Hey, remember a while back I wrote a blog entry about Alien Hallway and said it was a cute distraction that's worth maybe a dollar or so? And how I also wrote about Alien Shooter, and Zombie Shooter, and said they were fun?
Well, for a few days, you can go to Indie Game Stand and get all three of those (on Steam) plus a fourth game called Theseus: Return of the Hero (which is a sort-of sequel to Alien Shooter) at an attractive price point of, like, a buck or two. Or just Alien Hallway (not on Steam) for twenty-five cents. I think either deal is good value, and I endorse the mini-bundle.
There are a surprising amount of these games, by the way. Alien Shooter, Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded, Alien Shooter 2: Conscription, Zombie Shooter, Zombie Shooter 2, and now this Theseus thing. It's a pretty solid concept, so I suppose I shouldn't be shocked.
But yeah. Check out the bundle, blow up some aliens and/or zombies, and all that good stuff.
Showing posts with label value. Show all posts
Showing posts with label value. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Checking in with more indie bundles
Ooh goodie, my internet's back up and running! That means I can jot down my first impressions about these new indie bundles that are out.
Actually, there are a lot of bundles running right now. We've got:
Now, apologies to the folks behind the Indie Royale, but the price point is too high for me. I can't keep dropping $5-6 every time. I might if I knew the games were good, but I'm getting less and less comfortable with it as my Steam library has bloated up with more and more unplayed games. There's nothing in it this time that catches my eye and makes me want to drop the cash on it, so I'm just skipping it.
Indie Gala is really small this time. Two of the games, Battle Group and Call of Cthulhu: Wasted Land are Android-only, so they shouldn't really count, and the other two Steam-only games are Worms--the original, which is super-old now--and Alien Breed 2: Assault, which I already own. Now, the price point is more attractive at $1, but the content just isn't there. I wouldn't pay $1 for Worms if that were its normal sale price, so I don't see why I should pay $1 for it in a bundle where it's effectively the only game.
Yes, I know they have a second tier, but that's the same problem as the Indie Royale. It's not worth my $6 for a pack of unknown games. (And one of them, Worms Blast, I even own already.) Especially since Indie Gala has a pretty poor track record quality-wise--they'll give away any damn game no matter how crappy it is. I don't have a lot of faith in them.
The Indie Face Kick is just a pack of FPS games. Not my thing. I'll pass.
I already talked about Build-a-Bundle 3. Uh, still haven't gotten around to playing the games from it, but don't worry, they're on my short list.
I snap-bought the Humble Bundle. The Humble Bundle folks have earned that much from me. Everything they've put out so far has been amazing, and they are by far the best indie bundle out there. Accept no substitutions. But I can talk about the games a little.
Rochard is some sort of gravity-manipulating platformer. Gravity manipulation seems to be trendy with indie platformers. We've got VVVVVV, BEEP, And Yet It Moves, and now Rochard, just from Humble Bundles. From the gameplay footage, this game looks okay. Probably worth a fair shot.
Torchlight is like a Diablo clone. Which I am told is a thing. I have never played Diablo, so I don't know what that means. I've played Greed: Black Border, and it is kind of like that, including the control scheme that I don't like. But I am told it is a bestseller that was popular and well-reviewed, so that's encouraging. I assume it's in a bundle now as publicity for the newly-released sequel?
Shatter is possibly the weirdest Breakout variant I've ever seen. I'm not sure what to say. It's like Breakout if it had a physics engine and a bunch of odd twists to it? Hmm. Seems okay.
Vessel is a puzzle platformer where it looks like the developers had a lot of fun playing around with their physics engine. It's all about manipulating liquids. Sounds like a fine premise. I have a lot of puzzle platformers on my list, but I might be able to find time for another.
And then lastly there's the Bundle-in-a-Box. I'm still undecided. I might talk about it some other time because I've gone on long enough tonight. I'll try and think of something interesting to say.
