" button that pops up after you complete a level. If they can fix that and put it in a patch, it's a 5 out of 5.
If you're looking for a game with a deep storyline or fast-paced action, look elsewhere. While World of Goo has a story of sorts, it's not very deep. There are a handful of cutscenes, but nothing epic or groundbreaking. Throughout the levels of the game, you'll find signs which narrate the game. They are all signed with some variation of "The Signpainter", and they can be pretty funny at times.
The graphics are simple, but they're stylized and look very good. It's completely 2D, but don't let that put you off. This game may not have the best graphics ever, but it doesn't need them. These simple graphics get the job done quite nicely.
The sound is very good, like the funny little Goo Ball shrieks. One of the biggest things that shocked me, was that the music didn't make me want to rip my ears off. It's actually good, and fits the situation pretty well.
One of my favorite things, however, is the World of Goo Corporation feature. Whenever you finish a level with any extra Goo Balls, any extras get sent to the World of Goo Corporation, where you can try and build the tallest tower you can. The cool part is that if you're connected to the internet, you can see how tall other players' towers are in the form clouds.
Now for the bad. There is no options menu. That's not a very good thing for people like me who have widescreen monitors, much less a 1440x900 screen resolution. I'm guessing that the game runs at 1024x768 (that's a guess. I don't know the real resolution, but it's definitely not 1440x900). Another thing I would've liked to see is an option to run the game in a Windowed mode. Neither of these make the game unplayable, but it wouldn't hurt, at the very least.
This is a fantastic game. Yeah, it can be a little frustrating, there are no options to change the screen resolution, and it's pretty short (I beat it in about 6 hours, but if you go back through and try to perfect everything, I'm sure the game would be considerably longer), but it's just so great. The graphics, sound, and especially gameplay are all very stylized, and I love it.
4 out of 5 (5 out of 5 if they add an option to change screen resolution)
EDIT: After lurking on the forums for a while, I happened upon a thread about the screen resolution, and this is what an Admin had to say about it:
hey guys, if you go to the directory where the game is installed, inside a directory called properties is a file called config.txt. you can edit that file to specify the resolution you want the game to run in. it doesn't work for all resolutions because we didn't have time to fully test this feature, so use at your own risk, and if it doesn't work right, return the values to 800x600. we'll probably fix this feature in a future patch.
I tried it, and everything works perfectly except for the "Continue" button that pops up after you complete a level. If they can fix that and put it in a patch, it's a 5 out of 5.
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