Indie Game Mini Review: NightSky (PC)

I've never bought an "Indie game" from Xbox Live, but since I bought my new laptop and got acquainted with the joys of Steam I've found Indie games a lot more accessible.  This particular game grabbed my attention firstly because of a recommendation and also because I was really drawn to the artstyle.  Anyone who has played Limbo will feel instantly at home with the dark foreground and twilight backgrounds along with frankly brilliant ambient sound effects.

The actual gameplay is nothing like Limbo, but NightSky could also be described as a mesh of platform and puzzle genres.  The "story" (very loose use of the phrase there) is that an unnamed boy one day finds a mysterious and beautiful sphere at the beach one day and brings it home with him.  Ever since that first night he has been having the most surreal of dreams - presumably the levels you play out are those dreams.  Really this just sets up a quaint scenario from which the game can kick on with it's wonderful atmosphere.

The gameplay sees you take control of the sphere with only the left and right arrow keys to roll it in one direction or the other.  NightSky's physics system is great and gives the ball real momentum that can make it tricky to handle at times, but entirely believable.  In later levels two more buttons are introduced that for the most part allow you to control the speed of the ball to a higher degree, but can take on other powers in some levels.

The game is split up into 11 worlds, each of these further divided into bite size levels.  Rather than the typical approach of platform games where the screen scrolls with your character, NightSky has a bit of an old school take on things which each level consisting of 3 static screens that you must traverse using your skillset that expands as the game progresses.  Sometimes it's as simple as rolling the ball up a ramp and over a jump, while other times you need to manipulate obstacles to either clear a path for you or create a new one.

Further on in the game the levels get more complicated as moving platforms, levers and even vehicles for the sphere come into play.  While at times the game can get quite challenging it never gets to hair pulling levels of frustration.



Overall the game is a joy to play - one that is more about enjoying the ride than frantically fighting to reach your destination.  The game is a relatively short one - I spent around 3 hours playing it but the way it's designed it can be enjoyed in small chunks probably moreso than just blasting through it in one sitting.  If you take the time to let this game soak in it will be one that will stick in your mind for years to come and I'd imagine one that will be just as fun to revisit some time down the line.

Thanks to this game I am well and truly on board with Indie Games and the experiences they can offer so if you're a bit cagey why not give it a shot?  One final mention for the soundtrack - to be honest if you bought the game and just let it sit on the title screen as you wound down for the evening it would be money well spent as you'd be hard pressed to find more chilled out music anywhere on the internet.

XBLA Retrospective Part III - Peggle

It would have been easy to review Fez next, given that it's just seen a re-release on the PC - but since my past two entries have also been platformers I thought I'd change it up a bit. And now (in the words of Montgomery Python) for something completely different...

Your host for this evening is a unicorn.  Yes, along with his friends the crab, the rabbit, the alien, the pumpkin, the dragon and the owl.  You're still here?  Good!  Because once you get past the initial silliness there's actually an incredibly addictive, challenging and fun puzzle game here.  And a lot more silliness.

The basic premise of the gameplay is that you fire a ball from the top of the screen and try to hit as many of the 'pegs' as you can on the way down.  At the start of each level, 25 of the pegs are turned orange and you need to clear all of these to clear the level.  The selection of pegs that turn orange is randomised each time so every time you load up a level it will be slightly different.  The majority of the pegs remain blue but hitting these will still get you points towards your high score and in a lot of cases you'll need to knock some of these on the head to access the orange ones.

Each level has the pegs laid out differently so there is usually a particular approach you should take rather than just hit and hope.  Each character has their own special power that you can activate - one of them gives you pinball like flippers, one allows you to see a projected path that the ball will take on your shot so you can line up the perfect bounce to take out as many pegs as possible while another ability will automatically adjust your shot ever so slightly to get you the best outcome and can result in some truly high scoring shots!  These powers don't really change the game that much, but that's a good thing as it means all the levels are as fun as each other while still giving them a fresh twist.





