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Friday, January 25, 2013

Robota: Lost beta (PC, 2012)


Robota is an exploration game. Like in Jetpac you're marooned in an alien world and must collect fuel to get the hell out of there. Apart from a few words at the beggining and at the ending, though, nothing else is spoken. What is left then, is a Dear Esther sort of game where, though, a certain number of things made it, imo, a superior experience. While the game is, neither technologically nor artistically as beautiful as DE, it is much more stylized. There's a visual filter that simulates the view from inside your helmet that gives a superb sense of otherworldliness that is taken to incredible heights by the absolutely perfect soundtrack.
The fact that you have the possibility to wander freely around the planet might make it less photogenic than DE's tunnel-vision, but the gift of freedom, pacing and finding small details yourself, instead of being taken there by a corridor is much more satisfying. Apart from this, the fact that there is an objective in finding the 4 cans of fuel (even if it's "stupid" from a logical standpoint), does give the minimal challenge to make this a "proper" game.

The game is still in beta stage, but can be tried out here: http://www.indiedb.com/games/robota-lost

Balloon Diaspora (PC, 2011)


Balloon Diaspora is a short adventure game, with a very strong taste of the whimsical and ethereal.
You play a traveller in a weird land where this sort of stick figures live. The "game" has absolutely no challenge, as all the interaction you can do is talking to the various characters. After having talked to everyone about everything, you have nothing else to do. This, however, is missing the point completely. While it's far from being a masterpiece, it does succeed in taking the player to a foreign world and explore the weird culture of these stick-people. The game sports 4 different locations, and travelling between them you get a skippable sequence where you can ride the balloon. There is always darkness with a shred of light, giving presence to the world.
Above all, this is an experience in immersion, which it surprisingly succeds in a game with no character animation. It just establishes the game-rules so well, that you're really immersed beautifully in it for this short ride.

Download free here: http://cardboardcomputer.com/games/balloon-diaspora/

Black Box (browser, 2012)


Black Box is a short puzzle game in the vein of Windosill where you explore the titular box. While the concept is certainly clear and simple, it never ceases to feel inventive and endearing. The "action" takes place in a single screen as you watch your actions take place in progressive transformations. It can be quite challenging, but the fact that everything you need is there makes it impossible to feel cheated.
Impossible not to recommend as it's kawaii art-style really makes it a very lovely puzzle you'll definitely want to explore.


The game isn't free to play until the end but you can get a taste of it here: http://www.fr.eyezmaze.com/2012/07/black-box.html

Resonance (PC, 2012)


Resonance is the latest game from independent adventure game publisher Wadjet Eye, who over the years has put out the likes of The Shivah, Gemini Rue, Primordia and the Blackwell games. This game is an s-f adventure where you'll get to control up to 4 characters.
The gameplay is aided by a very straightforward interface with left-click for action and right-click for looking, and 3 inventory slots (one for objects, and one each for short-term and long-term memories). This "memories" interface gets to be clever and annoying at the same time. At its best, it lets you ask other characters about plot-points or specific background objects for clues or progressing, but when you're stuck you'll find yourself trying to put everything you see in your short-term memory folder so you can see if that was what you needed to ask about.
Some of the puzzles are really quite clever and never fall in the "slider" or "jigsaw" pattern, giving great variety. They can be however, quite challenging, but never overwhelming. One of the problems of the 4 character interface is that, while it is easy to change characters and have them trade objects between them, there is something of a loss of abstraction when you need to do it, as I'll explain. While some of the characters have their specific uses (for instance only a police detective has clearance to access the city archive at the police-station, or a doctor to a morgue), they never communicate with each other regarding what they need, despite being very communicative outside of gameplay. This makes the player feel a bit like a puppetmaster who's just making characters get objects or go to places they had no reason to go to, if not for another character needing it, although in-game they never discussed it. Strangeness ensues due to only one character having a cell-phone, and never using it to call any of the other playable characters asking for things - this clearly was a missed opportunity and it definitely broke my sense of immersion.
The characters themselves are quite endearing although they're unfortunately stereotyped (computer geek, hot latina doctor, tough guy cop, black freelance journalist). With 4 characters in an indie game, it'd be hard to make them very fleshed out, but I felt just about enough was done. They're certainly all very well acted though, which definitely helps it take off to another level of presentation.
The graphic style has the classic looks that work quite well, with the animations being quite decent, and there being a lot of locations in the game (although with never more than 3 screens each, and not many objects to interact with).
The story has a science-fiction sheen to it, although it never translates into gameplay (you won't be battling robots or aliens, assuredly). It isn't mind-blowing (although there's an unexpected plot twist) but it was definitely very enjoyable. The music is decent but never extraordinary.
In all, this is a very good, very focused game. The gameplay has a certain feel of excellence, and it's really quite enjoyable to play. It just might be one of the best recent old-school type adventures.
Demo avaiable here: http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/resonance.html

