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Author: Dan

Weekly Gaming: Donkey Kong Country Returns (3DS)

Being a 2D platformer, Donkey Kong Country is pretty solid and graphically rich, taking the series back to what I hear were its glory days on the SNES.

N.B. The following review will have no screenshots due to the 3DS’ lack of screenshot capabilities.

I’ve never played a Donkey Kong game before, they’ve always been on my radar, but I’ve never felt inclined to give them a go. I never even played the much revered N64 versions, as my family never bought it when I was young. So having a lovely 3DS XL, I felt it was time to jump straight in to what is known as a timeless classic when it comes to precision platforming.

The game starts out with a simple premise: Donkey Kong and Diddy are sleeping at home, when some Tiki’s come to their island, brainwash all it’s inhabitants, and use these brainwashed slaves to steal all the banana’s. The tiki’s come across DK and Diddy, and try to brainwash them too, but are unsuccessful in doing so. The reason for DK and Diddy not being brainwashed is never explained, but I believe we’re to deduce it’s because of how stupid they are. DK punches the Tiki in question, which then starts your journey across the island to put a stop to these evil creatures and take back what’s naturally theirs (because, you know, they’re monkeys, and all banana’s belong to them, right?).

The game features traditional 2D platforming, meaning you move from left to right, jumping on enemies heads, or rolling into them to kill them. Levels are made more varied for DK as he can bang the floor whilst stationary to smash plant pots, or cactuses, revealing hidden treasure or bananas. Levels start off fairly easy as the game gets you used to it’s mechanics, and the “floatiness” of DK’s jumps, but soon start getting quite difficult in how precise you have to be to land specific sections and come through unscathed.

Enemies are varied, from crabs that require you banging the floor to get them to flip over, to Tiki drums spitting fire and requiring DK to blow them out, every enemy is out to get you and ruin a perfect streak as you traverse through DK Country Returns beautiful landscapes. Boss encounters are some of the most fun sections in the game, taking it to new heights with runaway trains with a badger at the helm, to robot chickens that try to squash you under their feet.

The are 8 main worlds to explore in the campaign, with a bonus 9th world if the player collects 8 special pearls after completing the game. These pearls can be attained by collecting the KONG letters hidden throughout each level, which in turns opens up an additional level in each world. These additional levels are an acclamation of some of the most challenging set pieces DK Country Returns offers, with precision platforming causing many a headache for those that attempt them.

Each world brings with it a unique style and gameplay dynamic, from the lush trees at the start of the game, to a factory level, and even a volcano, everything shouts originality when compared to the previous section that came before it. Some levels will be big set pieces, with one early sea level having a octopus in the background constantly trying to stop DK and Diddy from reaching the end. These set pieces are rare, and few and far between, but when they do happen it’s invigorating to beat. Regions have unique sensibilities about them, for example, he jungle level later on will have nothing but ropes to swing across to make your way through the level, yet the caves have none and it’s mostly carts that will get you across the level. This makes the contrast between each world unique, allowing the developers to truly mess with your pre-sonceptions of what has to be in specific locations.

Items can be purchased to help you on your quest across the island, which are certainly needed later on in the game. These can be purchased with banana coins, which are hidden throughout levels or gained by successfully landing on three enemies or more. Items range from just buying extra lives (trust me, these are needed in later levels), to buying a balloon which prevents you from falling off a stage.

As was previously mentioned, some levels are special and require you to take control of either a flying rocket barrel, or a mine cart. These will take many revisits to successfully beat, as the mine carts are difficult to control compared to what you’ve been used to throughout the entirety of the game. Touch anything and you’re dead, so most of these levels can’t be done first time, and will need memorisation in order to conquer their challenges. The same can be said for the rocket barrel levels, whose control scheme is strange and doesn’t feel right, so most of the time it feels like luck if you manage to successful avoid a missile of rock.

Replayability is a big selling point of Donkey Kong Country Returns, with every level having multiple collectibles and even a time trial mode once a level is beaten once before. This all becomes so much more challenging once the secret 9th world is beaten, and the game receives a mirror mode to try and conquer, giving the player 1 less heart, no chance to use any items they have purchased, and no Diddy kong to help you out. It’s cynically evil of Retro Studios, but DK Country Returns isn’t for the faint of heart, and will push you to your limits in trying to conquer it’s precision platforming.

I enjoyed my time with Donkey Kong Country Returns, putting 14 hours into it before giving up on the mirror mode and collecting every puzzle piece. I feel Nintendo and Retro Studios have done a fantastic job of making a solid platformer, one which pushes players to their limit, something I feel more studios should strive to accomplish these days instead of holding the players hand. This extreme difficulty could be off-putting to some casual players, but Nintendo made this game to appeal to the hardcore fans, and in making it difficult, have succeeded in that regard. Give it a play if it comes down in price, but be warned, it will take a few hours to get into and a lot longer to master (if you ever manage to master it at all).

3/5

07/03/2014
Weekly Gaming: The Room 2 (iOS)

Sticking to what Fireproof Studios are renowned for, The Room Two has some of the most detailed and beautiful objects you’ve ever seen in a game. This may be because of how close you get up to objects, but it’s still amazing, and a delight to behold as you probe deeper into each objects mystery.

The Room One was a fantastic experience from Fireproof Studios, a newly formed company that comes from Guildford and where most staff members have had previous experience working on Little Big Planet’s content. It was a fantastically intrinsic puzzle game which seemingly come out of nowhere and managed to sell by the bucket load for its intuitive controls and mind bending puzzles. The sequel has a lot to live up to, with Fireproof games now having reputation rather than being a upcoming indie team, can they succeed in bringing a second hit?

You start the room two like you did the original: being shown a box in the middle of a room which you must solve. What’s different this time, is your ability to go between two boxes within the same room, meaning that some puzzles are no longer related to the one item you see before you, and some exploration may be in order to find out your surroundings and where items will go to solve puzzles. Whilst the scale and scope of The Room 2 has changed to make everything more epic, the puzzles are still fairly tight, meaning you’ll be scratching your head at times as to where the solution may lay.

It’s pretty marvellous what Fireproof Studios can do when their creativity is allowed to blossom into different environments, but it’s also a shame that we’ve gone away from the simplicity of the first Room, centred and based entirely around one mysterious box.

This new change in scope allows the team at fireproof a more liberal way in making fantastic set pieces. You’re teleported to different scenes multiple times in the game, from an Aztec cave to a Victorian photography studio, its all unique and gives a breath of freshness to an otherwise repetitive game mechanic. New scenes come with a new inherent understanding, which can be difficult for some players if you don’t know the stereotype of the room you are currently in. At one point, I was stuck trying to make a typewriter work as I didn’t know how to press “enter” to finish what I was writing. I suppose that’s some of the charm of The Room 2, it plays on your own knowledge of the world around you, ensuring you feel clever for something you’ve done in game which you know and have seen in real life.

Puzzles follow the same constant rule as was the case with The Room, with puzzles unlocking a new piece of equipment that can then be used in a new location to unlock a new and even harder puzzle. There were more instances of myself getting lost though in this sequel, mainly because of the expanded scope of moving between multiple objects in a room to ensure you’ve done everything you possibly can at that given moment. One of the worse rooms for this was a Aztec level, which allowed you to play with 5 different items in the room. Usually, it’d just be a straightforward case of solving a puzzle on one item, then moving onto the next, but in here, there were so many different items that I ended up going in circles trying to locate the first thing I should solve. It can certainly be confusing, which works against The Room Two considering how straightforward and linear the first game was.

