What is it with the various forms of fiction and the name Jack? 1.) Jack Bauer from 24, 2.) Jack Bristow from Alias, 3.) Jack O’Neill from Stargate the movie, and Stargate SG-1, 4.) Jack Napier aka The Joker from Batman, 5.) Jack Ryan from the Tom Clancy Books and respective movies, 6.) Jack Shephard from Lost, 7.) Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean, 8.) Jack Frost, 9.) Jack and the Beanstalk, 10.) Jack Black – okay okay so he’s a real guy, but he’s so goofy he SHOULD be a fictional character! Okay so there’s even MORE fictional characters than that. Other Jack notables: Jack Daniels whiskey, Singer Songwriter Jack Johnson, actor Jack Palance, actor Jack Nicholson who coincidentally played Jack Napier alias The Joker in the Tim Burton version of Batman (they even have the same initials J.N.), Jack Kirby comic book artist, Jack Lord from Hawaii Five-O, a Jack or connector, the Jack which is the lowest face card in a deck of playing cards, Jack in the box, Jack of all trades, Jack boots, actually it’s one word jackboot, but still you get the picture
Okay okay so what does this have to do with a game review. A new fictional character has just been created, Colonel Jack Morgan of the new game independent RTS game Project Aftermath by Games Faction. Hah, thought this was going to be a real Top Ten list did ya? Or did you realize the name there to the left of the post title. In any case. He’s your Colonel, of the Morphid army who’s trying to take down the New Order. A group that scours the galaxy and introduces mutations into people in order to build their army, so they can conquer the universe. You control a group of the Morphid hero’s starting with Bilsby, and some extra soldiers at his command. So you’re fighting these mutants with Bilsby, (and some others later), and you do this by giving him commands such as where to move, who to attack and so forth. Being an RTS you’re not controlling the characters directly. You have different kinds of weapons, that work against different kinds of defense, noted by a color code. If the enemy has the same color armor as the weapon you’re using, it will withstand your attack, however, if you switch weapons you can increase effectiveness of your attacks.
The interface at first seemed pretty complex. You use your mouse and move the camera over the ground, or you can right click and hold and move the camera directly into a specific position. Hold down left and right mouse buttons to rotate the camera, and scroll wheel to zoom in and out. Left click controls your heroes and tells them where to move. You also have keyboard short cuts W,A,S,D, Q, E, and some others I can’t remember as I’m typing this. On the lower left of the screen is a mini-map where you can move the camera anywhere. It also has an objectives, and notes button so you can remember all the other characters said to you. The controls are a bit awkward, like right clicking and moving the mouse moves the camera in the opposite direction. Stuff like that. If you hold down your left mouse button and move it in a direction, your current hero will also turn in that direction if he walks there.
The graphics are superb. In fact it doesn’t really look like an independent game. Of course independent means self-funded which means you can do whatever you want, so they’re well within that scope, it’s just the whole thing almost seems like a AAA retail game. The sound is great, and the voice acting is fantastic. Well I have to say since I’m “Across the pond” as-it-were (well Game Faction, the developers are from the UK, so I know they refer to us Americans as being across the pond, I don’t know if we’re, as Americans are allowed to say it, but still I’m over here, and they are over there, so I guess that should be ok, right?) and the games voices are from the UK (British), I might not be able to detect voice acting that’s not quite as good as someone in the UK can, however from this end they sounded great. The music is adequate, and I found that sometimes the music would over power the voices. I suspect I could change that with the options menu though, so it’s not a biggie.
Overall, this game is fun, even for me, who’s never really played many real-time strategy games before. Once you get over learning the interface, you’re good to go! There are 10 levels and 20 challenges in the full version and it’s only for Windows.
Final Analysis: Top notch presentation, graphics, and sound, fun game play, and independent makes this a must have for anyone looking for awesome indie games.
Name: Project Aftermath
Developer: Games Faction
Price: $9.99 (USD, apparently it is showing price appropriate to me as I am in the US) – which is a very good price.
Where you can get it: Download Demo Here (be warned the demo is about 250 megs which is pretty hefty if you don’t have broadband, purchase the game Here.
Tags: fun, game, games, Games Faction, independent, Indie, point'n'click, review, reviews, Shooter, strategy, windows
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