Actually, there are a lot of bundles running right now. We've got:
- Indie Royale Back to School Bundle
- Bundle-in-a-Box Deep Space Bundle
- Groupees Build-a-Bundle 3
- Humble Indie Bundle 6
- Indie Gala 9
- Indie Face Kick
Now, apologies to the folks behind the Indie Royale, but the price point is too high for me. I can't keep dropping $5-6 every time. I might if I knew the games were good, but I'm getting less and less comfortable with it as my Steam library has bloated up with more and more unplayed games. There's nothing in it this time that catches my eye and makes me want to drop the cash on it, so I'm just skipping it.
Indie Gala is really small this time. Two of the games, Battle Group and Call of Cthulhu: Wasted Land are Android-only, so they shouldn't really count, and the other two Steam-only games are Worms--the original, which is super-old now--and Alien Breed 2: Assault, which I already own. Now, the price point is more attractive at $1, but the content just isn't there. I wouldn't pay $1 for Worms if that were its normal sale price, so I don't see why I should pay $1 for it in a bundle where it's effectively the only game.
Yes, I know they have a second tier, but that's the same problem as the Indie Royale. It's not worth my $6 for a pack of unknown games. (And one of them, Worms Blast, I even own already.) Especially since Indie Gala has a pretty poor track record quality-wise--they'll give away any damn game no matter how crappy it is. I don't have a lot of faith in them.
The Indie Face Kick is just a pack of FPS games. Not my thing. I'll pass.
I already talked about Build-a-Bundle 3. Uh, still haven't gotten around to playing the games from it, but don't worry, they're on my short list.
I snap-bought the Humble Bundle. The Humble Bundle folks have earned that much from me. Everything they've put out so far has been amazing, and they are by far the best indie bundle out there. Accept no substitutions. But I can talk about the games a little.
Rochard is some sort of gravity-manipulating platformer. Gravity manipulation seems to be trendy with indie platformers. We've got VVVVVV, BEEP, And Yet It Moves, and now Rochard, just from Humble Bundles. From the gameplay footage, this game looks okay. Probably worth a fair shot.
Torchlight is like a Diablo clone. Which I am told is a thing. I have never played Diablo, so I don't know what that means. I've played Greed: Black Border, and it is kind of like that, including the control scheme that I don't like. But I am told it is a bestseller that was popular and well-reviewed, so that's encouraging. I assume it's in a bundle now as publicity for the newly-released sequel?
Shatter is possibly the weirdest Breakout variant I've ever seen. I'm not sure what to say. It's like Breakout if it had a physics engine and a bunch of odd twists to it? Hmm. Seems okay.
Vessel is a puzzle platformer where it looks like the developers had a lot of fun playing around with their physics engine. It's all about manipulating liquids. Sounds like a fine premise. I have a lot of puzzle platformers on my list, but I might be able to find time for another.
And then lastly there's the Bundle-in-a-Box. I'm still undecided. I might talk about it some other time because I've gone on long enough tonight. I'll try and think of something interesting to say.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Indie Royale: The Gone Fishin' Bundle
Indie Royale's new bundle is out. It features seven-ish games.
The headliner is SOL: Exodus, a space dogfighter game. This is really not a genre that interests me. Maybe at some point I'll play Star Fox 64 or something, I dunno, but I'm not excited by the trailer for this one and I suspect I'd never get around to playing it unless I forced myself. Not a selling point for me.
Next is All Zombies Must Die!, an arena-type shooter of some sort where you shoot zombies. So, like Zombie Shooter except different, I assume. It has a co-op mode, but realistically, I'm never going to play the co-op mode. This game interests me a little...I might pay about $1-2 for it.
Then we have Cubemen, which is another Tower Defense game. The market is saturated with these. My Steam library is saturated with these. I really don't need any more. Especially since this one is aesthetically unappealing. I would not buy this game on its own, and I probably wouldn't play it.
Squids is next. It's an RPG that is clearly intended for iOS. I'm watching the gameplay footage in the trailer and imagining playing it on a non-handheld, non-touchscreen system...yeah, that's not happening. Sorry. To its credit, the game looks cute and amusing, and I probably would play it on an iPad or iPhone. I just wouldn't play it on my laptop.
