Posts Tagged ‘reviews’

G.W.A.T. (Gratuitously Weird Automated Toys) – bot vs bots?

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

May26 What’s the world’s fascination with bots?  Do we see a future where most machines will take over tasks we find mundane, boring, or dangerous.  Or Tiny droids that will enter our bodies and repair us or augment us?  Virtual pets or companions where the real thing is just not practical or safe?  All these things and more.  I think we’re mostly in convenience.  So what are the main sources of bot love?  Firstly Star Wars, with those loveable droids C-3PO and R2-D2.  Ever since the late 70’s they’ve been ingrained into our consciousness.  Movies, cartoons, toys, even cereal has had these two little guys.  We can hardly think of a world without them.  Secondly, the Japanese.  Their love of technology has spearheaded efforts to make robots, walk, talk, and even think, and inspired the world’s culture.  Granted things like Transformers was a Japanese and American co-creation, there’s no doubt about the influence the Japanese had on them.  In fact it was a Japanese toy line that some guys from Hasbro bought, and based a whole franchise around.  Okay with that spirit I present my next review for a game called G.W.A.T. which stands for a Game Without A Name.

What I think of it:  GWAT needs a lot more work done on it before it can be thought to be fun. Edit:  After playing it a little bit more I started getting the hang of it.  It’s not really a bad game, but there are some things that could be improved.  More after the break.

The Break.

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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.

(ags) Ben Jordan Case 3 – Something witchy this way comes!

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

May20 Today is another Ben Jordan adventure game!  Wow, Ben Jordan seems to be getting a lot of cases under his belt now.  The Skunk Ape, the lost galleon of the Salton Sea and now his third adventure, The Sorceress of Smailholm.  I keep wanting to say Snail home but Smailholm it is.  This time it takes place in Scotland… oooh spooky Scotland, land of Highland Flings, Caber-tossing,  and the most horrifying thing of all HAGGIS! (No offense to the Scottish but I think minced sheep heart, lungs and liver with oatmeal, suet, and onions boiled in an animals stomach is pretty darn scary!)  Since I am going to be revising the format a bit, I should start by saying what I think of it.  So here it is. 

What I think of it:  It doesn’t seem much different than case 2 in graphics and design, however an interesting story coupled with a “competitor” for Ben Jordan makes up for that.  Ben Jordan’s 3rd case is fairly solid.  Details after the break.

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