100 Word Review - #53 - Auditorium

Sometimes I feel like I am cheating the level

Auditorium

Genre - Indie, Casual

Metascore - N/A

Developer - Cipher Prime Studios

Other Games by Developer - Fractal: Make Blooms Not War, Splice

My Playtime - 2.5 hours

I love simple, good looking games; Auditorium is one of these. The premise is straightforward - guide a stream of light to light catchers around the screen using control orbs such as attraction, repulsion and directional. Every light catcher you fill adds to the music, and by the end of each level (of 5 stages) you have a nice track. Auditorium starts out slow but it does ramp up the difficulty quite quickly and you end up just making slight adjustments for 5 minutes. It is a very clean looking game with the vivid colours jumping out against the black background.

My Score - 7/10

100 Word Review - #E7 - Braid

Why would someone bring a red tie to this?

Braid

Genre - Strategy, Indie, Casual

Metascore - 90%

Developer - Number None

Other Games by Developer - N/A

Edgar's Playtime - 4.1 hours

Braid is a rather unique game. Behind an apparently simplistic platformer is a thoughtful adventure with an adult theme (not erotic, you perverts) and full of never before tried game mechanics. Each of the six levels has several sublevels with puzzle pieces to fetch, a piece of history to tell and a new perk to learn (like rewinding and stopping time) that must be used to successfully complete each level. Some see this as a masterpiece, and I can see why, but by the time you get to the final puzzles, they start to get a bit too challenging.

Edgar's Score - 7/10

100 Word Review - #T26 - Dear Esther

As a book, it probably would've been pretty decent.

Dear Esther

Genre - Adventure, Indie, Casual

Metascore - 77%

Developer - thechineseroom, Robert Briscoe

Other Games by Developer - N/A

Tom's Playtime -  1.3 hours

I'm receptive to the idea of games as art, however Dear Esther seems to forget about the idea of games as games. The modus operandi here is simply on-foot navigation around an island while the protagonist narrates to you. Very little happens in Dear Esther and it was tedious to reach completion, but along the way I found merits in the eloquent writing style and a few environments which would give Skyrim competition. These merits do not detract from the non-existent “gameplay” that Dear Esther attempts to provide and, while better than Dinner Date, it too is ultimately forgettable.

Tom's Score - 3/10

100 Word Review - #52 - Sanctum

Everyone loves a good pile of bodies.

Sanctum

Genre - Action, Strategy, Indie, Casual

Metascore - 70%

Developer - Coffee Stain Studios

Other Games by Developer - N/A

My Playtime - 3.9 hours

Sanctum is another game with an interesting mix of genres – tower defence and FPS. This blend works very well and means you can get your strategy and action fixes in the same place. Before each wave, you can set up and upgrade your towers and also upgrade your weapons. I’ve found the game to be relatively easy, especially when you’ve fully upgraded your first few towers and main weapon. As soon as you do that, enemies rarely get past you. Apart from the genre mix, nothing about Sanctum really stands out, with the graphics and music feeling a bit bland.

My Score - 6/10

100 Word Review - #47 - Puzzler World 2

Ain't no bitch-ass game gonna tell me what to do.

Puzzler World 2

Genre - Strategy, Indie, Casual

Metascore - N/A

Developer - Ideas Pad

Other Games by Developer - Puzzler World

My Playtime - 4.6 hours




One issue of Puzzler magazine has 60 puzzles for £1.80; Puzzler World 2 has 720 (plus 560 mini-game puzzles) for £9.99. If you can buy it at 80% off like I did, then it’s just incredible value. I bought it because it looked like a good boredom reliever, and that is exactly what it has turned out to be. Sure, the controls may be a bit glitchy at times and sure, the puzzles either seem to be too easy or too hard, but overall it does its job well and I would recommend it to serial boredom dwellers like myself.

My Score - 8/10

100 Word Review - #46 - BIT.TRIP BEAT

How the hell am I meant to keep track of all that?

BIT.TRIP BEAT

Genre - Action, Casual, Indie

Metascore - N/A

Developer - Gaijin Games

Other Games by Developer - BIT.TRIP RUNNER

My Playtime - 1.9 hours

BIT.TRIP BEAT is a good 8-bit rhythm game that has a few flaws. The concept is simple enough – blocks fly across from the right in time to some lovely music, and you have to rebound them with a paddle on the left. The more you hit, the ‘fuller’ the music becomes. The main problem is the difficulty. By the end of the first (of three) levels, you have to start waving your paddle about like a madman to try and keep up. The stages feel too long, but the game itself is too short. Fun, but can quickly become frustrating.

My Score - 6/10

100 Word Review - #T23 - Hoard

Flame on!

Hoard

Genre - Action, Strategy, Casual, Indie

Metascore - 65%

Developer - Big Sandwich Games

Other Games by Developer - N/A

Tom's Playtime -  2.4 hours

If ever the genre “Casual” was meant for a game, it was probably this. Hoard is a fun little title, in which you play a dragon competing against none or more dragons to collect the most treasure via destruction, intimidation and the such. The gameplay actually gets quite frantic towards the end of each stage as towns become better guarded and wizards show up, but Hoard earns its casual tag from the fact that playing any single session of decent length becomes dull as there is very little variance. However, as a game to play occasionally, it's very enjoyable.

