Romans From Mars - The Friday FREE GAME Feature!

Romans From Mars is a simplistic shooting game that plays kind of like a tower defense, but not really. You fire a ballista at incoming waves of enemies before they reach your wall. Enemies that aren't killed in time deal one damage to your wall, and you lose if the wall reaches zero health.

This game is a textbook example of the cash-grab mobile game ported to PC. It quickly spikes in difficulty (level 19 is a good example) and sets up situations where you don't have enough currency to keep up unless you grind slowly or pay money. More annoying than that, the game doesn't always register mouse clicks (or perhaps somehow delays them), giving enemies some free time to advance at the start of a level and typically ruining that particular attempt altogether.

It's also fairly limited on defense options, with upgrades to the ballista, wall health, and a magic spell to freeze (or burn) enemies. While the title plays somewhat like a tower defense game, it's missing staples such as autofire turrets, mines/traps and barricades, to name a few.

You should probably skip Romans From Mars entirely. There's better shooters, tower defense games and mobile ports available, even for free.

Gun Princess Zero - The Friday FREE GAME Feature!

Gun Princess Zero is an action platformer that sits somewhere between Metroid and Mega Man (I'm calling it a Megatroid). You're a special agent sent in to hostile territory to locate and disarm four missiles. Overall, the game's not too bad, but it could use polish. My biggest gripe is the game's speed, which slows down and goes back to normal seemingly at random. You can listen to more of my thoughts on the game at 1:58: 41 in the video above.

Christmas Shopper Simulator 1 & 2 - The Friday FREE GAME Feature!

Christmas Shopper Simulator (and its sequel) is an open-ended affair with a tongue-in-cheek take on holiday shopping! While you can find a quick summary of my thoughts on the games at 2:11:55 in the video above, I think "goofy fun" explains it well enough!

The sequel even has a couple of free add-ons, allowing you to play as an ant or a fly. I skipped these mainly so all of you have something to try that wasn't shown during the stream, but they both sound pretty fun!

Streaming Next Month - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time!

I'll be streaming Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in April! I originally wanted to stream some of the Tomb Raider games, but I'm having trouble getting them to work the way I want to for streaming.

As it stands, I could stream most of them if I wanted to use a controller... which I really don't like. I may still attempt it sometime (perhaps even later in the month after finishing PoP), but I'd much rather use keyboard and mouse controls. We'll see. Part of the fun of the non-MMOMG months is playing it by ear and trying different things.

Join me Sundays - Wednesdays starting at 9pm ET on Twitch, YouTube, Mixer or Smashcast to watch me play live! Hope to see you there!

Jotun: Valhalla Edition FREE on Steam & GOG!

Jotun: Valhalla Edition is an action exploration game set in Norse mythology. Unleash the elemental Norse giants to prove yourself worthy of Valhalla! You can get the game FREE for a limited time on both Steam and GOG!

PAYDAY 2 is FREE on Steam (Limited Time)!

Hurry on over to the Steam Store page for PAYDAY 2 and grab a permanent copy for free! It's first come, first serve so get it before it's gone!

Saints Row 2 FREE on Steam & GOG, Hurry!

 Saints Row 2 is free for a limited time on both Steam and GOG. Act fast, the offer ends soon!

Abobo's Big Adventure - The Friday FREE GAME Feature!

A nostalgia-filled adventure featuring the real star of Double Dragon!

Abobo's Big Adventure blends a number of classic NES games with some '80s references (and a generous helping of crude humor) to provide a hilarious trip down memory lane.

Assassin's Creed III - The Friday FREE GAME Feature!

Experience action, stealth and intrigue in the New World!

There's probably nothing I can say about Assassin's Creed that hasn't already been said. The franchise is so huge that a film is about to release in theaters as I write this. What I can do is express my first impressions of the title from the standpoint of someone new to the series, but not to gaming.

The Expendabros - The Friday FREE GAME Feature!

Over the top action, extreme explosions and uber manliness!

The Expendabros is a run-n-gun action shooter similar to Metal Slug or Contra. You're part of an elite combat team that's been captured, so you need to rescue your bros as well as take out enemy installations. 

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - The Friday FREE GAME Feature!

Cyborg super-soldiers versus laser-blasting dragons!

In Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, you're a cybernetically-enhanced super-soldier on a mission to stop your former superior officer which has gone rogue. He's also a cyborg, but he has an army at his disposal and has been meddling around with radioactive beasts.

