Super Hexagon is a game where I can say it’s barely that; in fact, it’s a game you might quit in less than one minute. I don’t know what the designers were thinking, but this game is so hard that it becomes no fun in less than 5 minutes. You are just a triangle rotating around a circle, trying to find your way through gaps in a giant hexagon that closes in on you. I couldn’t get past 28 seconds of survival, and that was after I memorized every stage and died about 50 times.
That’s really all I can say about this game, because it’s hardly a game at all. The graphics are so simple, with just basic colors and shapes; the only praise I can give this game is the awesome 8-bit soundtrack. The game requires memorization and super-fast-twitch reflexes to win. It doesn’t help that there are only hard difficulties; there is nothing easy to start out with. It doesn’t help that the visuals will give you a headache in less than 10 minutes, and it just hurts your eyes. I like the fact that the game is trying to be challenging, but I’m glad I didn’t pay much for this game.
With that said, I really can’t recommend this to many people unless you are seriously hardcore, but the majority of players will uninstall it in less than 5 minutes. Why play a game that takes over 20 minutes of practice just to advance past the 30-second mark? I honestly don’t understand why this game was even made or what audience it was supposed to be for. I really can’t say much else about this game because there just isn’t anything there to say; it’s hardly a game as it is.
8-bit style games are growing in popularity, and Bit.Trip has been delivering excellent games for quite a while now. Runner was my favorite in the series, but it was relentlessly hard, even early on. Runner 2 fixes these issues by making levels more fluid and by adding a checkpoint halfway through. The game is mostly the same, but with added obstacles and better graphics.
The game plays roughly the same as the last one. Watch Commander Video and his pals run to the right while you jump, kick, and dance your way to the end of the level. Some added obstacles are a four-way diamond where you need to press the corresponding button when you get to each corner. Another obstacle is a loop-de-loop, where you use the right analog stick to follow your character as he runs inside. Various obstacles are introduced as the game progresses, and by the end, you need to be quick and have all these memorized as soon as they pop up. I actually never felt overwhelmed by having to remember too many abilities; it felt just right. Levels have you ducking, jumping, using your shield to block flying blocks, kicking stop signs, and even kicking some in the air while sliding. The abilities are timed to a catchy 8-bit soundtrack that is even better and richer than the last game. As you move along, there are gold bars to collect as well as red plus blocks that add a track to the music as you move along.
These elements are what everyone loved in the first game, and they stayed in this one, but the game is just more forgiving. Honestly, it was more fun because I never even got to the second level in the first game. Runner 2 features bosses at the end of each level that are pretty fun and very challenging. There’s a new path feature for levels that changes the difficulty depending on which path you choose. Red and green arrows will point to which path is which; the red path usually has hidden chests that unlock costumes as well as retro cartridges. These 25 retro levels are actually in 8-bit, like they were ripped straight from an NES game. Very charming and fun to play.
You also score by doing everything in the game. Dancing is one ability that adds 2,000 points with each move. I just found the whole game very addicting and couldn’t put the controller down. Rarely did I find a spot where I was stuck, and even rarer were there occasions where the game’s own design got in the way. I would fly by something so fast that I would die several times before realizing what was going on and what I had to do. The whole game is just super fun, challenging, and very rewarding. If you get all the gold bars and the 4 red plus signs in the level, you get to shoot yourself out of a cannon at a target to get a Perfect+ score. Very challenging, but fun.
The graphics look amazing, with each of the five levels being unique. My favorite was The Bit. Trip, which was level 5. You can see other Bit.Trip games being played in the background as you run along. My biggest disappointment was the lack of extra characters. There are five, but what about Super Meat Boy and other characters from the last game? I wanted more honesty. The PC version at least gets a little extra flair with depth of field and slightly better lighting effects. This is just one artistically stunning game.
Overall, Runner 2 keeps what everyone loved in the last game and adds a lot more depth and more layers of fun while being more forgiving. There are lots to collect and a ton of challenges to complete while you play. There are a few levels that were hampered by their own design flaws, and I just wish there were more unlockable characters.