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Journey Down: Over the Edge (2010)

 This is the original version review.
TJD:OTE is a classic point & click in the vein of the Lucas Arts games. You play a jamaican fella named Bwana who works at a gas station with his pal Kito. The characters are instantly likeable, and while the game is 2D, it seems to share more with Grim Fandango than Monkey Island. It exhudes a very classic vibe, much aided by its reggae soundtrack and weird character design. The story isn't, thus far, anything to write home about, but the script is reasonably well written and funny. The gameplay is classic and its puzzles aren't, generally, illogical, although some necessary items are hard to find.
Being part one of five, it isn't very long, but what's here is good solid adventure game, definitely one of the best freeware adventures around.

Return to Mysterious Island (PC, 2005)


This is a point & click adventure game where you're fixed to one spot but can rotate in 360º. You play Mina who gets stranded on what she finds out is the island from Jules Verne's book Mysterious Island (one of my favourites), while she was sailing around the world. For fans of the author, you'll find a lot of tips of the hat to not only this book, but also others of his books. Here, however, there's not really a story. You have to somehow survive and you have to pace yourself through objectives. First you'll need to find shelter, eat, etc as you gradually uncover the island's secrets. In the end, you'll have access to a span of locations around the island and that definitely feels like an achievement. The gameplay, while also using some classic puzzles (especially in the later sections) relies heavily on getting and combining items. This works exceedingly well in this type of scenario in which you have to "MacGyver" yourself out of situations over and over. The solutions are always logical and for most of them, various combinations of objects can be used for the same effect. There are some cutscenes which are presented in beautiful drawn stills but are mostly circumstancial.
The game is only let down by a slight futuristic twist at the end and by the main character, who is far to upbeat and happy go lucky in what should have been a far more distressing experience. Maybe this was intended as a reflection of the book but there's something a bit different between a teenager from the 2000s lost on an island and a bunch of rugged men from the 1900s in the same situation...
Overall, a great experience, and a true delight for inventory-puzzle fans.

Tiny Bang Story (PC, 2011)


What looks at first like a Machinarium clone is, unfortunately, a hidden object/puzzler game. While the art style is, effectively, a delight with incredibly clean lines and imaginative style, there's little gameplay here apart from trying to find barely visible objects, which take you through different areas. The puzzles are of the classic variety (Layton-esque) with some more arcade-like ones with Atari 2600-style graphics. Taken in its context... it's a good hidden object game, made better by its delightful and whimsical atmosphere. As a puzzle-adventure, it's incredibly poor, as what there is of a story is barely discernible.
The physical edition is a treat however, with a soundtrack CD, poster and an actual physical puzzle.

Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortal (PC, 2008)



This is a first person point & click adventure, where you advance through static screens, although you can rotate the camera in 360º. Despite this ancient structure the games does attempt to do a few things different. The game is divided through sort of episodes, relating to areas. These can feel quite confined and disjointed, and are a bit of a hindrance regarding the "megapolis" backdrop where the story is set. The main character is a rebel of sorts against the futuristic dictatorship cliché. There is, however a weird subplot as a mysterious pyramid hovers over Paris (where the game is set) and you discover that your father who you thought had died, lives. All through this, you'll meet egyptian gods who are a bit of the "Stargate" variety. As this description shows, the story is a mess and the script doesn't aid one bit. Alcide Nikopol, the main character, has no distinguishing features to speak of and barely meets other characters directly. The thought of a futuristic game set in Paris is promising, but here, with the very limited locales, and all in-doors, it's a dead miss. The game is an adaptation of renowned French comic book writer Enki Bilal's Nikopol trilogy, which I haven't read so I can't say how faithful it is. The graphic novel heritage is mostly displayed during the cutscenes that link the episodes of gameplay together, but otherwise it's hard to see.
The gameplay, while classic, does present some clever and enjoyable puzzles (although at times illogical), also including some more action-oriented sequences that work quite well, and add a novel sense of urgency and adrenaline that one seldom gets in an adventure game, like stealth-y sequences, sniping, etc.
In all, it's an interesting experience that does just about different to warrant interest. I certainly was expecting something worse, so I am quite happy with it.

Friday, January 11, 2013

subAtomic (2012)


subAtomic is a game made in 72 hours for a Ludum Dare competition. As such it's quite short and simple, yet full of charm. Most of this comes from its brilliantly anarchic writing, resembling something like a crazy brainstorm of ideas that somehow gets made into a game.
There aren't really any puzzles, and interactions are kept to a minimum. While the backgrounds are quite simplistic, the characters are reasonably well animated.
Definitely an inspirational and entertaining piece, well worth playing.





Get it free here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?uid=7835

Process (2012)



This is a first-person horror point & click made in Russia. You see yourself on a moving train and must uncover its secrets before the inevitability of a countdown dwindles down. While there are no easy frights, there's a great deal of atmosphere due to a successful use of lighting and sound. Even though the game is mostly static (although you can swirl around 360º, while rooted to the same spot), there is a sense of urgency brought about by the countdown. The gameplay itself, while not exactly being a "pixel"-hunter, is simple but, due to the dark atmosphere, makes some objects difficult to see. Even though, to be fair, that's probably the point, it does make you pretty much click everywhere in a panic to see what works and otherwise not fully appreciate the environment.
The game has very few locations and takes at most 20 minutes to beat in a single playthrough (any more and the game is over). There really isn't much text and what is there communicates well, which is seldom true in eastern europe-developed games. The game also exhudes a very clean, polished, feel which is quite surprising in a free game. In all, a well made short experience that should appeal to adventure and horror enthusiasts.









Get it free at: http://www.indiedb.com/games/process/downloads/process-english (Desura)

Teenagent (1995)


Being a faithful disciple of your Monkey Islands, Teenagent is a competent, entertaining and different adventure game. You play a teenager hired by an intelligence agency. The story is quite silly and unfolds over 3 main locations, each comprised of several screens. The puzzles are mostly inventory-based and you'll collect a wealth of items over the course of the game. They aren't, however, very simple, as they share Monkey Island's absurd logic, most of the time, making it hard to think of solutions. A sharp eye is definitely needed, and you might as well just try and combine everything.
The game has a very decent length and its dialogue, while not ascending to the heady heights of Lucas Arts, is quite well written. Furthermore there were no noticeable grammatical or spelling errors, despite its polish origins.



The game is avaiable for free at: http://www.gog.com/gamecard/teenagent/pp/a17554a0d2b15a664c0e73900184544f19e70227

Unmanned (2012)


Unmanned is the latest interactive piece by Molleindustria (of Every Day the Same Dream fame). Written by Jim Munroe (Guilded Youth), you play a father, husband and drone pilot. Gameplay consists of different episodes: one has you shaving your face, another playing FPS games with your son, and just choosing answers through the various conversations. After each episode you'll be awarded with badges depending on your performance. As with all of Molleindustria's games, though, what you get is a very intimate experience regarding what choices (by gameplay) you make. There is definitely something of the provocative here, and it certainly won't leave anyone unaffected.
A single game might turn out for just 5 to 10 minutes, but repeated playthroughs are needed to see everything. The game is well made with a distinctive art-style (something out of the Frederick Raynal book) and presentation. Hard not to recommend as a very intriguing and thought provoking experience.