You typically have 10 shots to play around with in order to clear the level but there's the extra gameplay mechanic of a moving pot at the bottom of the screen that adds an extra layer of complexity to your tactics - should your ball land in the pot it gets added to your total again, so if you can pull it off you will essentially get a free shot.  This can prove very valuable, especially if you're lining up a very tricky shot - time it right and even if you miss you'll get your ball back.

The graphics in Peggle are pretty simple, but they're sharp, bright and really engaging.  Even the background images are well thought out and add to the overall atmosphere of the game.  What really takes Peggle to the next level though is the sound - it gives this otherwise simple puzzle game a really epic feel.  From the effects of the ball bouncing about racking up points to the compelling soundtrack.  Finish a level and rather than a simple "Well done" message you have an over the top celebration complete with Ode To Joy blaring out of your speakers.  As you close in on your last orange peg the camera zooms in and the game is slowed down so even a near miss feels epic!

Peggle probably suffered a bit by being released too early to take full advantage of it's target audience.  If it had came out after the massive success of Angry Birds then I think it would have taken off massively as in my opinion it's a far superior puzzle game.  It's the type of game your parents, grandparents, girlfriend etc. would enjoy, but to be honest I'd be surprised if any gamer doesn't have a great time playing it.  If you've played it and you didn't enjoy it, there's a pretty good chance you have no soul.

It's difficult to explain the joy of Peggle with mere words so check out the video below and then find a way to play it yourself.  I played it on XBLA, but it's available on almost any format so really you have no excuse!  If you're looking for a time-killer that you can plan to play for 10 minutes but still be there two hours later then this is the one.

XBLA Retrospective Part II - 'Splosion Man/Ms. 'Splosion Man

I figured it was worth lumping these two games in together as they are both very much worth your time!  I played through both of them when they were first released and they are honestly some of the best downright fun I've had in this generation of games.  You'll not find any tearful cutscenes or Hans Zimmer scores here - what you will find is cheap comedy (Arnie impressions and blowing up fat guys) and really really good platforming.  And explosions.  Lots of explosions.

The basic premise is that you ('Splosion Man or Ms. 'Splosion Man) are the result of a science experiment gone wrong.  You are essentially a bundle of energy shaped like a person that will explode with very little encouragement.  You use this "talent" to make your way around the levels in two ways, firstly it acts as your ability to jump - secondly it will acts as your only weapon in the game.  When you explode it throws you into the air acting as a jump, while in the air you can explode again to give you a double or triple jump.  You only store enough energy to do a triple jump, but you regain your energy when you land on the ground and you can refill your energy by sliding down a wall or going through a flame so there are times in the game that you spend a good 20 seconds jumping around without touching the ground - where one wrong move can be fatal.

That's another thing about 'Splosion Man - it can be very hard at times, but never unfairly so.  You usually know what you need to do quickly enough, but it's all about accurate timing and reflexes.  There are lots of incredibly challenging but fun puzzles to figure out along the way and there are more than 50 levels in each game so they will last you a long time.





In addition to the single player mode both games feature a co op mode with a whole new set of levels.  This is devilishly fun but at times incredibly frustrating.  Now you don't have to just get your own timings right, you have to get your timings in sync with your partner.  Luckily by pulling the left trigger you can kick off a three second countdown so that you can plan to execute your plan simultaneously.  This is a real lifesaver but still requires a lot of communication so is better suited to "couch co-op" rather than online - or at least with someone that you know.

In terms of differences between the two games, there aren't an awful lot.  The playstyle is exactly the same, but the sequel (Ms. 'Splosion Man) just does things on a much larger scale.  The puzzles are more inventive, the levels are longer and the art style is a lot more interesting than the slightly samey levels from the original game.





The only criticism I have of the first game is the boss battles can be a bit underwhelming and don't really match the rest of the game.  The mini bosses that feature in the middle of a few levels are much better and involve you being chased by a giant robot through an obstacle course with the hope that you can reach the end before he catches you and set off a laser to destroy him.  Intense and - there's that word again - fun.  The bosses in Ms. 'Splosion Man are much improved.