The eyepiece makes a reappearance in The Room 2, allowing you to see things not visible to the naked eye. You’ll need it to overcome some puzzles, but it’s not used as much as it was in the original. It does add new effects, allowing the developers to mess with your perception of space even more.

There is a story to The Room 2, albeit one that’s only used as a topping, and isn’t why you’re playing the game. It’s similar to how RPG mechanics have found their way into almost every genre, the story is used purely to fill the game out. It’s delivered through notes you find as you traverse the world, so apart from the mini narrative taking place between yourself and someone who has travelled this route before you, you’re making the story up yourself as you go along. This isn’t a bad thing, many stories can be better when you use your own imagination rather than just being told whats happening, but it does leave a lot of questions as to what direction the series is going. I suppose only time will tell.

The puzzles are coherent, but can take a while to get used to. For example, you may have ordinary drawers on a desk, but after a bit more exploration you find a button on the underside which enables a puzzle on the top. These type of puzzles are frequent, meaning you should always give something a once over before jumping to conclusions that there’s nothing to do or the game is glitched.

You’ll happen across notes all the time in The Room 2, most are from a person who has come before you, but some may be from the time period you are currently based in.

I have mixed feelings about The Room 2. On the one hand, Fireproof Studios have managed to increase the scale of the original, whilst keeping the puzzles addictive and coherent. The whole game is much more beautiful because of this variety, but I can’t help but feel something has been lost in this transition. The original had so much charm because of the confinement of playing within one box, one box that twisted the rules of reality mind you, but one box all the same. You uncovered little by little the secrets this box hid, and throughout the few hours you played it you felt you were learning more and more about the world through what you imagined. The Room Two on the other hand rips that feeling apart by plainly showing you the world you inhabit, with no mystery and intrigue left to guide you on. I will say, If you’ve played the original, you owe it to yourself to play The Room 2, but don’t be surprised if you don’t come away from the game with the same sense of awe that you came away from the original with.

3/5

28/02/2014
Weekly Gaming: Castle of Illusion (PS3)

Some of you may remember the original Castle of Illusion from your childhood like myself. It was a fantastic platformer that I used to play with my brothers, so I had to buy this remake in an instant to see it my nostalgia was warranted.

This week, I take a look at Castle of Illusion, a remake of the original Disney game that came out for the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis for those American readers out there!).

I loved Castle of Illusion as a child, huddled around a small CRT TV with my brothers taking in all the games gloriously smooth animations and lovingly crafted graphics was one of my favourite things to do when I was 8. The game was difficult for how young I was, but my determination and countless hours of gaming allowed me to preserver and finish this hard game. The platforming involved a lot of memorisation and pin point accuracy, making it one of my favourite accomplishments of my youth. Has Sega Studios Australia succeeded in reimagining what I hold so dear from my childhood? Or is this a shameless money grab from an ailing company looking to cash in on our naivety?

The hub world is a nice level which allows you to see all your collectibles in gorgeous 3D, building the world up as you progress. The game is still linear, but the freedom to go back to specific levels that you may want to retry is welcomed.

The game starts off 2.5D, showing a 3D Mickey, moving across a 2D forest on his way to the castle where Mizrabel has imprisoned Minnie in the hopes of stealing her youth and beauty. After a little bit of platforming, you finally reach the castle, where you are then taught that the game isn’t 2D at all, and you in fact have to walk into the background to progress the game. Some reviewers have likened this to when the Wizard of Oz was revealed to be in colour rather than black and white, and whilst I like that sentiment, I don’t feel this is as grand a gesture as they’re making out. It’s cool, don’t get me wrong, but when the market has been saturated with 2.5D platformers for years, this doesn’t come as surprising.

Once the game is completed, the castle acts as a hub world, allowing you to replay any level you want in order to find all the collectibles the game has to offer, or to play each level as a time attack trial. Each level has plenty to explore, with secrets and hidden collectibles scattered aplenty. Its enjoyable enough to go back to a level to try and find everything, because you certainly won’t collect everything the first time round.

Unlike most water levels in platformer games, the water levels in Castle of Illusion are fairly enjoyable as you don’t have to worry about Mickeys air intake. It allows you to get on with the level and dodge enemies like normal rather than having a constant worry on your mind.

The landscapes and design quality of each world is staggering, with a sense of polish you don’t often see in platformers. It reminds me of Deadlight that I played last year (without the same realism and dread that came with a zombie apocalypse), and has a lot of things going on in the background, keeping you entertained and entranced throughout your entire play through. Toy Rockets will take off and land in the background on the toy level, whilst the library will show off deep vista’s, awe inspiring for a fantasy platformer.

Gameplay and levels haven’t changed much from the original, with enemies dying as you jump on their head or you can throw an object at them (objects differ per level, from marbles on the toy level to candles in the castle, it sticks to the theme). Most of the game takes place on a 2D plane, allowing you to accurately land on platforms as your progress throughout the campaign. There are a few new features where you’ll jump on platforms in a 3D section, but this is easily where the solid gameplay falls apart, with the shadow showing where Mickey is in relation to platforms frequently disappearing under the different hues of the world around him. These sections are thankfully few and far between, so these frustrations are kept to a minimum, but it’s still a nuisance that Sega Australia managed to make a fairly consistent game so frustrating at times.

The level designs are spectacular, despite being simple to navigate. Things are always happening in the background, from books jumping around, to toys flying, the levels conjure up a backstory of a living world rather than being static levels for Mickey to progress through.

Boses are a hit and miss, being nice set pieces that show off the engines ability to natively render both 2D and 3D gameplay at the same time, but mostly consist of doing the same dodging until you’re able to jump on the enemies opening. The engine changes from 2D to 3D platforming can be a little jarring when you’re trying to avoid an enemy around an entire platform and then all of a sudden the game restricts you to just moving left and right, but as with the annoying 3D platforming sections, these moments are rare, so they shouldn’t spoil your enjoyment too much.

Playing Castle of Illusion took me back to my childhood like I never imagined a game could. It succeeded in keeping my nostalgia in check, whilst also keeping the game entertaining enough to continue on gameplay alone, and not riding my nostalgia. I kept coming back to the game even after completing the main campaign, and although I didn’t get every gem in the game (there’s 800 to collect), I managed to find every collectible before growing bored. I hope Sega Australia get the chance to remake some other beloved games of my childhood, as I feel a co-operative castle of illusion 2 featuring Donald Duck would be amazing and well received, maybe even fixing some of Castle of Illusion’s set backs.

3/5

21/02/2014
Weekly Gaming: Little Inferno (iOS + PC)

A game about settings things on fire ay? To some of you pyros out there, this’ll be the perfect game to make time fly by, with virtualised fire being just as mesmerising as the real thing, but with no pain!

If you’d had given the pitch of a game where you can set things on fire, watch as items burn slowly and give coins after they demise, to a boardroom ten years ago, the executives in there would laugh you out of the room, claiming you were crazy and that it’d never make any money in a million years. Little Inferno is just that, but has been released in a time where it can be truly appreciated with the current indie renaissance. It’s a premise so crazy, you’d be surprised that Tomorrow Corporation could even make a game out of it, yet alone one with an intriguing and cute story.

