The Pinball Arcade simulates the experience of playing on a variety of iconic tables about as accurately as possible (minus the atmosphere of actually being in an arcade, of course). I have mixed feelings overall about this title. While it does a good job representing the tables, the download (at least on PC) is way too large to justify the limitation of 2 available tables for free players. Note that I'm not complaining about the limitation itself, but I have the impression that the DLCs are technically already installed and are simply unlocked with purchase.
You can find my thoughts on other aspects of the title at 1:58:53 in the video above.
Palm Kingdoms 2 is a fun and free alternative to the classic Heroes of Might & Magic series. Explore the map to acquire spells and artifacts, claim locations, recruit an army and battle for castles! You can find my thoughts on the game at 3:50:01 in the video above.
Sol705 is a point-and-click adventure involving highschoolers, a local rock band, a talking cat and a story that's out of this world! It's surreal, brutally honest and definitely unique - you can find my thoughts on the game at 2:13:22 in the video above.
Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle puts you in the role of the machete-wielding slasher Jason Voorhees. Slaying every camper isn't always as easy as it seems, though. Jason only moves in a straight line as far as he can, stopping only when reaching an obstacle, person or the edge of the map. This unusual movement forms the basis of the game's puzzle mechanic, as only a specific pattern will let you get to every victim. You can find my thoughts on the game at 3:21:39 in the above video.
Gems of War is a Match 3+ puzzle RPG game with collectible cards, quests and more. Build a team and battle through PvE content or match up against other players' defenses. While available on Steam, XBone and PS4, this is a mobile port and the game is really more suited to casual mobile play. You can find my thoughts on the game at 3:05:42 in the above video.
Brave dangerous dungeons, menacing monsters and terrifying tropes in this comedic homage to tabletop RPGs!
Knights of Pen & Paper 2: Free Edition is a riotous romp through classic roleplaying fare. Your journey truly begins with a duo of fresh adventurers, though the intro features a wonderfully humorous encounter between a legendary beast and an overpowered hero. This opening scene is a perfect example of the comedy you can expect throughout the rest of the game.
Dragonslayers are here, but you have to earn that title!
I was asked to check out this update to AQ3D, and boy am I impressed! This dragon is pretty big, and holy crap it has special attacks! This is the type of stuff I was hoping they'd add, and I guess I got my wish! I've fought the raid mode dragon about seven times now and still haven't had a run without dying at least a couple times.
I'm not going to go into full detail of the recent updates, but I do have a short list. There's new story quests, dungeons and of course a raid version of the Akriloth fight. You can now earn the dragonslayer class, and several new craftable armor sets are available. There's also a slew of lava and draconic cosmetic items to further tweak your appearance.
There's some important storyline stuff that happens too, but I decided to avoid spoilers. Go check it out for yourself!
Beat up your friends (and everyone else playing) in this action card game!
Martial Arts Brutality is a digital card game that requires fast reflexes and manual dexterity in addition to traditional deckbuilding skills. You play as a warrior attempting to gain favor with the mystical Pai Mei (yes, the guy with the long white beard from Kill Bill) to learn the most powerful martial arts secrets.
I know, you probably thought this video was never coming.
My throat has been kind of messed up, so I kept putting it off in hopes that would change so I could record my voice. It turns out that between being sick and streaming 6 nights a week, this video wouldn't be getting done any time soon unless I tried something different. This is what I came up with, and I think it does the job while also showing off a fun time I had with my viewers.
I have to say that for a basic/casual MMORPG, I've been digging this one. It's perhaps the perfect game to introduce new players to the genre, or could be something fun to play while waiting for your main MMO to add new content!
Explore and escape the prison pyramid floating in deep space!
Void Pyramid is a turn-based RPG that's heavily influenced by classics in the genre (both digital and physical), but cuts some complexity in favor of more recent quality-of-life features. You play as a prisoner of the void pyramid, located somewhere in deep space. Your task is to defeat the demon warden and of course escape.