Admittedly I haven't played a lot of 2D platformers this gen, but Splosion Man/Ms. Splosion Man are probably my favourites of the bunch - they're cheap and you can get them without leaving your house.  If you're looking for a platform game or something you can play with your friends that are a lot of fun then definitely look them up.  If you were a fan of Earthworm Jim or the Ren & Stimpy games from the 90s you will love them.  Ms. 'Splosion Man is the better game all round, but 'Splosion Man can be had for cheaper and is still brilliant so that is probably the better choice if you aren't sure.  If you like it though you will absolutely love the sequel so try them both out!


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Review: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

I only really got into the Ghost Recon games with the first GRAW as it came at a time when good games for the Xbox 360 were few and far between and having been a fan of the Splinter Cell games I thought I'd give it a go.  It was a good game but nothing spectacular and not overly memorable.  GRAW2 did a lot to improve on it without really changing that much, it really just refined everything.  I loved that game and the multiplayer was loads of fun, coming at a time when the 360 was Halo-less.  People complained it didn't feel like a proper Ghost Recon game but having never played one I couldn't comment.

Future Soldier feels a lot different from the Advanced Warfighter games so I've no idea if it feels more like a Ghost Recon game or less like one but my gut feeling is the latter.  As is the trend in games nowadays it seems to have gone more down the action shooter route than the tactical one so I'd imagine there would have been some disappointed fans playing through this game.  Here's the thing though - the action is absolutely fantastic!  The cover-shooting gameplay is honestly the most fun take on the genre that I've played.  The shooting feels accurate and thanks in part to the sound effects, feels realistic.  In a lot of cases your cover is fully destructable so although it will provide temporary respite, you'll need to pick off your enemies before they take you out.  The game also does a good job of keeping you suppressed if your cover is under heavy fire so you can't just pop up, take a few hits, shoot some people, take cover, regenerate health and repeat over and over again.  You need to pick your times to come out of cover carefully, especially when snipers are about, or you'll catch a headshot very quickly.



Having said that, the game isn't really that difficult.  I played on Veteran level on my first play through and although I died quite a few times I never got stuck on a sequence for too long, it was usually just because I did something stupid.  I'm not that good at shooting games either so I'd recommend this difficulty level to pretty much everyone that plays this game - especially if you're playing in co op.

I played the game solo and although your squad AI is pretty good (most of the game you're in a squad of four soldiers) I would imagine playing with a buddy or three would be the best way to experience the game.  On your own though you still have a lot of control over your teammates - your can direct them to certain places, mark out targets for them to line up a shot on while undetected or assign them an enemy to focus on while in full combat.

Marking out targets for a "Sync Shot" will feel instantly familiar to anyone that played Splinter Cell Conviction as it works in a similar way to that game's "Mark & Execute"mechanic.  The Sync Shot is only available if your squad is undetected and is a good way to either take out a good number of enemies before getting into a firefight or in the conveniently abundant number of occasions that there are only four targets you can take them all out at once and then continue on in your stealthy ways.  You use the right bumper to mark your targets and your teammates will automatically find a good position where they can line up a shot on their target while remaining undetected.  If you've only lined up three targets you can order your teammates to fire by holding the right bumper again, but you can mark a fourth target for yourself as well.  If you have four targets marked then the sync shot will be triggered as  soon as you take your shot, so line up a nice headshot and let rip.  Your teammates will also kill their targets if you mess up and get detected.

 

There's one level later in the game that you have to go it alone and it feels a lot like a stealthier version of Splinter Cell Conviction - so fans of Sam Fisher should enjoy that!