The Fire physics are something else in Little Inferno. Flames slowly destroy everything in their path, reacting differently depending on the item they’re burning. A picture doesn’t do this core game mechanic justice.

You start off as the game means to go on: in front of a fire place called little inferno, sold to you by the Tomorrow Corporation (an in-game company that makes products of all shapes and sizes). Using coins collected from burning items, you can in turn buy more lavish items, creating different effects every time. It’s a perfect feedback system, which doesn’t require much thinking on the users part: you just spend the money, and watch the new animation/flame dynamic take place.

There is a story and a point to all of this burning though, which will become apparent the more you progress through the game. The world is freezing, with a Winter that hasn’t ended for years, and with no sight of it ending, everyone stays at home burning precious items to keep themselves warm. Notes will be delivered every now and then, giving context to whats happening in the outside world at that given time to ensure you remember there is a world beyond the fireplace. The notes are only a one way dialogue though, as you never get a chance to respond or reply, with your only feedback being to burn the letter itself, so expect quite a few jokes and childishness throughout this pleasant story.

Shopping for products is as easy as clicking the item you want, spending gold, then waiting for a given period of time for the item to be delivered. There are plenty of items to choose from, with each item giving more cash than it costs to purchase after being burned to the ground.

For a game based around burning house hold items, oh boy do they make the burning a joy to behold. The game could have been sold as a virtual screensaver years ago, with flames dynamically dancing across items in realtime, giving a different effect every time, leaving you with nothing but charred remains of what used to be a usable item.

The real beauty is in how Little Inferno manages to keep the game engaging after 4 hours of a main story. The answer is Items. Yes, all the items you can buy are all unique in their ability to burn. Some will statically burn, causing your flames to increase in size, whilst others will grasp for your attention, screaming dolls or coffee will always make me chuckle, but items that make your flames change colour or extinguish them altogether are certainly noteworthy.

The story is told through letters given to you from friends and business newsletters (like the one above from the owner of the company). It’s a simple but effective way of giving you a sense of whats outside of your viewpoint, pushing you to wonder beyond the confines of your fireplace.

The game gives variety in how you play it by challenging you to find different combinations of objects to burn together, with hilarious consequences in most cases. Burn someone else’s credit card along with someone else’s family portrait and you’ll get the someone else’s combo. Get more of these combos to unlock more books and in turn, more items to burn. It’s a never ending cycle, one that could have been easily monetised like most games these days with a simple game mechanic, but I’m thankful Tomorrow Corporation haven’t. Burning combos also gives you stamps, which you can use to get instant delivery of the items you’ve just bought. This gives you an incentive to continue with your hunt for the combo’s, as it helps the speed at which you can progress in the main campaign.

Little inferno kept me hooked for hours, pushing me to ignore everyone and everything around me, instead focussing on burning as much as possible. In that sense, it made me a pyromaniac in the short time I invested into it. I wanted more, and even when I had burnt everything in the game, I would still go back in just to burn some more marshmallows or coffee (seriously, it’s hilarious to see them scream). I showed friends and family how cool I thought Little Inferno was, but unfortunately, it hasn’t caught on. This may be because it has a price tag, and although the gameplay accommodates and mimics free to play stereotypes, the price tag puts off a lot of potential customers. I respect Tomorrow Corporation for sticking to their guns and keeping the game focused with a traditional piecing model, but at the same time they may have shot themselves in the foot in doing so.

I applaud anyone who goes out of their way to purchase little inferno. It’s pitch sounds ridiculous, and insane, and would have been laughed at by anyone in any business. But in todays market of casual and indie games with laser tight focus, Little Inferno strives with it’s hilarious and witty humour, along with addictive gameplay.

4/5

14/02/2014
Weekly Gaming: Shelter (PC)

The aesthetics of Shelter are certainly unique and abstract, making it both lovely and strange at the same time. Animals, and the world itself are easily recognisable, but there were times when I felt that a different art direction may have been more of a benefit of Shelter than a detriment.

Shelter has been on my radar for a while. I mean, a game where you play as a mother badger caring for its young in this harsh reality that is life is certainly a unique experience that doesn’t come around often, if at all in todays fast paced, adrenaline-fuelled industry. It’s a new game from the indie studio Might and Delight which brought us Pid, and is certainly ambitious for this young studio. The very premise is emotional in nature, but does the game deliver on that emotion, or is it just a selling point in this crowded and hard market to break?

Looking after your little cubs is essential to progressing through Shelter, with hunger and threats trying to snatch them from you at every opportunity.

You start the game in a cave, with you (the mother badger) and 4 cubs huddled around a grey cub on the floor, moaning and crying. The game gives no prompts, no instructions, but you just know that you somehow have to help this cub out. It’s helpless, crying, and needs attention. You walk around the corner, with your other healthy cubs following you, to find a carrot. Taking this carrot to the sick cub helps him up and ensures he is now a healthy colour, and can follow you on your journey through this evil land. This simple introduction to one of the core mechanics of the game is extremely primitive, yet effective in communicating how to care for your young, and what will happen if you don’t.

For the first moments of the game, you’ll be slowly walked through this world. It doesn’t take long getting used to scrummaging for food, since your badgers are happy to eat anything from vegetables to frogs or even foxes. Giving food to individual cubs can be a hassle, especially when one is starving and grey, with each cub trying to grab food regardless of whether they’re full or not, but this at times only adds to the cub’s dynamism. Eventually, you’ll start coming across the real threats of the forest: birds of prey. These hulking beasts try to snatch your cubs if you stay in the open long enough. It’s fairly simple to avoid them at the start, but its worrying when one swoops in only to barely miss a cub. You genuinely care for them and don’t want to see one go.

Each environment brings with it a new danger, with night time scaring your cubs to run away everytime they hear a noise. Keeping them close to your safety helps to keep the family on track, allowing you to progress through the scary world.

As the game progresses, it’s the environments that bring new threats to your family rather than predators, meaning you have a lot more to fear. Each new area is unique in the way it highlights simple weather conditions that we may find sublime, but in turn become a new dangerous threat to this young family. Night time may not too frightening as we walk around with street lamps and paths, but for your cubs, even the slightest nose will startle them, making them run in any direction possible. One of the most emotive levels was when it started raining, which may seem like a trivial thing in our world, but for the badgers it brings threats around every corner, from the rivers and the hills. Everything in this world is a fight for survival, and you certainly don’t want to let a single cub down and let them die, because if they do, it’s not their fault, it’s yours, with the emotional guilt I can imagine being too much to handle for some players.

For all it’s emotion, Shelter isn’t without its faults. Some levels are frustrating, with some being so open you’re not sure where to go in order to continue across this scary world. My biggest gripe was probably trying to feed individual cubs, with the action button to put down food not working when in close vicinity to a cub, it was pot luck as to whether you could get your food to a hungry cub or not. Some may argue that this builds a family, with each cub having a personality; some being greedy and fat, with others being left out and weak. As much as I like this answer, and wanted to believe it myself, I can’t help but think it’s making excuses for a buggy game.

The rain level is easily one of the most emotive, bringing on emotions you didn’t think possible in a casually rainy day. The rain brings on a certain worrying feeling you would never expect when it comes to something as trivial as rain, but in the world of the small, everything’s a danger.

