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Tag: Steam

  • Gaming Week 24: Thirty Flights of Loving (PC)

    Gaming Week 24: Thirty Flights of Loving (PC)

    Following on from last week I decided to play Thirty Flights of Loving, the sequel to Gravity Bone. This one was kickstarted as part of the Idle Thumbs podcast, and eventually was released to steam for download. It follows on from the themes and story outlined in Gravity Bone, and even has more depth than the first.

    EAT THE FUCKING CAKE
    Yayyyyy a wedding, I do love to drink at these

    You start Thirty Flights of Loving as an agent that must find his way into a secret hide out. A small poster on the wall explains the controls, and with this the game sets you on your way. Its once you set out on your mission is where you  Now it may not be a coherent story, but its you that must do the job of making it one, constantly guessing whats coming next only for your presumptions to be turned upside down.

    FUCK THEM
    All the Cats!

    Game mechanics are fairly straight forward, you no longer have to use freeze spray or hammers to unlock things, instead this is a linear experience where you press E to interact with things or use WASD to move around. This isn’t a bad thing at all, but I did like the freeze and hammer combination in Gravity Bone, and would have liked Blendo Games to give it a go at other control systems, breaking them down to their core values.

    Thirty Flights of Loving has all the core values which make up a AAA game, but does so at such a simple level that it’s hard to see them. The story is told in such a fantastic way, but misses a lot of specifics, so you’re left guessing as to why things are happening/what happened. This isn’t a bad thing at all, and in fact makes the player use their brain for once to create a narrative rather than just being a set of eyes. If leaves you feeling genuinely happy when you finish the game, a feeling that is hard to come by with modern games.

    BUT SOFT AS BUTTER
    This guy’s hard as nails

    For its price, Thirty Flights of Loving is worth the investment, and certainly adds a depth to what Gravity Bone started. It’s currently £3.99 on Steam, which is great value, if you’re not sure about that (it is a short game like its predecessor) then it is on sale quite often, I think I picked my copy up for £1.49. Give it a go if you like Gravity Bone, you won’t be disappointed.

    4/5

  • Gaming Week 6: FTL: Faster than Light (PC/Mac)

    Gaming Week 6: FTL: Faster than Light (PC/Mac)

    Having played FTL for over 15 hours, I’d say I’ve had my fill of this very charming and addictive game. I know the game can potentially be played a lot longer (I have some friends who have played it 40+ hours) but for me, I’ve completed it and will give myself a rest for a bit.

    “Now what is this FTL?” I hear you all cry, and I shall deliver. FTL is a top down space flight simulator where you have to manage all of the ship and it’s staff, in a way you could think of this as a theme hospital. You control each aspect of the ship, delivering power to each system as and when it’s needed. Fighting a pirate ship? Push power into the shields and weapons. Fighting on board your ship? Provide power to your medic bay to make sure your staff can be healed as soon as the fightings over. It’s all up to you, and the game encourages you to be adventurous in order to overcome a hoard of obstacles all at once.

    FIRE ALL THE TORPEDOES
    Firefights like these are very common, be prepared!

    The objective of the game is to get through 7 sectors to tell the alliance (which you are a part of) about the rebels plans. Sounds easy enough, but only once in my 15 hours of playing have I completed the game successfully. Each sector is randomised, and ensures that you don’t always have the easiest route, making you plot your course to the best of your ability. Within each sector, you have to jump to the end warp gate to get to the next sector, with each jump coming across an encounter. It’s in these encounters where the real adventure unfolds. You’re usually always given a choice of what to do in any given situation, so if your ship is in bad shape, skip attacking some pirates. It all comes down to a risk/reward scenario, with each risk being rewarded with scrap/missiles/drones. These are all useful for keeping the ship going, buying products at store, or upgrading the ship itself.

    I end up always fighting things
    Here is an encounter after just jumping. To be aggressive or passive, that’s the question.

    You will die in this game (be warned, it’s a perma-death), and at times it can feel very unfair. Encounters are semi-randomised, so you may end up in a situation where you only have 2 life bars left and the next warp drive you do puts you into the same territory as pirates. As much as this can take some getting used to (and infuriating at first) it ends up being a advantage in my opinion, as it means you rarely get the same gaming experience as other players. Each person has their own story about what went down, and that is a remarkable thing to have in any game of this generation.

    Pros:

    • Extremely re-playable
    • Brilliant strategy
    • Lovely 8-bit graphics

    Cons:

    • Randomisation can get a little too much and unfair
    • No end game in sight

    Overall I would have gladly made FTL one of my top 10 of games last year. It’s fun, got a little bit of charm, and a hell of a lot of strategy to make this an exciting (albeit short) experience.

    4/5