So far this sounds like an amazing game, right?  And in many ways it is, but unfortunately it's hampered by a couple of issues that tie into each other and really bring the overall experience down.  Firstly (though this is not unique to this game), the story and characters are completely bland.  In between levels you see the four Ghosts out of their suits in cut scenes, supposedly setting the story and giving you an idea of who they are.  The problem with this is that all four of them are completely unlikeable and lack any charisma - furthermore because they spend the cutscenes out of uniform and the whole game in uniform it's very hard to tell which character is which.  Honestly I went through about 70% of the game with absolutely NO idea which character I was actually playing as.  Since you're directing your team mates about the place I kind of assumed you were the soldier known only as "Ghost Lead", but you aren't.  I did figure out which character I was at some point but I've since forgotten.  The point is, the characters are so lacking that it doesn't really matter.  You do feel a bit of a bond with them when in the field, but they might as well just be called Soldier1, Solder2 etc.

The poor character development plays into my next issue with the game - the pacing of the levels.  You'll be either stealthing or blasting your way through a level, really getting into it and eager to get onto the next set of enemies and you get slapped with a cutscene.  Back to the action then 5 minutes later you're hit with one of those forced "slow walk" sequences which tries to be better than a cutscene by being "interactive" and forcing you to hold forward on the left stick while the four characters move forward very slowly while talking about not a lot.  Throw into the mix some very laboured door opening sequences to disguise loading screens and you start to feel quite frustrated.



The story is your standard "crazy russian guy wants to destroy the world" or something, but it's used mostly as an excuse to have you travel all over the world to a wide variety of locations, James Bond style.  This is one of my favourite things about the whole game - the different locations you visit are massively varied and all beautiful in their own way.  Too many shooters nowadays just have you trudging through a bunch of levels that feel and look very much the same as the last - not here.  You've got plenty of the standard level types - Jungles, woodland, remote army base, snow base, desert town - but they're all done really well and feel like a real breath of fresh air.  The graphics for the game's environments are fantastic and it really takes advantage of the brilliant lighting effects to set an engaging atmosphere.  The sound is also fantastic with realistic sound effects that make you feel like you're really in a firefight and a score that sets the tone.

If you're into 3D this game supports that as well, but don't get too excited.  The effect adds a good sense of depth without losing too much detail in the graphics, but because your HUD overlay is so in your face at times it can be a real chore switching your attention between that and the action.  As such I played 90% of the game in 2D.



So overall GRFS is a flawed game that at times can feel a bit of drag to play through - most of the time though it's an absolute joy to play through and I'd recommend it to anyone that's a fan of the Tom Clancy series or futuristic military shooters in general.

One last thing though - why in the fuck does it have two separate title screens?

 

 

XBLA Retrospective Part I - Braid

I figured I might as well start this retrospective with the game that first made me properly realise what XBLA was capable of.  When Braid was first released, many balked at the 1200ms points price that has since become the norm.  I guess they can be forgiven because prior to Braid there hadn't been many games released that were worth 1200 points, but to put things in perspective that's less than £10.  I'd probably put Braid in the top 5 games I've played this gen, so yes it's definitely worth spending £10 on.

The first thing that strikes you about this game is the absolutely outstanding soundtrack and art style.  Seriously, you could probably print off some screenshots of this game and sell them in a gallery.  The levels and backgrounds are bloody beautiful and highly detailed.  There are no original pieces of music in the game - the developer's thinking behind this was that someone had probably already made the perfect music for it and it would be easier for him to achieve his vision that way than to try to explain what he wanted to someone else to custom make it.  I assume he got what he wanted because the soundtrack matches the theme of the game perfectly. Check out an example here.

On face value Braid is a 2D platformer where you play as a young man called "Tim" and try to save his princess.  The truth is, both the gameplay and the story have a lot more depth than it would first appear and the further you go the more intriguing they both become.  There are a lot of obvious (and nice) nods to Mario and while it's clearly inspired by the platformer cliche that Mario has created, the game actually has very little in common with it.