I’m not much of a kart racing fan because the games tend to be too simple and easy, but Transformed really knocks it out of the park. The last Sonic Kart Racer was just okay; it had a slow pace, and it just wasn’t designed very well. This game really surprised me with its excellent graphics, track design, and character selection.
The obvious are Sega mascots such as Sonic, Amy, Shadow, Robotnik, Alex Kidd, and various others. While any of these guys outside of Sonic aren’t well known, it is nice to see them here. PC users get exclusive characters such as Football Manager (I know), Team Fortress, and Shogun (I know… Not exactly amazing characters you would want in a kart racer, but oh well. When you start your first race, you will immediately see how much better this game is. The handling is so much more fluid, and the races just flow. What really sells the game are the tracks that change mid-race and are able to transform into flying and nautical vehicles. Each character has three different vehicles, and it just feels great. They all handle things differently, so it makes you stay on your toes. The track design is amazing. There are hazards everywhere, and the weapons are really cool. The tracks are featured in various games, like Sonic’s Green Hill Zone and Samba De Amigo’s crazy LSD track. These levels are fun, but I just wish there were more.
The weapons vary from iceballs, twisters, remote cars that explode, rockets, blowfish, and various other crazy weapons. You pick up the question-mark capsules to find them, but you will find an All-Stars weapon that will make you really powerful and fast. Your car transforms, and it just looks really cool. Along the way, you can pick up coins that are used in other modes’ load screens in a slot machine to acquire boosts and other items. I just found the game to be very pleasing to play, but not with a single player. Easy was too easy, medium was too hard, and hard was impossible. The AI is really bad, but people play kart racing games for multiplayer anyway, which is where all the fun is to be had in this game. Unlike the last game, PC gamers get online multiplayer.
The graphics are really nice, with bright, vibrant colors, great-looking textures, and some really amazing lighting effects. Of course, the PC gets the best treatment, and it looks way better than the last game. As you play the game, you will eventually find tracks that become your favorites and find which character you prefer. The dynamically changing tracks just add that much more fun to the game. Hitting speed boosts, finding weapons, and avoiding track hazards are so much fun, and the sense of speed is incredible.
I just wish there was a bit more, but while there is more content than in the last game, I feel something is just missing. Maybe if the AI wasn’t so bad, the single-player would be more fun, but I found myself getting bored with it. The only reason to constantly come back is multiplayer. There is a licensed feature that allows you to add up to three stickers that you earned, but I felt this was completely useless and something to put in for little kids. However, as it stands, it doesn’t add anything significantly new to the genre or push it forward, which is what it needs. While it may not reinvent the wheel, it just makes it bigger and louder.
I never really heard of Ian Livingstone’s Fighting Fantasy novels. I just ran across this on Google Play one day and was instantly immersed. This is a text-based adventure with some RPG elements thrown in. Think of this as a pick-your-own adventure with dice. Thankfully, the game handles most of the tedious work for you, like keeping track of items, stamina, and other stats. The story is really intriguing because of how mysterious the whole setting is. You play as a man who is captured and taken to a secluded castle. You later find out that people are being turned into zombies to become part of some crazy guy’s personal army. These aren’t just regular zombies and are a bit smart, as you will find out in the story.
When you get to a certain spot, you can choose to go in different directions; however, some have consequences and rewards. I found that going into a bedroom scored me a few medkits, some items, and maybe a weapon. Some paths lead to dead ends, and you have to restart at your last bookmark. This is very exciting, and I couldn’t put the game down. There are a lot of key items in this game, probably too many, and this is one fatal flaw the game has. I didn’t buy a steel pulley at the very beginning of the story, and it was a key item I needed. Near the end, I had to restart the entire book, which was very tedious and frustrating. I even tried other paths, but they all led to this path.
When you run into zombies, you have to fight. You can either use your weapon or a grenade. You roll the dice, and if you don’t like the roll, you can shake the device until you get the role you want. Some may consider this cheating, but if this feature wasn’t here, you would restart constantly. Some fights required a certain number or higher to defeat the enemy, and some scenes require you to roll to determine whether you survive said event. This is also exciting and makes things tense. However, there is one main issue that almost completely ruins the game. You have to kill all the zombies in order to finish the story. I got to the very end, and it said I didn’t kill them all, and my adventure is over. Huge bummer, and I felt like the book was a waste of time. I went back through them again and just couldn’t figure out how to kill them all. This was a huge mistake on the author’s part.