Tom's Score - 7/10

100 Word Review - #43 - Titan Attacks!

The answer, more often than not, is no.

Titan Attacks!

Genre - Action, Indie, Casual

Metascore - N/A

Developer - Puppygames

Other Games by Developer - Revenge of the Titans

My Playtime - 3.0 hours

Titan Attacks! quite obviously borrows its core gameplay from Space Invaders, and it’s done so well, with its flashy retro-inspired graphics and soundtrack, that it’s truly one of the most enjoyable indie experiences I've had recently. The difficulty is ramped up quite early, but your progress is saved at the beginning of each of the 5 groups of 20 levels so you don’t have to start from the beginning when you die. You end up having to learn how to manage your resources – can you afford to take the risk of buying a much-needed weapon upgrade over an extra life?

My Score - 8/10

100 Word Review - #T22 - Ninja Reflex: Steamworks Edition

Not so much testing your reflexes as much
 as your patience in some cases.

Ninja Reflex: Steamworks Edition

Genre - Casual, Indie

Metascore - 57%

Developer - Sanzaru Games

Other Games by Developer - N/A

Tom's Playtime - 1.4 hours

If this is what it takes to be a ninja then I should've been sneaking my way across the city years ago. Ninja Reflex is exhaustively a collection of six mini-games controlled with the mouse, each vaguely mimicking a weapon or technique stereotypically associated with ninjas. While the gameplay itself is solid and competent, there isn't much replay value as it's all the same games but harder and the only reason I've clocked up so much time is to play it in 10 minute sessions every few days or so, which keeps it fresh enough to not become mind-numbingly tedious.

Tom's Score - 5/10

100 Word Review - #42 - Windosill

Windosill's charm spreads to its humble flash window.

Windosill

Genre - Adventure, Casual, Indie, Family

Metascore - 90% (iOS)

Developer - Vectorpark, Inc.

Other Games by Developer - N/A

My Playtime - 0.4 hours




Windosill is a charming, artsy puzzle game that has an embarrassing feature – its length. I’ll admit I wasn’t spending much time admiring the admittedly beautiful scenery while playing, but 20 minutes is just silly – I’m really glad I got this in an indie bundle and didn’t pay full price for it. Some of the puzzles are filled with red herrings that do nothing but distract you from the solution, but this adds to its charm as you want to click on everything to see what happens. Even though it is extremely short, it’s quite good and still worth a look.

My Score - 6/10

100 Word Review - #41 - Runespell: Overture

Runespell: Overture

Genre - RPG, Casual, Indie

Metascore - 69%

Developer - Mystic Box

Other Games by Developer - N/A

My Playtime - 4.6 hours

Runespell: Overture is an interesting mix of turn-based RPG, solitaire and poker. Your board is set up kind of like a game of solitaire, and you have to make poker hands in order to damage your opponent – better hands do more damage. You have a series of increasingly difficult battles, with some naff story shoehorned in, and it can get boring after a couple of hours. Also, as you progress, your opponents have so much HP that the battles can become a bit of a coin flip. Nonetheless, it is a reasonably good game with original gameplay not seen before.

My Score - 6/10

100 Word Review - #39 - Microsoft Flight

I'd make an awesome pilot.

Microsoft Flight

Genre - Free to Play, Casual, Simulation

Metascore - 66%

Developer - Microsoft Studios

Other Games by Developer - N/A

My Playtime - 1.8 hours

The gameplay of the Microsoft Flight Simulator games hasn’t changed much in almost 10 years – take off, fly, land. They have now included missions and geocache hunts, of which there are new ones added every week. There isn’t much content in the base game, with only 5 missions and 2 planes, although more can be added through some rather pricey DLC. Some of the visuals are terrible even at the highest settings (see screenshot), and as there isn’t much to do while flying in a straight line for 15 minutes apart from messing around, you do tend to notice this often.

My Score - 5/10

100 Word Review - #T20 - Flight Control HD

If you can land more than 150 aircraft,
 I have some serious respect for you.

Flight Control HD

Genre - Action, Family, Casual

Metascore - 88% (iOS)

Developer - Firemint

Other Games by Developer - None

Tom's Playtime - 90 Minutes

Apparently I'd be no good as an air traffic controller. FCHD is a fun game, the sole premise being that you have to juggle planes and helicopters which need to land on specific runways without any of them crashing into each other. There are about 8 different levels of varying difficulty and it becomes genuinely hard after a while trying to keep track of what's going on but without becoming too frustrating. Nothing astounding, FCHD is ultimately harmless, an enjoyable game to kill a bit of time with nice replay value, though probably better suited to mobile devices than PCs.