Quite early on you're introduced to the idea that Tim can control time - at the start this is pretty simple stuff, hold down a button and time goes backwards, erasing any mistakes you may have made.  The clever thing about this is that this gameplay mechanic ties into the themes presented in the story - Tim obviously has a lot of regrets relating to the "princess" that he wishes he could undo.  Another nice touch is that your traversal of time also affects the soundtrack so you'll hear the music and sound effects scratching back and forth as if Tim was really a red-headed DJ rocking the glowsticks in Ibiza.

As the game continues on your ability to control time becomes more advanced depending on which of the 6 worlds you're playing through.  As these abilities come in to play the game becomes more like a puzzle game than a simple platformer and this is where the game comes into it's own.  One world sees you controlling time with your movement - walk forwards and the world around you advances, walk backwards and time goes backwards - while another gives you the regular ability to reverse time, but doing so creates a shadow of yourself that will repeat the actions you have just reversed.  This effectively means you can be in two places at once and leads to some truly mind bending puzzles.  One really nifty (though small) use of this can be seen here, though if you don't want to spoil the hair pulling fun and incredible relief at actually figuring it out I wouldn't bother looking.

One of my favourite things about Braid is the way the story is presented - it's not thrown in your face the way that 90% of games are.  It takes time and a bit of thinking on your part for it to fully unravel and this mystery is what really drives you onwards in your journey.  The worlds and the puzzles themselves serve as metaphors for the story, which has a number of levels to it for you to figure out.

When you reach the end of Tim's journey and your own journey you will be left with a game that really sticks with you.

If you need all that in a checklist format, here you go:
+ Great graphics
+ Great sounds
+ Great story
+ Great gameplay
- Once you've played it you can't rewind time and enjoy it for the very first time again.

At least I can't enjoy it for the first time - some of you probably still can.


If my review wasn't your cup of tea I apologise, but I can guarantee you will enjoy Soulja Boy's take on it (yes, that Soulja Boy).




And be sure to check out the trailer below!

A Fond Farewell to XBLA

As the Xbox 360 enters the last year of its life I think it's fair to say that it (along with the PS3) will go down as a fantastic console.  This generation there have been far more multi platform games released than ever before with very few 3rd party exclusives being released on either console.  Sure, you had the Halos, the Gears of Wars, the Uncharteds, the Infamouseses's and a few driving games but the majority of the big hitters that will define this generation landed on Sony's big black box and Microsoft's smaller white (and then black) box at around the same time.

In years past choosing a console boiled down to what games you wanted to play and while that's still a factor this gen it became more about the other things - which controller you preferred, free online or not, what console your friends had, whether you wanted a Blu Ray player or not.  For me though, one thing that has set the Xbox 360 above the PS3 is the Xbox Live Arcade (or XBLA, pronounced "ksbla").  What started off as a place for Geometry Wars and a load of crap, eventually blossomed into the place where Microsoft would nail down some of the best titles not available on a PS3.  Wise move? Probably not, but it works for me.

OK, so technically it's still "games" but just go with it.

Some of the best memories I'll have of this generation have come from XBLA.  I've played a lot of excellent retail games, but I've also played a lot that I've chugged through for 8-12 hours enjoying the gameplay and then pretty much forgotten the entire bland story.  I enjoyed them, but they didn't really stick with me afterwards and I had no real desire to go back and play them again.  On the other hand I've played through a number of 4-6 hour XBLA titles that really stuck with me and I've replayed numerous times - not to get some useless collectables, not to unlock some achievement points - just, you know, for fun.

I'm not dismissing games like Assassins Creed 2, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Halo Reach, Dead Space, Red Dead, Mirror's Edge - those games gave me great memories and created such a great atmosphere that they'll stick with me for a long time.  But there are some XBLA games that matched or bettered the experience I had with those games, something I never expected when I first tried the Marble Blast Ultra demo and then got stuck with it in my Games Played list.

The sad thing is that I know plenty of Xbox owners that have never downloaded a single arcade game. You never see ads on TV for them or hear people talking about them or see them in a shop.  So they go largely unnoticed, which is a real shame.