I may be saying this a lot lately, but Shelter is truly a game that could not have been any other medium. Films, Books and TV’s are all passive experiences that require you to have lived through the events they portray in order for you to feel empathy. Shelter on the other hand requires you to take care of these defenceless creatures, bidding to their every whim in the hope you can ensure their survival. Old passive media wouldn’t have made me feel empathy for these creatures, I’d see them on screen and wouldn’t relate as I am not a badger, so I couldn’t possible understand how a rainy hill could be threatening. But in playing Shelter, you are immersed in a world where all you can think about is your cubs, ensuring you grow attached to them like they are your own. It manages to tap into your own human nature, with every failure not only making me feel regret at a loss like a normal game would, but for failing as a parent, and as a provider. For Shelter to make me feel this way is truly a landmark experience, one that won’t gain mass market appeal, but for those of you who do decide to play it, you’ll be left with an experience others may never feel.

4/5

07/02/2014
Weekly Gaming: The Stanley Parable (PC)

The Stanley Parable is a game about Stanley, or is it? The whole game constantly messes with your perception of what you should actually be doing, strange for the world we live in where games hold your hand every step of the way.

You think you know what the Stanley Parable is, but do you really? That’s the question the developers at Galactic Cafe will keep asking you throughout the course of the Stanley Parable, including before you even buy it. The whole game centre’s around the premise of getting your pre-conceived notions of what a game is and messing with them to the point you’re not even sure whats happening anymore. It’s something that interested me profusely, to the point I had to pick up a copy of the game and play it as soon as possible to ensure that I heard no spoilers whilst listening to the Giant Bombcasts Game of the Year deliberations.

The Stanley Parable is all about choices, or lack of them at times. Do you choose the left door, or the right? Or if the room is devoid of doors, do you start exploring, or do you listen to your narrator with instructions on what to do next? It all boils down to the choices you make throughout each playthrough of the game.

You start the Stanley Parable in an ordinary office, taking control of Stanley, who’s job is supposedly different today as there seems to be no one around. From here, it’s all down to you as the player, to decide whether to play along like the narrator tells you to, or whether you want to plot your own course of action throughout this seemingly ordinary but strange world.

I suppose you could say The Stanley Parable is all about feedback. You choose to do an action, or lack of an action, and you receive feedback from either the narrator, or the world around you. It’s this feedback loop that keeps you playing the game, enticing you to play with the world in different ways to see the feedback you receive, which is mostly comical in nature, but also philosophical in tone. This type of interactivity could only be possible in a game, you couldn’t get this kind of feedback loop from a movie or book.

The Stanley Parable will take you to many different locations, all office themed, but definitely unique in their own way. Galactic Cafe knew the style they wanted to portray, and certainly stuck to it, with some interesting and curious results.

One of the main attractions of the Stanely Parable is the narrator; a posh, well-mannered individual which is there to guide Stanley, and in turn, you the player, through this seemingly weird day. He talks directly to you, edging you on to go one specific way through this seemingly linear world, and even interacts with you when you break it, walking down hallways you weren’t mean to. It’s refreshing and original, something that’s unique in todays world of contrived experiences.

It’s hard to go into too much depth with the Stanley Parable without spoiling any of it. Most of the game consists of experimentation, similar to how Gone Home’s story was intrinsically linked to it’s game mechanics, The Stanley Parable too, makes its story and narration a direct association of what you do. All I can say is: the Stanley Parable has to be experienced first hand to truly know what it’s trying to say.

Stanley is a blank slate of a character to which you can easily project yourself in his place. As you continue to play the game, you start to realise how much like Stanley you really are whilst playing any type of game.

The Stanley Parable is fantastic in giving you the kind of interactivity you can find no where else. I enjoyed my time in Stanley’s world, poking and prodding every nook and cranny to see what I could break, or what new piece of dialogue I could receive from the narrator. It truly makes you think about games in a broader context, from the fact most games are linear in nature to give you a tried and tested story, or in the sense that games can be open, and we are always looking for ways to break the ruleset, or to find the limits of what we can and can’t do within these new worlds.

4/5

31/01/2014
Weekly Gaming: Papo & Yo (PC)

Papo & Yo tells the emotional story of Quico, as he travels around the towns of Brazil with his monster. From beginning to end, its fascinating to see the pairs relationship evolve.

I recall reading a edge article about how Papo & Yo was a landmark game for the Brazilian games industry, and how it showed they were starting to mature, becoming a part of our inclusive and unique industry. Whilst all of this is true, Papo & Yo isn’t just a great game because it’s Brazilian, it’s a good game because it’s unique and charming, and tells a story like no other medium can.

The graphical fidelity of Papo & Yo is astounding, leading to breathtaking scenes like the one above. It’s highly polished, making it feel spectacular that a small indie team made all of this.

You start the game off as a little child named Quico, who’s stuck in a cupboard as a monster is stomping around outside the doors trying to get him. Out of nowhere, a teleport appears next to Quico, inviting him in to get out of this current nightmarish situation. Going through the teleport, Quico is transported to a warm, tranquil, sunny town; a far cry from the nightmare he just got out of. It’s here that you take control of Quico and start to explore your surroundings, jumping off roofs and climbing ladders to find anything relating to the progression of the story. Eventually, a girl with white body paint will start talking to Quico, telling him he is cursed and that he should stay away, to which you proceed to chase her around this strange and enticing environment. Following this mysterious girl around is what brings you to one of the core mechanics of the game: Gears.

Gears, and in turn anything that is made using chalk can be used to manipulate the world to Quico’s advantage. Putting a chalk gear in the right place will cause a whole house to sprout legs and move to the correct location, or rotating a chalk lever will create stairs to get to higher places. These challenges and puzzles will soon start becoming harder as the game progresses, but are relatively simple and used more for aesthetics at the beginning of the game. The animations that are played when the chalk is touched is unique and quirky everytime, from buildings that bend, to manipulating bridges made out of houses you’ve made yourself, every touch of the chalk brings with it a new, wonderful surprise.

Being able to manipulate the world is a fantastic feeling. Unique each and every time, every new lever is exciting to activate, with stairs appearing from walls and houses coming to life, the world itself feels alive and genuine.

Sooner or later, you’ll stumble across a big hulking monster, one which you’ll need to utilise in order to progress through this strange and weird world. The monster has his own agenda, meaning Quico has to grab it’s attention using items in the environment. The monster is slow, but most of the world revolves around him standing on certain platforms, so it’s your responsibility to get him to the correct places in order to advance. You can’t help but feel you’re caring for the monster in some weird way, with it doing nothing but sleeping and eating unless you go out of your way to distract it into helping you.

The story of Papo & Yo is what takes the centre stage in this strange and beautiful puzzle game. The relationship between Quico and the monster really draws you in, constantly trying to make out the intricacies of their relationship, and why they go through times of hardship, but also times of love. The game mechanics play into this, with Quico literally helping the monster in becoming angry, or calming him down with the use of items around the world. This relationship will evolve throughout the duration of the campaign, and many visual metaphors to real world objects will be seen before you come to the games true conclusion, explaining the core pillars of Quico and the monsters relationship.

Some puzzles will require manipulating the world to suit your needs. Here, the path needs to rotate for you to get onto a roof before manipulating it again to get on another roof. It’s simple, but fascinating every time.