Tom's Score - 7/10

100 Word Review - #38 - BRAINPIPE: A Plunge to Unhumanity

Trippy

BRAINPIPE: A Plunge to Unhumanity

Genre - Indie, Casual

Metascore - 59% (PSP)

Developer - Digital Eel

Other Games by Developer - Data Jammers: FastForward

My Playtime - 0.6 hours

This is a weird one. BRAINPIPE is a game with trippy music and visuals that tasks you to fly down some tunnels avoiding things and collecting other things. This is pretty much it. The items you collect are elements of your humanity, and the ones you collect affect your outcome and final ‘unhuman’ form. The difficultly is well scaled, making the later levels very difficult to complete. At just 30 mins to complete the entire game though, it’s never going to be worth the £8 asking price, even if you do play it through multiple times to get different results.

My Score - 4/10

100 Word Review - #K9 - Zen Bound 2

The safe word is "Untie me this instant!"

Zen Bound 2

Genre - Casual, Indie

Metascore - 80% (iOS)

Developer - Secret Exit Ltd.

Other Games by Developer - N/A

Kris' Playtime - 3 hours

I do like games like this, I end up playing them for hours! Normally, some great music will elevate this style of game no end but ZB2 leaves something to be desired in that department. Once you realise that you can use the scroll wheel and right button (it's not in the tutorial) you are able to reach that meditative state where you're both not paying attention and enjoying yourself. Manipulating 3D objects in 2D space is always going to be a challenge but I think ZB2 pulls it off. Probably another one that's more intuntive in a mobile context.

Kris' Score - 6/10

100 Word Review - #E3 - Everyday Shooter

Help! I'm being attacked by a horde of crazed Legos!

Everyday Shooter

Genre - Casual, Indie

Metascore - 77%

Developer - Queasy Games

Other Games by Developer - N/A

Edgar's Playtime - 14.6 hours

I am a rock man - a good guitar riff can really make my day. And when a capable shoot 'em up merges with some amazing riffs, the result can only be an enthralling experience. Play a level and shoot everything that moves. Try to find the exotic combo patterns and, most importantly, try to survive to the end of the music to reach the next level. It's an original take on a classic genre, with a handful of twists that make this shooter quite an experience. It is the father of today's shooters such as Beat Hazard and Audiosurf.

Edgar's Score - 8/10

100 Word Review - #35 - Peggle Nights

Oh shit, I have to be in work in 10 minutes...

Peggle Nights

Genre - Casual, Family

Metascore - 76%

Developer - PopCap Games Inc

Other Games by Developer - Plants Vs. Zombies, Bejewled 3

My Playtime - 2.9 hours

You can take my playtime here with a pinch of salt. I have played Peggle Nights and its predecessor for at least 50 hours, and have loved every single minute. Peggle has a simple premise - use some balls to try and clear some pegs. Each level is set out like a Pachinko board, and the balls bounce from peg to peg, building up a bigger score. It can get exasperatingly difficult at some times, especially towards the end of the challenges, but as you load it up to pass an hour you will wonder where all your time went.

My Score - 9/10

100 Word Review - #S2 - Super Meat Boy

Challenging does not even begin to
describe this game

Super Meat Boy

Genre - Casual, Indie

Metascore - 87%

Developer - Team Meat

Other Games by Developer - N/A

Stef's Playtime - 33.7 hours



Super Meat Boy is by no means an original concept in the slightest, but it's polish and charm is enough to make this 2D run and jump platformer stand out. In case you're fed up with easy games SMB is hard... REALLY hard and you will die a lot. Frustration is often converted to elation when you complete the particularly tricky levels. The controls are tight and the platforming flows really well, this along with instant respawns keeps the frustration from getting to controller snapping levels. With 300+ levels in the main game, SMB will keep you entertained for hours.

Stef's Score - 8/10 

100 Word Review - #T16 - Your Doodles Are Bugged!

At least Lemmings was fun in a
smash-your-head-on-the-desk-in-frustration kind of way

Your Doodles Are Bugged!

Genre – Casual, Indie

Metascore – 69%

Developer – Spyn Doctor Games

Other Games by Developer – N/A

Tom's Current Playtime – 0.7 hours

In its basic goal, “YDAB!” can be most easily compared to “Lemmings”. You have a group of small creatures that you must guide to some sanctum in each level. The main mechanic behind “YDAB!” is the ability to draw pathways for your creatures to take however drawing using a mouse is rather awkward and you only have a set amount of ink for use at one time. Levels feature existing objects to use as platforms but many of the levels are tests of perseverance rather than logic and the overall experience leaves a lot to be desired.

Tom's Score – 4/10

100 Word Review - #26 - The Wonderful End of the World

Wait, is this even the right game?

The Wonderful End of the World

Genre - Indie, Casual

Metascore - 69%

Developer - Dejobaan Games

Other Games by Developer - 1... 2... 3... KICK IT! (Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby),  AaAaAA - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity

My Current Playtime - 1.2 hours

I don’t think too much needs to be said about “TWEotW” other than it’s a complete and utter unabashed rip-off of the “Katamari Damacy” series. In “TWEotW”, you pick up objects to grow and are able to pick up bigger objects. You only have a certain amount of time to do it in, so it will take a few tries to learn the best strategy. “TWEotW” tries the same cutesy style as the “Katamari” games but doesn’t quite pull it off, and it’s short at just 10 levels. The music and sound effects are the only things that are superior.

My Score - 4/10