Avaiable for play online or download here: http://unmanned.molleindustria.org/

Bientôt l'été / It's Nearly Summer (2012)

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The latest game from Tale of Tales is less of a game, like Vanitas and The Graveyard, and more of an exercise in reflexion. Right from the start its starting menu is a giveaway to how different this experience is, as you find yourself zooming through the stars and planets as a mysterious counter goes on and on. You get to decide the gender of your avatar (the man looking straight out of "Assassin's Creed" and the woman a "Laura"-lookalike) and you find yourself on a beach, looking out to sea. You're encouraged to walk along the seaside, and as you do, words, phrases pop out. The beach however, is not endless, and as you reach its matrix-like wall, you'll see the avatar of the opposite sex looking at you. Furthermore you can experience a sort of vision if you close your eyes facing one of the objects that might be in the beach (anything from a dead dog to a tennis court) and, when you tire of this, there's a cafe where you'll meet other players. Here, you'll use chess pieces (which you collect after each vision) to communicate. This is surely the best part of the game, as not only are you attempting to communicate with this other player using an avatar, but at the same time trying to understand more about the respective relationships. The meaning of this detachment and layering of communication is central to the unraveling of the mysteries in this game.
This is, in the end, a game about relationships (or a relationship), with, certainly, no straight answers, but rather an attempted dissection. The simulated reality, the communication-based chess game, and the necessary introspection are the basis of this experience. From here, one makes as one wilt. On this basis, it's probably the purest and most thought provoking multimedia art form I've encountered. (Meaning any sort of entertainment was chucked out the door!) Unfortunately, since it has hardly any engaging gameplay or narrative it's very hard to recommend if your mind is not set up for it. One way or another it's best experienced for just a couple of sessions at a time.
On the technical side, it is certainly a treat, with a glorious day and night cycle with great use of colour, changing tides and very realistic animations. The music, while minimalistic is spot-on, and is by Belgian composer Walter Hus.

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http://tale-of-tales.com/bientotlete/

The Kite (2012)

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This is a short point & click made in Ukraine. It certainly feels distinctive, especially due to its original art style and very rough translation. As such, the dialogue is exceedingly broken. You can guess that perhaps the original version would be more graceful, but still, this is a game that tries to impose its message, that of domestic violence and its consequences on children, in the rawest fashion possible. As such you play a mother who (for the most part) searches for her son (whose kite, from the title, is his favourite toy). While the art style is fresh and original and the score (all "Ludwig van") is quite adequate, the gameplay just didn't seem to click. While some of the puzzles were certainly interesting from a visual perspective, mechanically they just felt tremendously silly or even embarrassing in such a dark story. Perhaps the intention was to drive home the point of utter desperation but for all the sense of urgency the mother seems to exhude in the need to find her child they end up feeling extremely mechanical and contrived, to what should have been a more emotional response. On the other hand, the game is very short, taking between half an hour to an hour to finish depending on how well you do at puzzle-solving. Worth it for trying to tackle something different, but could certainly use more polish.

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It can be played here: http://www.indiedb.com/games/the-kite/d ... glish-v12e (Desura)

Guilded Youth (2012)


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This is a short and sweet text adventure. You're a kid who, with his BBS RPG guild pals, goes on a "real" adventure of their own in an abandoned mansion, in what is mainly a story about the follies and nostalgia of youth (if the retro look and feel weren't enough of a clue). Despite being a text adventure it does contain visual cues in the shape of your inventory and avatar. When you log in to the BBS, the display changes to a sort of Commodore-like presentation. The game, however, is extremely easy, making this on the level of little more than interactive fiction (there are very few commands, locations and objects). It does give you different endings depending on a final choice, allowing you to skip through to there, after you finish, so you can read the others. Nonetheless it is fairly entertaining and well-written, and well worth the time. It certainly has charisma and interesting characters. In all a well made short story.