The world Quico explores is lovely and vacant, giving you the sense of what it feels like to be in the slums of Brazil, but without the busy, bustling streets. It gives an eery feel to the game, but also implores a sense of exploration. You want to find out more about this world, as much as it may be a dream world for Quico to run away too in times of need. The strange chalk girl also entices you to carry on with the campaign, ensuring you constantly have a hook, pushing you ever closer to the conclusion.

For all the good Papo & Yo gives the player, it isn’t without it’s niggles. The camera can certainly take some getting used too, pushing into geometry, and generally getting in the way of you controlling Quico at times. The platforming moments can also be a hassle, with Quico not equipped deal with the preciseness you occasionally need when jumping across floating bricks or brooms.

I enjoyed my time with Papo & Yo: it took me on a journey you don’t usually experience, with south American culture rarely being seen in todays media, usually keeping to itself. The story is certainly moving, and will keep you hooked until the end, but once all is said and done, there isn’t much left to see, meaning Papo & Yo isn’t very replayable. I bought Papo & Yo over christmas, paying just £4, which I felt was a good deal for the 3-4 hours of entertainment it gave me, if you can find it for cheaper, grab it! It’s a bargain. If not, then value is in the eye of the beholder, and if you truly value artistic expression in video game form, then you’ll love every minute Papo & Yo have to offer.

3/5

24/01/2014
Indie Spotlight: Clobbr (iOS)

Clobbr’s cute animations and design certainly portray a simple and easy to play game, but there’s a lot of challenge and kick behind this beastly game.

With Clobbr’s imminent release on Apple’s App Store, I managed to get a review copy from Czarcade, as I felt this lovely mobile game from a fellow indie studio would definitely be worth a look. The trailer looked quirky, and the screenshots certainly looked great in the time I’ve been following Czarcade on Twitter, so I had to jump head first into Clobbr, and bathe in this fellow indie’s beautifully polished game.

As you start Clobbr, you’re introduced to your three main protagonists that will stay with you throughout the duration of the main 5 worlds. These are Clobbr (the blue gentleman at the top of the screen), the three mice, and the orange kitty. The main characters have a Tom & Jerry vibe going on, with each level pitting them in a similar situation: the kitty never learning from it’s mistakes, and Clobbr himself coming to the rescue of the poor defenceless mice. These simple characters are your back story as to why Clobbr needs to continue solving the puzzles, which is a well thought out and lovely trio of personalities that ensure you aren’t bored by just solving mazes on every level, giving personality to an otherwise simple representation of a puzzle game.

Levels get quite difficult with the introduction of new items that allow your boulder to travel farther, adding a new challenge to an already cluttered and healthily hard game, especially with only 20 seconds on the clock.

The game mechanics are pretty simple, with each level consisting of a different maze that must be moved around to provide a rock a chance to knock the cat out. The maze consists of different blocks, some of these are straightforward, like the arrows which just make the boulder go in the diffraction they face, where as others really change the dynamic of the mechanics, with mousetraps propelling the boulder to the end of the stage. It’s definitely a game that stays true to itself, with simple mechanics that get progressively harder as you make your way through the 100 levels on offer.

Each level must be completed within 20 seconds, which adds a nice sense of urgency to everything you’re doing, making some levels extremely difficult as you trace exactly where your boulder will go along the path you have created for it. If you complete the level sooner and find it easy, you can always click the log at the top of the screen to get Clobbr to start the boulder moving sooner. This’ll give you additional points, which may not be worth much right now (there are no leaderboards at this time), but could become appealing in future updates (imagine trying to beat all your friends scores in a fashion not far from Cut The Rope, it’d be pretty addictive). The 20 second time limit also helps the game become a perfect travelling companion, meaning that no matter where you’re playing on your phone or tablet (the bus, taxi, train, waiting at the doctors etc.) you won’t go long between levels so you aren’t distracted for hours on end.

I found trampolines some of the hardest objects to predict, having to look two spaces below meant planning a lot farther ahead in the limited time I was given. The job you feel when actually seeing your plan play out and hitting the Kitty is a feeling I haven’t experienced from another game in a long time.

The music is cute and catchy, so much so that I caught a few members of my family humming it around the house whilst they went about their day. Unfortunately, many users may play all their games on silent, which’ll be a shame for the hard work of Nathan, who has put together a good track. But for those of you who do play their games with the sound effects on, you’ll be in for a treat, everything about Clobbr makes cute feedback, from the spring noise of using a trampoline, to the smashing of the rocks, you’ll enjoy all the sound effects and music Clobbr has to offer.

Back at University, I done an intensive research course on immersion in Video Games, showing the different types of immersion a player can achieve in different genres of games, and which games are suited to each environment. Clobbr encapsulates my thesis on short, competitive immersion more so than any game I’ve played in recent memory, with small, addictive levels keeping you hooked for hours in commutes, it’s certainly a mobile game worth playing. From start to finish, Clobbr will offer you hours of entertainment, ensuring that wherever you are, you can always pick up and play without too much effort. For those of you that love puzzle games, and get addicted to simple, short levels similar to angry birds, Clobbr is for you.

4/5

Clobbr will be released on iOS on the 23rd of January, and can already be purchased on the Android App Store for £1.19.

22/01/2014
Weekly Gaming: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC)

Whilst short, Brothers tells a better story in 3 hours than many other games do in 12.

I’ve read about Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons in the past, with articles usually talking about how its producer is a movie director by the name of Josef Fares, and how his background has shaped and influenced the design of the game. It’s certainly been on my radar, and I wanted it the day it was released, but being stripped for cash last year, I had to hold off. Over Christmas, Brothers was reduced to £3.59 on Steam; without hesitation, Brothers instantly became a part of my game library, ready to be explored until I was satisfied I had seen every nook and cranny.

The world of Brothers reminds me of Lord of the Rings; beautiful and constantly portraying fantasy. Each environment portrays a different emotion, which had me on a roller coaster ride from start to finish.

You start Brothers with your story explained within 5 minutes: your father is sick and needs a special ingredient from a tree to survive. With this little bit of information, the Brothers embark on an epic journey to find this tree, taking on all the elements of nature, monsters and anything else silly enough to cross their path. The story has it’s highs and lows, with the start of the game being an adventure, before the surrealism of how giant the task is before them starts to unveil. It’s the highs and lows that make Brothers such a memorable trip, with the environment around the pair being an extension of their feelings at any given time: Stormy weather showing fear and dread, and bright vista’s showing hope and glea at the challenges already overcome.

Controls will take some getting used to, with the brothers controlled by one analogue stick each, the left analogue stick controlling the older brother, whilst the right analogue stick controls the younger, along with the corresponding triggers to activate events. It makes for a weird experience at the start of the game, but soon becomes second nature. Without even thinking you’ll automatically place the correct brother in the correct place, something that doesn’t become any less enjoyable as the story progresses. Certain puzzles and challenges will test your ability with the dual controls, but any player should be able to get by eventually. The unique control system allows Brothers to mess with your perception of how puzzles are solved, and presents brand new ways to play. Anyone observing Brothers would think you’re playing in online co-op, with one brother moving to grab a lever whilst another fights off a troll, it really feels like both brothers are independent in nature, yet tied together by you, one player.

The unique control scheme really adds to the story of Brothers, with each analogue stick controlling one brother. It takes some getting used to, but by the end of the game you’ll be competent enough to know how to navigate every obstacle in your way.