Fallout Shelter is a building and management simulator in the popular Fallout universe. It's a mobile game that's been ported to PC and recently made it to Steam. If you're like me, you probably just clicked away right now and I honestly don't blame you. Everything I really needed to say about this game is in the video anyway.
Ever wanted to experience your favorite sandbox game as a point-and-click adventure? That question never crossed my mind either.
Minecraft Story Mode is a new epic set in the blocky world you know and love. You play as Jesse, competing in the annual team building competition with your friends. You stumble onto the devious plot of the secretive Ivor, who plans to unleash a terrible monster in the middle of the convention as an act of revenge on the legendary warrior Gabriel.
First up is Execute, a strategy battle game created for Ludum Dare 26. In this game, your job is to defeat all enemies as efficiently as possible. This idea is taken to the extreme, meaning that if you use too many actions, you end up losing the level (as if you had died).
While I appreciate the overall concept, the game could use a bit more polish (now that the time restriction from Ludum Dare is long over). Perhaps a clue as to how many actions are "too many" would've been helpful, as well as better-defined victory conditions for each level. I couldn't seem to find a winning combination for level two, and it felt pretty vague as to what I was doing wrong.
After that is Life vs Life, an interactive point-and-click type of title where you play as a pizza delivery guy in a city. While technically a game, it doesn't seem to have any failure states (including not getting fired for disregarding your job) and is more of an interactive short story. That said, everything you do in the game seems to have a larger influence on the city than you might at first expect. Continually tipping the street musician will eventually have him playing a sold out concert, and excessively feeding the pigeons can result in a huge flock of them taking over one end of town.
This game is broken up into days of the week. At the end of each day, you return to your apartment to fall asleep in front of the television. The decorations of your abode change slightly depending on what you've done. At the end of the week, the game is over with a message talking about how people choose to live their lives. It was interesting to try clicking around everywhere to see what happened, but after several playthroughs you'll probably have seen about everything Life vs Life has to offer.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I bring you a game about rushing around, stuffing your face and taking long naps... and a driving bear!
Enviro-Bear 2010 is a driving game with good doses of both physics and humor. You play as a bear preparing for hibernation, filling its belly with fish and berries before winter hits... all while driving a car.
Absurd? Yes. Fun? Also yes! The controls are easy to learn and difficult to master. Click-and-drag is pretty much all you need to do, but getting the car in gear, hitting the gas and steering all have to be done separately. In addition to foraging, you have to maneuver around trees and rocks. Failure to do so often throws extra stuff in your car that gets in the way - from leaves and rocks to bees and badgers!
Physics also play a pretty significant role, as items can get stuck under your pedals or push them down (if heavy enough). It's actually a fair tactic to set the egg timer found in the car on the gas pedal if you need to gun it!
You only have a few minutes to find that much-needed food and shelter before winter sets in, and things get slightly more difficult each year (level). Later on, simply having to take a moment to toss an angry badger out the window may prove lethal.
In all, Enviro-Bear 2010 is a silly and entertaining title that hasn't got the fame it really deserves. It should be right up there alongside the Flappy and Angry Bird titles dominating the handheld market.
Get ready for point-and-click scares and disturbing imagery!
Real Horror Stories is a click-based Flash game full of bizarre and disturbing scenes. The title of the game is incredibly misleading, as nothing presented in the game seems to be real (or even based on actual events).
The gameplay is uninspired and frightfully dull as you're placed in a scene with several clickable areas and no real clue as to why you're doing anything. Generally speaking, you keep clicking on whatever is available until something happens (typically an animation, sound, or jump scare). There are a handful of small puzzles scattered throughout to help break up the monotony, but they also break what little immersion the game had just built up as you're given seemingly endless time to solve them.
While the game is chock full of shocking imagery, I quickly lost any sense of danger or fear as I realized there was no potential for failure or death. The closest you get to "losing" is choosing one game ending over another, and even this can be easily replayed from a recent save point to see the other choice. I'm not quite certain why save points were added to the game in the first place, unless it was designed more for people playing on a mobile device during quick breaks.
The scariest thing about Real Horror Stories is that you actually have to pay for the iOS and Steam versions (the latter is an "ultimate" edition with added content).