Over the next 12 months I'm going to run a retrospective of some of my favourite XBLA titles that I've played in the last few years (not just exclusives), so feel free to read them and hopefully I'll point you in the direction of an amazing game you barely even knew existed.

Review: SSX (Xbox 360)

Huzzah!  My first game completed of 2013!  Hopefully this year I'll be able to clear my backlog a bit more than I did last year and I've started off by finishing off a game I started not long after it came out last Spring.  With any luck I'll also be firing out reviews more frequently and to help me do that I'll try to keep them pretty short and to the point.  So, time to hit the slopes...

SSX is the first Snowboarding game I've spent any serious time with since 1080 Snowboarding on the trusty old N64 and it's fair to say the two games couldn't be more different.  While 1080 took the approach of a somewhat realistic simulation (apart from the giant pandas), this reboot of SSX sticks to its roots with an over the top arcade approach with crazy tricks galore - they even thrown in a rewind mechanic lifted straight from The Sands of Time.  One of the most challenging parts of 1080 was lining up your board after every jump to make sure you landed perfectly - trying out tricks was a calculated risk and you knew every one could ruin your whole race.  In SSX as long as you let go of your trick with enough time to spare your board will automatically adjust and you'll be pretty much guaranteed a clean landing.  That's not a criticism of the game, just an observation.

Doing tricks is piss easy for a reason.  You're being encouraged to do crazy wild tricks because it's part of what makes the game fun - you try to fit in a trick at every possible chance because it builds up your boost meter which can be vital in a race.  Apart from your boost you have no real way of increasing speed other than hitting a steep bit of the mountain and if you're stuck on a relatively flat bit having lost your momentum you can end up going pretty slow.  Fill up your boost meter and you'll trigger a "Tricky" which gives you unlimited boost for a short time and access to even crazier tricks.  Fill up your meter again before the Tricky expires and you'll trigger a super Tricky which allows you to go even faster and pull off the craziest tricks in the game.

The campaign of the game is based around a series of "Deadly Descents" that tale you on a tour around some of the world's most famous mountain ranges.  You'd be forgiven for thinking you were riding the same mountain range the whole game though because none of them make a huge effort to distinguish themselves.  There are tons of runs in this game but I can't remember any of them standing out to me and making me desperate to return to them.  I was happy enough to leave them behind and get on to the next one.

The campaign is presented with a cheesy narrative that's acceptable enough to drive the story - Team SSX has to conquer the Deadly Descents before their arch rival Griff.  Fair enough.  Each mountain range is traversed by a different rider, someone supposedly an expert of the region.  Something that bugs me about this is to play as them you have to beat them first - so you travel to this region, beat the master and then Team SSX decides that instead of the rider who has just won a race they'll stick with the loser and you then play as them for the rest of the region.

Each range is finished off with a "Boss Level" which kits you out with a gimmicky tool that is only useful on that one run - a wingsuit, a headlamp for traversing the dark, pulse goggles so you can see the ground even when you're blinded by snow or an oxygen tank that you need to manage your use of to avoid blacking out.  These add a nice change of pace to the game and although some of the equipment can be fun I'm glad they didn't shoe horn them into every race.

I enjoyed SSX in short bursts when I fancied something light hearted, fun and without too much thinking involved.  There isn't too much challenge from the game until the last few races and by that point they were quite infuriating with blind drops around almost every corner and opponents that almost never falter.  Once you crack the "final race" and the credits start to roll, you're hit with the real final race, a grudge match with Griff.  It took me many attempts to finish the track, never mind win the race and it stopped being fun after a while.  But the feeling of achieving that perfect run and actually winning the race was brilliant, making it totally worth it.  I sat back smugly and waited for the oh so familiar achievement pop to happen and then... nothing.  No achievement unlocked - what the hell is up with that?

Oh well, minor gripes aside this is a fun game without being spectacular.  If a snowboarding game appeals to you then try it out and I think you'll enjoy it, but it's by no means a "must have" game like 1080 was back in the day!