Other than that, the story is great, but I wish there were more characters. The art is excellent, and the dice-rolling gameplay is exciting and can get tense. I did find the music to repeat through the whole book and get annoying. I will check out more Fighting Fantasy novels, and hopefully I won’t run into an issue where I can’t finish it.
Everyone is so used to games with explosions, gore, death, and spoken dialog that we have lost touch with what games are truly designed for. There have been very few games that tell a story as a book or painting would, with no words and nothing but pictures. The only game that I feel comes close to Journey is Shadow of the Colossus. Games have the advantage of adding music and sound that are missing from books and paintings. Music and sound can trigger emotions in humans that no other type of stimuli can. Journey is one such game that uses only visual cues and sound to deliver a sad tale and a magical experience.
This game is like no other; you don’t mess with options, controls, settings, or anything like that. You just start the game, and bam, you’re there. You just wonder; there is no compass, no mini-map, and no annoying narrator to tell you where to go. Just go and trust your instincts and senses. As you wander around the desert, you will naturally go where you see something of interest. This vast desert looks endless, like the Sahara, and feels that way. You only have one ability, and that is to glide, but the length of your scarf determines how long you can jump and glide. This is your only ability. The Wanderer will hop up on small ledges automatically, but during your first level, you will just go. That’s all there is to this game. Just…go. When you do get to the end of the area, you are told a sad story using hieroglyphs. Like a book, you figure out what is happening and going on in this story.
Once you get the hang of everything in the first level, you just keep going. The music in Journey helps deliver the emotions and senses that drive the spiritualism of the game. The music is touching and one of the best-orchestrated game soundtracks I have heard since The Elder Scrolls. The music is magical and just hits home and delivers all the emotion of the game. The best parts of the game are when you are sliding down the sand, having the music kick up to a climax, and letting the visual experience just soak in. Nothing can express this more than watching a magical world come to life in 1080p. This is really one of the most beautiful games I have ever seen.
There are a few gameplay elements, like finding secrets here and there and power-ups, but Journey has been one of the most interesting uses of online play since Demon’s Souls. You will sometimes run into another Wanderer, just like you, but there is no other way to communicate other than the echolocation you use to bring fabric to life in the game. You use this to help each other out, and because of the lack of human interaction, it forces gamers to actually help and experience this touching story with each other. No mics, no text chat; there isn’t even a name above the character; they just appear. If you spot a rare white-cloak player, they will probably help you find all the secrets in the game. My second favorite moment is when you are running away from the giant monster thing that flies in the air and targets you. The dark atmosphere, foreboding sound effects, and care for The Wanderer just add so much tension. I never felt so scared for a character in a game when running from a boss.
The graphics are also technically impressive, pushing the PS3 to its limits. Journey uses a very technically advanced sand displacement technology that no other developer has used. Naughty Dog actually asked that game company for help on how they did the sand displacement for use in Uncharted 3. Naughty Dog needed to use this technology without degrading graphics quality or using up all CPU resources on just the sand. The lighting effects are also amazing and some of the best I have seen on consoles. This game almost looks like a DirectX 11 game on PC with advanced lighting techniques. The game is just gorgeous and has to be played to be understood.
The only issue with Journey is that you can beat it in less than 2 hours. Sure, there is a boss that you run from at the end, and you can die, but the game is just way too short. This, of course, allows you to go back and experience the game again and find the secrets, but I would have loved to see this as a 4+ hour adventure. I have never played a game that drew me into the world as much as Journey, but it wasn’t just the atmosphere. The fact that you are completely disconnected from the world means that you have to use your own imagination to help paint the rest of the picture. I hope that game company has more under its belt for Journey, and if this is it, it will go down in history.
Scribblenauts is one of those games that is just fun, no matter what age you are. Solving puzzles by using your imagination just spells fun for anyone. Unlimited tries to throw in an open-world feel, which doesn’t feel so open and has almost every item you can imagine in there. The problem with Unlimited is that it is literally unchanged with no new features, and that is a huge letdown. Still worth a playthrough, though.