The story of Brothers is rather simple in nature (you’re rescuing your father from certain death), but becomes epic in scale as the journey progresses. You take on side challenges which in turn help you on your way to the magical tree that will help your father. These side pieces don’t junction too far from the main narrative, and serve to enhance it, building a world of likeable creatures which have their own purpose and focus. Near the beginning of the game you’ll come across a troll that is just sat on a stool looking very sad and crying. The game doesn’t intrinsically tell you he has a partner, but subtle hints (like the two troll beds in the background) allow you to surmise his partners existence, and that she is either missing or has passed away. These mini stories/side quests help to flesh out the world as you progress, bringing new lore and promise with each new character and environment you are introduced too.

The amount of polish put into both the environment and the quality of the controls is astounding. Creatures feel alive, and have a genuine personality even though you only meet them for a few seconds. Josef Fares has helped to create a world which you feel is being lived, and isn’t there only for your enjoyment. Early in the game, you come across a dog in a field, barking and chasing down anything it finds. It feels natural, something you’d see daily with children teasing a dog, and not just placed to give the player a simple puzzle. The fact that the controls tie into the story, with each brother not able to progress without the other is another fantastic development for our industry, and one that must have taken a lot of time and pressure convincing publishers the benefits of such a system.

Massive set pieces are a commonality in Brothers. I’m not complaining though, these pieces are some of the most astounding scenes in the gaming industry, rivalling even other media in the world like Lord Of The Rings’ epic landscapes.

To surmise, Brothers, like last week’s Gone Home, completely blew me away when I played both in one night. This highly polished game tells the story it needs, whilst going one step further in linking the story with the game controls. Like Journey that came a few years ago, it’s a game I would easily point out to people who put their noses up whenever the slightest whisp of games are mentioned. It’s a game that every person should play in their life at least once, even if they aren’t into games, similar to how everyone needs to experience Alien or Godfather, it needs to be played to show the accumulation of how far we’ve come, and how much of a landmark of a game it is.

5/5

17/01/2014
Weekly Gaming: Gone Home (PC)

Gone Homes story telling is genuinely unique and unprecedented in todays gaming climate. You’d be hard pressed to realise that only 3 people worked on the game.

The gaming media have salivated over Gone Home since its initial release in August, with critical acclaim coming from every news outlet I read. Being tight on money, and having the game never come down in price until the Christmas sales meant that I didn’t get to play this until recently. I’m glad I did get around to buying and playing it, as I feel this is a landmark game for our industry, and one that changed my GOTY list instantly.

Each room is lovingly crafted to not only give intentional story, but also indirect characterisation of each family member. The way an office is arranged or the litter around says a lot about each member of the Greenbriar household.

You play the role of Kaitlin Greenbriar, a 21 year old who has just returned home after a year of travelling abroad across Europe. In the hallway of your house, you notice that no ones home, which is surprising considering how long you’ve been away. A note is found on the side in the porch explaining to Kaitlin that whoever wrote the note is sorry that they’re not there to see Kaitlin on her return, and that Kaitlin shouldn’t try to find him/her. This is your premise: an empty house with a warning not to find out what happened. Fantastically short and to the point, but enough mystery and intrigue to keep you hooked for the duration of the story.

Most of the story is given to you in the form of notes or tapes that you find throughout your journey in the house. They’re effective at doing their intended job, and as you can read them at your own pace, there’s no need to worry about missing any information.

You are free to explore Greenbriars home as and how you’d like, from switching on lights to enter a new room, or picking up and examining a box of tissues, the house gives you free reign (within reason) to take every room in your own time. Each room is uniquely original, allowing for both indirect (the way books are organised or what occupies each space), and direct (notes which literally explain what happened at a given time) story telling and characterisation. This really adds to the atmosphere of the house, giving you the sense that this house is used and lived in like your own home now.

As you pick up items that relate to the main story/narrative, Sam, your younger sister, talks to you through speech logs, explaining her journey and what has happened in her life whilst you’ve been away. Each log gives enough information to give you an idea of whats happened in the house, whilst also withholding enough to keep you pressing on for more.

The story is short, and the whole game can be completed within 2 hours. There was a lot of backlash around the time it was released that reviewers weren’t mentioning the length of the campaign tied to it’s £15 price tag (due to the vast majority of them getting a free press copy). I can understand why some people would be annoyed, they may only buy so many games a year and £15 is a lot of money to spend on 2 hours of entertainment (that’s almost twice the price of a film). But this game is art, it’s pushing the boundaries of how a game and story can be so intricately connected, and you can’t put a price on forwarding the medium we so love and cherish.

Sams room is easily the most descriptive of any, perfectly showing the room of any teenager in the 90’s. Although I was only 3-13 when the 90’s were here, I had fond memories of a lot of the items in here.

It’s hard to go too much further into Gone Home without spoiling things for the players. It’s an explorative game where there’s no re-playability due to there being no more mystery in the story. The confines of the house are small enough that you manage to explore every nook and cranny within the 2 hours you play the game.

The only thing I can say is, I enjoyed every minute that I was immersed within Kaitlins world, and wanted to know everything there was to know. The story was the game mechanics, with the two being so intertwined that it’s hard to have imagine Gone Home in any other capacity. It’s taken storytelling in video games a whole new direction, one which Movies or Books can’t even begin to compete with since they’re passive mediums. I’d hugely recommend everyone to give Gone Home a play to see the direction the games industry is heading, and what fabulous and amazing things developers can do with story telling in an interactive way.

4/5

10/01/2014
Weekly Gaming: State of Decay (PC)

State of Decay came out in the summer of 2013 on Xbox Live Arcade, but has recently been released on Steam under their Early Access program. There’s quite a few bugs, which is terrible considering the new DLC has just been released.

Having seen brilliant reviews on State of Decay over the summer whilst travelling, I was curious as to how another zombie game had managed to entice journalists. Thanks to a friend, when my Birthday came around in Novmeber, I was given the gift of accessing State of Decay during its Early Access program, something I am extremely thankful for, and put to good use.

Sneaking to avoid zombies is worth while and needed at the beginning of the game, but before long you become so overpowered from all of your scavenging that taking on a hoard is easier than avoiding it.

The game starts you off in a camp site next to a lake, making you fight off a hoard of zombies that are attacking your friend. It doesn’t give you much context as to where these zombies came from, and just explains it away by saying that because you were camping, you haven’t heard anything from the outside world. Once you make your way to the ranger station, you meet your first group of survivors, who set about tasking you with gathering resources and scouting the area for hot spots. It’s a nice introduction that gets you used to the main mechanics of the campaign, without giving you too much information, so you have to learn how to play the game through trial and error (Akin to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series of games).

Once you get out of the initial camping area, the world really opens up, with villages and attractions making this a truly realised world. Every house can be explored and scavenged for survivors or resources, making this a game that runs at your own pace. The world centres around your base, your safe place to keep coming back to after trips out into the zombie infested wild. It contains your stockpile, which starts off relatively small, as well as fellow survivors and essential equipment.

Most of the core mechanics are centred around realism/simulation, so weapons will break, cars will take damage or eventually run out of fuel, and your survivors can get tired or get sick, meaning you’ll have to swap control of several people throughout your playthrough. Each survivor that you control has their own stats which increase the more you use them. A fantastic idea in theory, but it lead to me using the same few survivors throughout the entirety of the game, neglecting others in the base. This then becomes a hassle when your main characters are sick or tired, and you’re stuck with a character you’ve never used before, meaning taking on zombies becomes frustrating chore rather than an enjoyable smash up.