Blood Dragon is technically an expansion for Far Cry 3, but it's standalone meaning you don't need the base game to play it. Unlike its parent title, your skills are preset when leveling up, but that's offset by the fact that you're playing as an amalgamation of the Terminator, Rambo, and Snake Plisskin. If the premise and characters sound a bit excessive, don't worry because that's absolutely intended! The setting is steeped in '80s action nostalgia, complete with "Cobra"-inspired goons, thrumming synth music and a barrage of cheesy one-liners!

Once you liberate the first base, you discover a nice big map full of further points of interest, including side-missions to rescue scientists and hunting expeditions to take down rare creatures. Of course, you also have to watch out for Colonel Sloan's army as well as the rampaging blood dragons. The game places a little more emphasis on stealth than I expected, which I was quite happy with. I find it fairly disappointing when so-called "stealth games" allow you to go in guns blazing with nearly no repercussion, and this title makes it a necessity in certain situations.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon uses the successful recipe of open-world exploration and first-person shooters, but adds a healthy dose of '80s action flick tropes to provide an over-the-top story and setting.

The Friday FREE GAME Feature! Ep69 - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Puzzle-platforming action combat with the ability to rewind time!

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is available free for a limited time on Uplay. This title is mainly a puzzle-platformer, but also features a fun action combat system and a handful of time-manipulating tricks. 

The Friday FREE GAME Feature! Ep68: Dead Meets Lead

Stranded on a zombie plague island, hack 'n' slash your way to an antidote.

I'm a sucker for top-down or isometric hack 'n' slash games, and probably even more so for zombies. Cram them together and you should have a title I'm going to love, right? I thought so, but Dead Meets Lead somehow manages to fail at doing anything interesting.

The Friday FREE GAME Feature! Ep64: Super Square Chaos

Platforming shoot-em-up with destructible levels and lots of weapons!

When I first saw Super Square Chaos, my expectations were fairly low. There's a lot of action/shooting platformers to choose from, and the majority of them are very similar. I was pleasantly surprised to find some interesting twists in this title.

The Friday FREE GAME Feature! Ep57: Adventures of FrikiBoy

Classic 2D action adventure with a comedic twist!

Adventures of FrikiBoy is a modern take on the classic adventure game ala Legend of Zelda. You're tasked with a mission of utmost importance - to reclaim stolen baked goods, including the Coconut Delight, from the clutches of a villain named Guitar Shark. As you might've guessed, this game comes with a heavy dose of comedy. The villain tends to leave behind notes that point out his own lair's mistakes and comes pretty close to breaking the fourth wall.

Sometimes humor is used to mask what is otherwise uninteresting or just bad gameplay, but this is certainly not the case here. In fact, FrikiBoy is one of the more solid indie games I've played for this series recently. The controls are intuitive and responsive, it's well paced in terms of exposing new features/elements, and it even comes with an in-game manual! There's some great design choices going on here too - having a circle to show the reach of your melee attacks is very helpful for kiting enemies, and the flashlight feature really plays up the "adventuring in a dark dungeon" feeling that many games miss (or overdo) completely.

The standard adventure features multiple difficulty settings, and logging in via GameJolt gives you access to additional content and game modes.

For fans of classic adventure games, I highly recommend giving Adventures of FrikiBoy a try!

The Friday FREE GAME Feature! Ep56: Marvel Heroes 2016

Superhero MMORPG Diablo-styled action!

Marvel Heroes 2016 is a free-to-play top down Diablo-style action MMORPG set in the Marvel superhero universe. You can play as a number of iconic characters - there are dozens (perhaps over a hundred) to choose from.

The Friday FREE GAME Feature! Ep54: Transcendence

Space exploration, combat and roleplaying with roguelike elements!

Transcendence is a sci-fi space game where you pilot a ship on a divine mission to reach the galactic core. You can choose from three different starting ships - freighter, yacht or fighter - depending on your playstyle. Beginning at the Sisters of Domina outpost, you're given some basic missions to get acquainted with controls and game mechanics important for your journey.

One of the game's strong points is its variety of options. While your choice of starting ship can affect your success at certain missions, you can always upgrade your ship with an assortment of weapons, armor and devices (and later on purchase entirely different vessels) assuming you have enough credits.

The title has a high amount of replayability as well. In addition to piloting a different class of ship, each new game has some amount of procedural generation to keep things fresh. If that wasn't enough, there's even an array of expansions and mods to provide you with more campaigns. options, content and missions.