There is a bit of a story about Maxwell and his sister, who have parents who have a magic journal and pen. You can create anything with this, but one day Max uses it for bad on an old man. He puts a curse on his sister to turn her to stone unless he does good for people and collects Starites to free her. It’s a bit touching at the end and pretty cute, but nothing will wow you. The story is fine and works for the game. Once you are set free, you use your special vision to find people at each level who need help. They will appear gold, and the main puzzles will have blue stars above them.
The people outside the main puzzles just require items to solve their dilemmas. You will read your clue at the bottom of the screen and try to solve it. Most logical things work like a ghost that doesn’t feel scary enough. Click on him and write in the adjective box “scary,” and you solve the puzzles. It seems pretty simple, but there’s such a variety (over 100 in all) that it is just plain fun. I spent 2-3 hours in one sitting just flying through the puzzles, but then you get the snafus, which kind of ruins it all. Some puzzles won’t accept logical solutions, or you get a bad hint. The secondary puzzles don’t get additional hints like the main puzzles. The best thing is to get other people to help you who have a fresh thought process on it.
Overthinking puzzles will probably make you the most frustrated in the game, so it is a good idea to come back. Most main puzzles are pretty wacky and fairly simple and easy. For example, one area has you making dishes for certain people. A gamer comes in and wants pizza, so you add three ingredients. Easy. Another comes in and wants to eat a phoenix. Pretty weird, but ok. Add feathers, a beak, and wings, and you’re done. The last one wanted to eat a motorcycle, so I added a tire, gas tank, and engine. It was very strange, but very simple, and it was fun coming up with all this stuff. There are a few that are challenging and require some minor platforming and timing, but there aren’t many. You can finish the story in just a few hours, but getting 100% is fun.
Scribblenauts still has colorful graphics with paper cutout-style visuals, and it looks nice. The physics have been improved, but overall, the game is just pure fun. Sure, it may be really easy, but there are those puzzles where you just won’t get it or won’t take logical solutions. The biggest issue is that there is literally nothing unchanged from past games. The UI may have changed for PCs, but that’s about it. I wanted to see some mini-games or an actual adventure where you have to think about objects to get you from one end of the level to the next using objects. What’s here is fun, but maybe not for $30.
The Walking Dead has been a gripping and highly entertaining adventure game thus far, so now that the season finale is here we can see how every choice you made stacks up. Thankfully choices have impacted things throughout the series instead of stacking them up for the end. A few from each episode will affect this episode, but I have to say that this episode is extremely heart-wrenching and the most shocking of them all, not to mention the shortest.
Lee and your surviving gang are on their way to save Clem from a mysterious man who snatched her up. They leave their boat behind for a bit to go find her, but things go completely downhill because the zombies are in the thousands and not to mention all the shocking moments that lead up to the end. Something happens every 20 minutes or so that will make you set your controller down and take a breather and say, “How did that happen?!” That’s how great this series is. Each character is memorable and you will either love them or hate them depending on your choices. The system Telltale set up is so organic and smooth that you don’t really notice your choice caused this until you really think. That is excellent game design, but I will take some time to address issues that I have held off until now.
Firstly, the graphics are pretty dated which I mentioned in the first episode. The art style looks like the comics, but the graphics are about 7 years old. There are hitches and stuttering often which never got addressed. Each episode is extremely short, but this one clocks in at just a measly hour. Why this is a stand-alone episode is beyond me, they could have just made this series four episodes. The pacing is also all over the place. Episode 2 was probably the most disappointing of them all, and Episode 4 was lacking in the shocking moment department. There’s also no challenge in the game with this just being an interactive experience. This is one of my favorite adventure games of all time, but I would like to see some serious upgrades in Season 2.
With all that said Episode 5 ends on a cliffhanger and who knows when we will find out what’s happened next. After seeing how successful this series is I’m sure Season 2 will start pouring out through next year starting in spring. Episode 5 is very touching and after you finish the game you will realize that Season 2 will start with a whole new cast of characters. As it stands Episode 5 delivers a great ending and you really feel satisfied with your journey through Savannah and will sit back and wait for Season 2.
