Archive for May, 2009

Triumph of Time by Muku

Monday, May 25th, 2009

MiniReview6SS Here’s an interesting and original game.  It’s called the Triumph of Time by muku for the Ludum Dare 48 hour compo #14.  Place pylons around a sun to build up barriers against a purple anti-matter cloud.  The only thing that can stave off this onslaught of the ‘purple cloud’ are particles through each of the barriers using the pylons.  The only way to get the particles is by placing pylons around a sun.  Place pylons by left clicking.  Space to pause/un-pause.  You can also scroll and zoom.  The graphics are somewhat abstract but makes you think of older games that didn’t have the graphics power.  I could see this game run on old consoles and computers if the author chose to write it for them.  There’s some background music, but apparently not really any sound.  The version I played was the post-competition version, where the author added a tutorial mode and a level editor.  The thing is very very simple to play but is also very difficult to master.  I couldn’t even finish the first tutorial level.  Thankfully, the first actual level is a little more forgiving, probably because of the shape of the game board which can differ from level to level.  I still didn’t “win’” in the sense of actually accomplishing the goal of the level (save 60 quadrants) but I did manage to save something like 35 or 36.  If he could ramp the difficulty way down I think it would be a really fun game.

Name: Triumph of Time

Developer: muku

Bunny Press by Notch

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

MiniReview5SS

Bunny Press by Notch is actually quite an original and fun game.  Essentially you want to get to the goal, except, you have one or more ‘advancing walls of doom’.  You have bunnies lots of bunnies.  You also have boxes and boulders (or cannon balls or ball bearings or marbles or bowling balls or [insert perfect spherical device here].  Sometimes there are carrots in the way and you have to cause the bunnies to eat the carrots to get you through the tight spaces.  Sometimes you need a key.  Sometimes they are so thick they impede your progress and you need to use them round things to squash the bunnies to help you get through.  All in the name of Science.  Actually just kidding about the science part.  The bunnies and your character get squished by spikes, and the bunnies by the boulders with blood splatters and stains on the ground.  It’s not gross though as it’s cartoony and comical.  The game is quite fun.  Use the arrow keys to move.  There’s flash and downloadable versions of it, I played the flash version which includes a level reset button, which I guess the downloadable (or compo) version doesn’t include.  Still it’s a fun game, and you should try it.

Name: Bunny Press

Developer: Notch

Preview: G.W.A.T. review

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

GWATSS01 Just so you don’t feel as though I had dropped the ball, I’m going to give a little preview of my upcoming review for the game G.W.A.T.  by Westcoast-Games(west coast of England I believe). My first impression: I’m sorry to say, it’s not a good one.  Firstly the demo installer installs to your desktop.  And you can’t just pick any folder to put it into. Also it takes way to long to start up. That was the first strike against it.  Secondly I couldn’t just start playing it, as there was no tutorial to tell me what I should be doing.  That was the second strike.  I had to actually pull out the manual.  Third strike was an un-intuitive interface.  You need to use WASD which is only proper for games that use the mouse as a secondary controller (ala mouse look).  You also need to use the numpad with numlock on.  I read this and didn’t think and used the numbers at the top of the keyboard and wondered why I wasn’t doing anything.  I was skimming and thinking “Oh, 0-9, got it.”  It would have been better if the demo had an instruction screen.  It would also have been nice if you could move with the numpad with or without numlock and change weapons and items with the regular number keys.  There is one point for it though, and that is you can modify the controls to your liking.  I will still be doing a full review for Tuesday and maybe once I’ve read the manual I’ll have better luck and have a better experience.