Get used to driving in State of Decay, because you’ll be doing a lot of it. The map is huge and vast, making exploration the main objective in this thoroughly detailed world.

The world continues to go on whilst you’re away from the game, meaning you can leave your base happy and satisfied one night, and come back to a shit storm the day after. This constant feeling that I had to get back to the world in order to maintain and defend my base became an addiction, one which kept me coming back every night for at least an hour as a maintenance session. I felt like if I didn’t play the game everyday, I’d be letting the survivors down.

Combat is fluid, albeit simple and repetitive. You hit zombies with the same animation until they crouch in pain or fall over, then cave their head in with a devastating finisher move. It makes individual encounters simple, but can lead to difficulties when taking on a group of the undead (try placing your character in the right place over a downed zombie when there’s 5 trying to hit and bite you). Zombies become a bit more varied towards the latter parts of the game, with unique zombies that explode into gas, tanks that take a million bullets and armoured zombies becoming a common sight. They add variance to a game that’s fairly repetitive in nature, which is never a bad thing.

Cutscenes happen regularly throughout the campaign, giving characters a chance to talk to each other and state your next course of action. Using the game engine wasn’t a wise choice. Characters come off as robotic, with no fluid animation and no awareness of other characters in the screen. I even had some instances of characters glitching through each other, which was funny but at the same time worrying for a game of this production value.

As I said in my GOTY discussion, State of Decay could have easily of been my game of the year. It resonated with me like no game has since I first played S.T.A.L.K.E.R, a game so convoluted and unique that you truly have to invest yourself into the mechanics to get the most out of the story and atmosphere of the world. State of Decay felt like a homage to what S.T.A.L.K.E.R conveyed all those years ago, making the player go out of there way to learn the intricacies of the game rather than being walked through them step by step. I loved it, that is, until I came across game breaking bugs that stopped me from progressing.

Yep, in a game that has been out for over 6 months now, there are still bugs found that stop the campaign missions from appearing, and zombie outbreaks appear in areas of the map that shouldn’t. After 16 hours of play time, I decided to research why the end of the game wasn’t in sight, yet the whole world was almost out of resources from my gathering. Turns out, after a further 3 more hours of gameplay, those final few missions never did turn up, which turned my feelings for the game from enjoyment, to anger, to despair, as I ran around a world that had no end in sight, with no more resources to gather, and nothing left to explore.

It’s a shame, as in it’s current state, I cannot recommend State of Decay to anyone. I genuinely wish I could, but having game breaking bugs that stop anyone from finishing it is always bad in my book, something that shouldn’t be overlooked in this industry. Until State of Decay is fixed and gives players a consistent experience from start to finish, I’ll have to suggest friends and family to avoid it at all costs.

2/5

03/01/2014
My New Years Resolutions.
In 2013, I managed to keep to my new years resolution, and completed 1 game a week for 52 weeks, writing a review every week on what I thought of it.

This coming year, I’m going to continue to write a new review every week, but I feel I also need to push myself one step further. So this year, I want to do the following:
- Write a game review once a week.
- Produce a Video Quick look once every 2 weeks.
- Make 2 full games that will be pushed to every platform (iOS, Android, PC, Ouya), documenting and pushing builds to this site. (Project stargazer and Project Timeshift).
- Migrate my server from wordpress.com to wordpress.org to allow people to run unity games within my site rather than Dropbox.
There are a lot more things I want to do, BUT I don’t think they should be posted on my blog for now, as they may be impossible, and I’d rather not let myself down.

Look out for all this new content during 2014!
01/01/2014
52 Weeks of gaming, ITS OVER!!!

So that’s it, I done it.

I made a New Years Resolution to complete a game/piece of media a week, and I managed to fulfil that resolution, even when I spent 3 months on the other side of the world. I’ve enjoyed it all, and I feel it’s made me a better person when it comes to critical analysis and thinking about different points of view.

I started this journey to get through my massive game collection on Steam, and to experience all the different emotions games and media in general can give. It’s been a fantastic journey, one which I’ll continue after the new year in the form of contributing to The Indie Vault, and adding even more content to this site, from lets play videos to opinion pieces, as well as continuing my weekly gaming review every Friday, 10am GMT. I’ve managed to get over 5000 + views this year, and I hope to multiply that many times this year as I make a name for myself in this industry that I love so much.

To all of you who have continued to support me throughout the year, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. To those of you that have just started, stay tuned for so much more.

Thanks,

Dan

Founder of Caesoose Studios

31/12/2013
My Top 10 Games of the Year.

It’s been a long and fantastic year. I went to my first and second gaming conventions, I spent 3 months of the year in America, and started working on 2 games, both of which work, but aren’t polished. I quit a retail job, and went solo to try and make it in the gaming world (which hasn’t happened yet, but will one day!). It’s been a hectic year, but in that time, I’ve made sure to stick to my new years resolution, and have completed at least 1 game a week (it started as 1 piece of media a week, but being as I have a huge steam library and far too many consoles, it eventually changed it to games alone).

So to round the year up, here’s my top 10 list of my favourite games I’ve completed this year.

Honourable Mention. State of Decay.

State of Decay could easily have been my game of the year, having played over 18 hours and being totally invested in the world, I was ready to say that’s it, it’s amazing and everyone should play it. BUT this was until I came across bugs that stopped me from completing the main campaign. I’ll write a review in more detail soon, but lets just say, it’s a fantastic game that definitely needs to be polished up.

10. Gravity Rush.

If you spoke to 15 year old Daniel, you’d find a boy obsessed with everything Japanese. I’ve come a long way since then, and haven’t been as into Japanese culture and games for a long while, but Gravity rush changed all that. Its town is lovingly built, with characters that gleam with enthusiasm and depth, and the mechanics, whilst repetitive, are extremely enjoyable. I am genuinely excited about the prospect of another Gravity Rush, and would easily recommend this game as a must have for any new Vita owner.

9. Borderlands 2.

Borderlands 2 makes this list due to the sheer amount of hours me and my gaming buddy have invested into it (110+ so far). Its gameplay is fantastic, and the loot system just makes it as addictive as any casino game. The story isn’t great, but that’s not what you’re there for, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE LOOT!

8. Batman: Arkham City.

Having loved the original so much, I knew this would be a hit from the moment I started playing. Everything about the original has been upgraded, from the fighting style, to the level design and graphics, everything is better than the first. My only regret? That I didn’t play this sooner.

7. Bioshock Infinite.

I didn’t write a review for Bioshock: Infinite when I completed it back in March, mainly because I was that blown away by it that I felt any comments I had on it wouldn’t do it justice. I played it again some months later when I returned from the US, and found that maybe I went a tad overboard in my praise for the game. It’s still a fantastic journey from start to finish, and will easily entertain any player for hours on end, but in hindsight, it wasn’t the best game ever, just a great accumulation of what story telling in action games, along with a fantastic setting, have transpired to become.

6. FTL: Faster Than Light.

Such a short and simple game in terms of mechanics, yet so hard/impossible to master. These great traits stand the test of time, and I can foresee myself getting addicted to this again very soon with its expansion and port to iOS. The iOS port is going to ruin my productivity, as then I’ll be able to play it at work and wherever I like.