XCOM was a popular turn-based strategy game back in the ’90s, and everyone was surprised by how well this game turned out. Enemy Unknown keeps the series vibe and atmosphere updated to today’s standards. Enemy Unknown is one of this year’s best strategy games, but there is one reason why most people will never complete this game: It is too damn hard. Not the fun and challenging type of hard, but the kind that makes it impossible to move on no matter how well equipped your soldiers are.
The game does a very good job of introducing new things to you as you move on. The UI is very simple and uncomplicated, but pretty deep. You get to see a cut-a-way of a military base, and you can click on each department. Research is where everything starts. By gathering all intact materials from missions, you can research new things like weapons, armor, satellites, and various other things. Engineering is where it is all made and upgraded, as well as keeping track of other buildings. Workshops, laboratories, generators, hangars—all these things determine how fast you can upgrade and how you become more powerful. The barracks are where you can equip your squad’s loadout, upgrade soldiers, hire new ones, etc. Finally, there are the situation room and the command center. Here you can advance the days until you run into missions, trade alien parts on the black market, and view how in distress the world is. It is all very simple and almost revolutionary in design because most strategy games are Excel sheet-based and are pretty complicated and hard to navigate.
Once you assign things to engineers and do research, you can advance the days until you run into something, such as a UFO sighting. When this happens, you scramble your jets, and depending on how good the equipment you gave them is, they’ll take it down. Most of the time, you will run into abduction scenarios where you eliminate all hostiles or have to rescue someone. When this happens, you get a choice as to what country to help. Each one gives you a reward, such as money, scientists, engineers, or other items. Usually, you pick the one that’s in distress the most because if you don’t, they will remove themselves from the XCOM operation, and if they all withdraw, it’s game over. Once you go into battle, this is where you see how hard this game gets.
Each soldier gets two moves. The area around them is blue, which means that’s one move, and yellow, which means it takes both moves to get there. Performing an action takes one move, and that is usually shooting alien scum. All soldiers start out as regulars with assault rifles until after their first mission and they rank up. The class is chosen randomly, which I really hate because you can be stuck with five snipers and just one assault guy. When you are ready to shoot, you will see how accurate your shot is. Once all turns are taken, it’s the alien’s turn. This back and forth is normal for strategy games, but the objectives you are given, or the difficulty of aliens, are absurd and completely unfair. You will shoot down some small grays and get through a few thin men. Maybe you will lose 2 or 3 guys in the process, and then four freaking Mutons will show up and wipe the rest of you out in one turn. Or don’t forget the damn spider things that can turn your squadmate into a zombie in one hit. This gets frustrating because every mission is like this. I rarely got through any unless it was on an easy-difficulty mission.
This would be ok if it were during main missions, and you could go back and grind a bit to get better equipment, but you have to do that with every single mission. You fail almost more than you succeed, such as by losing so many soldiers. Once a soldier dies, they are dead forever and won’t come back. Once you lose a fully ranked soldier, you have to start from scratch again with a new guy. It is completely unfair in a game this difficult. In most missions, you will be lucky if you get out with 2 or 3 guys, but you are probably thinking that’s because I stink at the game. I would restart and try all different strategies, and nothing would work. The whole point of the game is to take cover and never be out in the open. Once you advance and are just standing there, you’re dead. The fog of war doesn’t help when you run around the map trying to figure out where all the enemies are. Forget a rescue mission where you have to save a certain amount. Saving 5/25 people is a lot harder than it sounds. All 20 will die before you get to your third guy. This game is just a nightmare, and not in a fun way.
That doesn’t make the game bad, though. There are a lot of great research projects that have a huge impact on everything you do. You have to decide carefully about what you want, or you’re screwed. You get a very limited amount of money every month, and you have to stretch it. I found this a bit unfair as well, because there’s no compromise. Even if just one element was easier, it could make this game more tolerable. As it stands, I had this game for over a month and barely got 25% through the game before I gave up. Spending 45 minutes on a mission and then dying at the end is just ridiculous. Reloading quick saves doesn’t always work, either because you realize you forgot to equip someone with a medkit or because you need to be more accurate on certain missions and forgot to equip scopes. This game is just a pain.