I don't have much in the way of negative remarks for this title, but I'll mention what few small gripes I have for sake of disclosure. I couldn't seem to find a reliable way to stop/brake my ship - the period key supposedly does this, but it didn't work for me. Also, a recent update added in-game music, but it seems to only have one song which plays just once, leaving you with the silence of space afterwards. I assume that a patch will likely fix that issue soon enough though, either with more tracks and/or a looping feature.

Those minor issues aside, Transcendence is a great game that provides a plethora of space exploration, combat and trading goodness!

The Friday FREE GAME Feature! Ep53: Mansionvania

Castlevania-inspired platforming action!

Mansionvania is a short platformer heavily inspired by the classic Castlevania games. You're on a mission to retrieve your pet which was stolen by a warlock. Chasing the villain to his mansion, you now must defeat the monsters and obstacles in your way.

If you've ever played the NES-era Castlevania titles, you'll feel right at home here. Enemies are defeated using your trusty whip, though you can obtain other weapons for a limited time. The controls are tight, though you'll probably encounter some frustration when enemies knock you back (which is perfectly in the spirit of the genre). Thankfully, the game provides you with unlimited lives, allowing you to memorize strategies and progress much faster than the titles it was inspired by.

While most of the monsters were standard for a game like this, there were a few interesting additions. The guy that spawns a large slime when you get close was pretty neat, and the boss fights were all enjoyable (which was also the case with another title from the same developer called Yet, I despise him).

If you have some free time to spare and need a quick Castlevania-style fix, be sure to check out Mansionvania!

The Friday FREE GAME Feature! Ep52: Prisoner

Wrongly imprisoned, you make your escape in this action game reminiscent of classic Legend of Zelda.

Prisoner was developed in the span of one month as an exercise in game design. As it was the developer's first game, I'd say they did a decent job at putting together a functional title.

You awake in a cell, hearing the voice of someone who has supposedly come to your rescue. Grabbing a convenient nearby weapon, you traverse the prison looking for a way out. The game (both in looks and play) feels very much like oldschool action games from the NES-era, such as Legend of Zelda. You can break open crates to find extra health and "coins" that can help toward attaining extra lives. You only have a sword through most of your journey, but towards the end you finally get to pick up a bow. Most of the game involves dodging obstacles and avoiding pitfalls along with timing your attacks against enemies.

The title also seems to include an element of stealth, as enemy aggro looks like it's based off their visibility. Unfortunately, you often have to kill every enemy to get to the next section, making this pseudo-stealth mechanic somewhat less important.

As I mentioned above, Prisoner is functionally sound and a good first attempt at game design. It lacks any real punch though - the gameplay is basic with little variance and the dialogue is pretty bland. After being defeated by what I assume was the final boss, I couldn't find a good reason to jump back in and try again.

The Friday FREE GAME Feature! Ep48: Cornerstone, The Song of Tyrim

Legend of Zelda Windwaker meets Dark Souls in this action adventure game!

Cornerstone, The Song of Tyrim is an epic adventure of exploration, combat and crafting. You begin on the docks of a small island with no real idea of what you're supposed to do. The game provides you with some tutorial popups to teach you the necessary controls, and you're left to explore as you wish.

The game makes use of some physics, allowing you to pickup and throw objects, break things into crafting materials, or use them to interact with the environment (such as placing mines or setting things on fire with a torch). You can even use the environment to kill enemies - I shot the ballista on my ship to take out a guard and kited other guards into some laser-shooting flowers! I felt like a number of strategies were available for getting through an area, which was awesome. Additionally, the island is packed with little hidden areas and shortcuts along with a number of puzzle-type obstacles to get from point A to B.

For the most part, the controls were fairly tight for keyboard and mouse. Controller support exists, but you have to map the buttons before launching the game. Being that this is a demo, I can excuse that. It's just nice to see that the game's challenge isn't about fighting with the controls. The art style is cartoony, bright and whimsical, obviously inspired by the LoZ series. I'm not sure if there's really a story in the demo, but I feel that it was intentionally focusing on decent gameplay instead of throwing lore and background in your face (perhaps taking a cue from Dark Souls here as well).

I was a bit skeptical when I saw the claims of Windwaker meets Dark Souls, but having tried the demo I have to say they're going in the right direction. Sure, the demo is unpolished (it crashed a few times and there were a few other glitches) but overall I was impressed. I'll be keeping an eye out for Cornerstone, The Song of Tyrim to see where it goes once it releases on Steam.