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It can be played here: http://nomediakings.org/guildedyouth/

Minute Review: Beneath a Steel Sky (PC, 1994)


- A cult cyberpunk classic
- Interesting, well-written and humourous script



The first screen presents one of the two instances where you can get killed



- Richly characterized NPCs, who roam around the locations realistically

- Certain gameplay elements seem excessively ambitious and/or complicated
 Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons drew all background art


- Standard quality voice-overs and soundtrack
- A lot of screens, but they're generally repetitive

No willies.
 

- At times it's hard to know what you need to do
- A lot of going back & forth and up & down
























Stralia. Bloody heck.

A unique yet solid adventure game. Get it FREE: http://www.gog.com/gamecard/beneath_a_steel_sky

Minute Review: Broken Sword The Shadow of the Templars Director's Cut (PC, 2010)


- A classic, revisited
- Good voice-acting


The beautiful backgrounds alone tell half the story
- Variety of locations
- Puzzles while not complex sometimes use difficult logic


What kind of fun does a priest have? Nun!

- New edition solves old problems and extends the plot
- Humourous yet not entirely interesting script

 M...Mario?..

- Possibly the most streamlined point & click experience avaiable
- Animation can be fluid and hesitant in alternating instances


The cutscenes while very colourful, stand out for having different character designs

 The definite edition of a classic, the chance should not be missed to finally play it or get reacquainted.

Proteus (2012)

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Less of a game than an experience, Proteus is a delight to indulge in.
Without further explanation, you open your eyes in the middle of the ocean, with an island barely visible in the distance. Without nothing else around, you decide to reach for its shores. And thus, slowly but surely, silence grows into music. Thus you realise that as you explore this island your auditory senses get assaulted with little rhythms and musical lines - a veritable light synthesizer. While just going around a very decent-sized island as you hear the different voicings that come from rocks, trees or castles would be good enough, you start to realise the sun is setting, and in the night things change. You see fireflies, then perhaps some clouds will gather and rain will trickle down. And in the morning, rabbits (or frogs?) will hop around for you to follow, and you've been there for half an hour, creating a symphony, just by walking and exploring.
The only action you can take is actually sitting down and enjoying the world around you and, when you've had enough, you just close your eyes back again. It's a wonderful experience, and a wonderful musical toy.
http://www.visitproteus.com/

A Grain of Truth (2012)

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For a free browser game, this one reeks professionalism. Being the labour of two brothers, it really feels at home with the so called "modern adventure game" crowd. It presents a very dreamlike world, in a japanese style, dealing with floating stones, cloud gatherers and the like. Its puzzles mainly concern finding specific items hidden away, which would be a bit of bore were it not for a button that displays, for about 2 seconds, all the "clickable" spots.
Sadly, while the world is beautiful and soothing, there's something amiss. The characters you interact with are mainly dull and unremarkable. The puzzles, too classic and unoriginal. Its main original gameplay comes from the ability to learn words so you can use them later in a "fill-the-blanks" conversation. Problem is if you miss one you have to search frantically for what you're missing, all over the world.
The story in itself isn't anything to write home about, although midly enjoyable. The cast of characters is very small and just don't reveal enough of themselves for it to be worthwhile.
Overall, while the production values and graphical and stylistic detail is incredible for a free game, what lies beneath is a very undistinguished game. Still, it's free.
http://www.zamolski.com/agot/

The Shivah (2006)

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I had got this game ages ago, but troubleshooting games from Adventure Game Studio is always a pain, so I only sat to beat it now.
The main draw of the game, of course, is that you play a rabbi, Rabbi Stone, who somehow sees himself in the middle of a murdercase.
The gameplay is classic Lucas Arts style, although there's no interaction with objects. You mainly conduct your investigations through questioning (and there are a couple of instances that can cause you to get a "game over"), which almost always includes a "rabbinical response". spoiler:: Later on, in good old fashioned Monkey Island/Full Throttle style, there's even a bout of fisticuffs for the sharp tongues.