5. Gone Home.

I was blown away by the way that Gone Home told its story through its gameplay mechanics. Even more surprising was Fullbright studios ability to know that most players aren’t dumb, so you were able to find out about a character both directly (through manuscripts you pick up) and indirectly (by the type of room they had or items they owned). If was fantastic, and has greatly influenced my thought process in making a story for a game.

4. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

The Production value of Brothers was absolutely astounding. Like Journey a year ago, Brothers put me on an emotional roller coaster, with its game mechanics and control system feeding into the overall narrative perfectly. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game so perfectly realised as Josef Fares imagination goes wild.

3. Thomas Was Alone.

Thomas Was Alone changed my perspective on what it means and takes to build a character within a game. For all my life, I’ve been a die-hard graphics enthusiast, someone who upgrades his PC to try and play the latest and greatest on max settings. I’ve always been a stark defender of graphics building more immersive worlds and believable characters, but Thomas Was Alone has changed all of that. Here were a bunch of different shaped rectangles, that each had their own personalities and quirks, with more personality that any AAA game such as Crysis or Halo. I was emotionally attached to these little blocks, something I can’t say for all of the polished grizzly action men of this generation. I managed to give my thanks personally to Mike Bithell for this masterpiece at PlayExpo, and for all it’s worth, I hope he knows that this game will stick with me until the day I die, regardless of how much Mike thinks it’s over-rated.

2. The Last of Us.

It’s hard to talk about 2013 without mentioning The Last of Us. It’s a breakthrough in the games industry in marrying a serious plot with some serious game mechanics. It may not have been my game of the year, mainly because I did still have some gripes with the game (barely changing the uncharted gameplay model and making the story justify it doesn’t seem revolutionary in my book), but the game is still a landmark for me in how far our industry has come. I feel I can safely say, that’s something we should all be proud of.

1. The Binding of Isaac.

I’m hooked by the Binding of Isaac. Never have I found a game more enticing, more addictive, than when I’m exploring randomly generated dungeons with perils and rewards around every corner. The game mechanics are simple to learn, but hard to master, and work perfectly with the variety of enemies that want nothing more then to see Isaac die. To me, The Binding of Isaac is a perfect combination of game mechanics married with game design, and with a different experience waiting for you every time you jump in, it’s certainly addicting to keep on coming back for more.

30/12/2013
Gaming Week 52: Pokémon Y (3DS)

Pokemon Y changes Nintendo’s traditional naming convention of colours and now gives us letters, but does Pokemon Y change the direction of the game like it’s name implies? Picture credit of Uxian.

People of the world, I have a confession to make.

I have never played a portable Pokemon game from start to finish.

Let that sink in for a moment, and be even more shocked when I say that I was raised in the perfect environment, perfect time, and given every opportunity to do so, but never did. Yes, I’m 26 and have talked about Pokemon with friends, colleagues and family, but I didn’t feel I needed to, since I knew enough about the lore and Pokedex that I deemed the games unnecessary. How wrong I was.

The game starts out with a Professor explaining what Pokemon are, and who you are. It’s here, where the story begins, that you get to create your own hero or heroine before embarking on your adventure. Your options are limited, from picking your name to what gender you are, but these options soon increase throughout the game, with myself donning different clothes and eye colour to my original inception. It’s the ability to be free to be who you want in this new and wonderful world that’s begging to be explored which makes Pokemon stand above the rest.

Gameplay entails guiding your character around the world from a birds eye perspective, whist talking to other Pokemon trainers you encounter and avoiding bushes. Once you encounter a battle with a trainer or wild Pokemon, you’re taken to a fight scene, where your Pokemon and the opponent take turns slicing each other until one faints. This hasn’t changed since the original, but certainly looks different thanks to the graphical prowess of the Nintendo 3DS/2DS to old generations. Being the first 3D polygonal Pokemon game, Nintendo have gone all out with the presentation of the world, with every scene looking as detailed and charming as their sprite based cousins.

As can be hopefully seen in this picture, the Kalos region takes Pokemon to France. With this change of scenery comes a new change in atmosphere and surroundings, with villages and sites looking cultured compared to previous Pokemon games. It leaves you with a very Noire feeling. (Image copyright of Nintendo)

The world is huge and begging to be explored, with the story alone taking 40+ hours to complete if you rush your way through, and longer if you do all of the side content and want to level your team up as much as possible. I finished the game at the 45 hour mark, with 6 Pokemon all at level 70+, with 2 of them 85+, but others may want to train new Pokemon from scratch, leading to a longer game.

Team Rocket have been replaced since I was a kid with Team Flare, a new organisation that wishes to destroy the world and recreate it using the new legendary Pokemon from the Kalos region (these new Pokemon can be found on the covers of both games). They’re a weird organisation that certainly mimic Team Rockets tactics in stealing items and being generally evil, and genuinely add to the story, with cutscenes and key moments tied to their ambitions.

Being a Pokemon game, your main characters ambition is to be the best Pokemon trainer around, collecting every Pokemon in the Kalos region (over 450 now!) whilst also defeating all 8 gym leaders to then take on the elite 4. This troupe hasn’t changed in years, but here it feels different and revitalised with each gym being unique and a puzzle in themselves to navigate and defeat. They’re certainly a great way to show off the graphics of the new games, with some scenes being mind-blowing in originality and creatively inspiring, a first for me when it comes to anything Pokemon.

Certain Pokemon can now Mega Evolve into a stronger version of their former self, as can be seen above with Mewtwo. This change is only temporary however, and only one Mega Evolution can be done per battle, meaning you really have to decide which Pokemon fits the situation best.

Pokemon battles are easily one of the most improved features of Pokemon Y, with a host of new features, from horde battles (where multiple Pokemon will attack you at once) to sky battles and Mega Evolutions, battling has certainly been revitalised. Mega Evolutions are temporary buffs to a certain few Pokemon in the game, and can only happen if they are fully evolved and are holding a piece of meteorite special to themselves. It adds an interesting mechanic to battles, and certainly came in handy when my mega Charizard would stop the battlefield from snowing purely from how hot he was. Sky battles are exactly as they say, where only flying Pokemon can partake, meaning you best make sure you have some flying Pokemon on you. Overall, the battle system is far more refined, and with every battle netting your whole team XP from the new XP sharer item, you can level up Pokemon in no time without even having to get them out in a battle.

All these new refinements can certainly make a die hard Pokemon enthusiast feel a little disheartened, making it easier to level up your team and faster to get around. But by changing the pacing of the game, and adding more content and story than before, Nintendo have made something that feels completely new and original, without really doing anything to the core mechanics.

In many ways, Pokemon at the base level isn’t any different to the original. The Core mechanics are the same, and haven’t changed since it’s inception, but the refinements around the edge, like making battle systems have more depth, or changing on how your team earns XP, makes it feel like a refreshing and new game. It could be said that Pokemon encapsulates where Nintendo is in it’s current life, remaking old franchises with just enough new trimmings that it feels original, but these new trimmings truly do give the games a new life, especially when their premise and core mechanics are just strong enough to stand the test of time, all that’s needed is a repackaging. It all seems to be a winning formula, and one that I hope continues from Nintendo for a few years to come.

4/5

27/12/2013