The production values are at least nice, with great-looking aliens and some decent voice acting, but overall, this game requires extreme patience more than skill or brainpower. The game is well done with intense battles, but maps repeat often, the camera is screwy where it zooms out of buildings, and the graphics are a bit underwhelming. The main thing is the extreme difficulty, which practically ruins the game. I have never played such a hard strategy game before, but there’s someone out there who will like this.
Now that we are almost done with this series, I am sad that the next one will be it. Episode 4 sees the gang trying to get on a boat and out of Savannah, Georgia, but things don’t go as planned. There are a bunch of new characters this time around, but most are hard to care for because they make brief appearances. By this point, most or a little of your gang will be with you, but this episode is mainly lacking the suspenseful choices like in the last one. We get bigger areas to explore, a little more action, and finally, a ton of zombies.
The series has been lacking any zombies lately and has just dealt with internal turmoil, but Episode 4 skirts this and brings the gang back to realizing that the zombies are the real threat here. There’s a strange calm before the storm within the group; the conversations are tense and borderline everyone going postal on each other. I found that there was a lack of gameplay here and that it focused more on delivering a story, but that is ok in this series. There is more action with some zombie shooting, action-oriented puzzles, and larger areas to explore. I sat through the whole episode in one go because it was so intense and entertaining. You always want to know what is going to happen next.
The new characters are hard to really like except Molly because of her shady personality. The new guys are brief and seem pretty generic. I really don’t care for Christa or Omid, who we met at the end of the last episode. Christa is selfish, and Omid is boring and just seems useless. What grows even more are the characters you have right now from the original group. Clementine and Lee’s relationship really blossoms here, and their trust will be tested.
This episode is just a mishmash of everything from the past ones: lots of zombies, action, large areas, new characters, and tense conversations, but nothing very serious. What has stayed the same throughout is the constant, intense atmosphere that makes you stay in the game, and you never want to quit until it’s over. This is my favorite adventure series of all time. The game puts you in control just enough to make you feel like you made all the important choices. The game has been built up to the climax, and the cliffhanger ending here is so abrupt and so sudden that you just hang your end, knowing you have to wait another month or two for the last episode. This is just like a good TV series, but better.
I have to admit that I passed this one by as another ridiculous mobile game for kids. This game is one of the most fun I have ever had on a phone. The fast pace and perfectly balanced difficulty make you want to never put this game down. I got all three apples at every level in just a few playthroughs and desperately wanted more. That is how you make a good mobile game.
You play a granny who is chasing down a little boy dressed as a thief. You have to jump, zip line, and somersault your way through each level to collect every apple. Along the way, you get to collect coins, which you can use to buy banana peels, baseballs, and helmets. The helmets shorten your recovery time when you fall, and the other two slow down the little boy when thrown. The basic gameplay is simple yet addictive. One button is used to jump, but if you hold it, you will front-flip, which also makes you jump farther. It was very smart on the developer’s part to do this. The coins are your guideline on where to jump and what to do. Also very smart. I never got stuck because I didn’t know what to do or how to get to an area. The platforming gets a bit trickier with zip-lining and having to use momentum and physics to get around.
Each level is less than a minute long, but you have to do them flawlessly to stay ahead of the boy and get each apple. The level design is very clever, and there’s a nice balance between all the levels. I found that there were a few frustrating sections, but I eventually got past them and mastered the levels. The game is just so fast-paced with the flips, slides, jumps, and zip lines. The fact that you can get every apple and complete every level makes you want to not put the game down. This game wants you to beat it, and it feels really great.
Granny Smith is well worth the $1 and probably even more. More levels are coming soon, but what is here is some seriously addictive and fast-paced fun. I haven’t had this much fun with a mobile game in a long time, and that’s saying a lot. My biggest complaint is probably that you can only buy three items with your coins, and there aren’t enough levels or characters to play as. These are minor issues that don’t really hinder this excellent game.
thebinarymessiah.com 
Try multiplayer. A lot of fun !