The puzzles themselves are often done through logging in a computer and searching for what you need (being that you need to figure out specific passwords, etc). The game boasts very few locations and characters so you can get stuck if suddenly you can't ask anything new or can't figure out what you need to do. On the other hand the game is very short, and can be finished in an hour (and much less with a walkthrough).
The soundtrack is quite good, with jazzy and jewish songs (israeli noir would probably be the apt description), but the voiceacting is the worst part. Thankfully the Rabbi himself, whom you'll hear the most, is the best one.
All in all, a very decent Lucas Arts-style game, with an interesting premise that emcompasses all the rabbinical honour code in its story. Being so short, the story ends up a little disappointing, but it presents some very interesting and certainly unique issues.
A demo is avaiable here: http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/the-shivah.html

The Sea Will Claim Everything (2012)


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This is an adventure game where you travel in a fixed perspective from screen to screen. Right at the start you're made aware that you, the character, aren't part of this world (the Land of Dreams) but instead get to see it through a screen. Therefore, the player-character doesn't have a personality, as you never ask questions directly, but choose answers from a list of topics as you talk to the dozens upon dozens of characters. The art-style, like in Kiratzkes earlier works is all hand-made drawings. It may not be to everyone's liking, but the sheer oddity and distinctiveness of it all, the bold use of colours you seldom get to see in games, make it a really original experience.
As for the gameplay, one can say it revolves almost, if not entirely around fetchquests. Of course you still have to think where you might find, or whom you might ask for certain items, and some of them will take a bit of time and skill to decipher. Later on there's also potion-crafting. The game is never hard as even though you rack up a really big number of things to do, they're all noted down on your journal so you don't forget it.
The big thing about the game though, is the sheer quantity of text you can go through, as every character (and there are really dozens of them) has a lot to say, painting you a very vivid picture of the world you're looking at. While talking to so many, and visiting so many places (later on you get a boat and get to go to various islands, all of them unique), the one trouble is sometimes remembering the names of the characters or what they wanted, but that ends up being a smaller detail.
The writing per se, is also surprisingly good, considering this is an indie game with a very short staff. In the hundreds of pages of text the game probably has I did not note any sort of grammatical mistake or miswording. Furthermore the game is peppered with little nods to literature, current events and (of course) Monty Python, but all in the subtlest of manners.
Finally, the music combines greatly with the settings. Even though it's basically the same in every area, it never feels grating (because there are a lot of different areas, and because hearing a new song is a big part of the feeling of discovery when you reach a new area).
The story is revealed gradually but its merits lie in the fact that, while the environment and characters are so otherwordly, the story isn't. In fact, it's the most current story I've read this year, and ends with a very positive message, which games seldom do.
It's also a very decent length for an independent adventure, and one who's going for $5 at that...
A demo is avaiable here: http://landsofdream.net/games/the-sea-w ... hing/demo/

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Minute Review: Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP (PC, 2012)



- Characteristic art style lends ambience and depth
- Simple gameplay 


There are a lot of hill-climbing and mouth opening antics

 - Very well animated
- Not always clear on what needs to be done

While fights carry the danger of death, they are heavily coreographed


- Sloppy, overindulgingly reverential script 
- Excellent soundtrack

This is where you start the dream world - the other side of the record

- Some secrets add layers to an otherwise small world
- At times, excessive wording takes away from what could have been a purer synthesis of sight & sound

If Nintendo's ever up for outsourcing Zelda again, they should ring these fellas.

An excellent experience that powers through its short-comings. One of the most unique adventures of recent years.
http://www.swordandsworcery.com/