VectorGeddon is...well, remember that old game with the missiles that would rain down on your cities and you had to shoot the missiles with your own missiles to protect your cities until you eventually died? I don't remember what that game is called, but this game is the same general idea. Guys coming at you, you blow them up, and there you go. Again, this is the sort of derpy casual game I might play on a portable system but not on a PC. I'd consider it a neat bonus if the bundle were already worth buying, but not a selling point.
Finally, Platformance is nominally two games, but from what I can tell they look pretty much the same. There's one where you're a knight in a castle, and another where you're an explorer in a temple. They're "Platform Hell" games along the lines of Super Meat Boy or N. From what I can tell, they look like games I'd enjoy, but they're also very short, so I wouldn't pay much for them. Maybe $1 for one or $1.50 for both.
So the question looms: to buy or not to buy?
I am leaning towards the not-buy. There's nothing really exciting here for me. Platformance and All Zombies Must Die! look interesting, but not worth $5.50. The price I'd be willing to pay on this one is more like $2-3.
Now, you may be thinking, "But that's only a couple dollars less than the actual price! Is it really that big a deal?" Well, yes. It's like double what I want to pay. You can't just go around paying double the price on everything. Remember, the main draw of these indie bundles is that they're cheap. These aren't games I want because I'm excited about their content, they're games that might be worth trying because of how heavily discounted they are. And if they're not actually discounted, why should I pay attention to them at all?
That being said, I'll sleep on it.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Quest for Value update
Some time ago, I started a series called the "Quest for Value". The point of this series was to get a list of all my games and play them for at least long enough to try them out.
Why? Well, first off, I wanted to get the Full Value out of my cheap video game bundles. What's the point of getting great bargains if you buy the games and never unwrap them? Indie bundles are all about value, and if I want that Value, I have to actually play the games. I can't just let them gather dust in the corner of my hard drive; that's not what games are for.
It also creates a meta-game around the games. Even a boring game can be a satisfying experience when it's part of a larger quest. I hated Twin Sector, for example, but crossing it off of my list and writing a little rant about how bad it is still felt good. I completed another task. I accomplished something. Ding!
Additionally, it gives me opportunities to find hidden gems. Finding hidden gems is awesome. And I know they're out there because I have found hidden gems. Multiple times. The biggest example is Dungeons of Dredmor. If it hadn't been part of a larger Quest (in this case the Steam Holiday Sale event rather than my self-imposed one), I never would have touched it. But when I forced myself to try it out just a little bit, I discovered that, wow, this game is awesome! And now I've logged more than a hundred hours of it and it's one of my favorite games. Now that's a gem! And of course, even on a smaller scale, I've had good experiences with lots of games that I'd probably not have played sans Quest, such as LaserCat, Alien Shooter, FlatOut, and The Baconing. It's definitely worth sifting through the chaff.
There's one other advantage that I discovered later on: a long list of new games to try out means lots and lots of easy writing material for my daily blog. Writer's block? Not anymore! Pick up another game off the pile and pen a first impression. Ta-dah!
I stopped maintaining my Quest for Value list when I moved it over to Backloggery. But it's been some time since then, and I think I've swung too far in the wrong direction because of that change. The thing with Backloggery is that they don't have anything in between "Never finished the first level" and "Beat the game." There's no "Played it for long enough to get a good feel for whether or not I enjoy the game." As a result, if I play for just an hour, Backloggery doesn't let me "cross it off", and it's almost as if I haven't made any progress at all. So that's kinda sad.
But I still think the Quest does good things for me, and I do still like the idea of Backloggery even if it's not a perfect system. So I've been thinking, and I think I'm going to try and see if I can't hack away at that "Unplayed" category in my Backloggery. It's full of untouched, unplayed, unwrapped games, and that is definitely not good value. Plus, I'm slowing down on the indie bundle front--getting better at resisting the allure of the Value. A couple months ago I was adding new games faster than I could play the old ones.
So yeah. The Quest is not over yet.
Why? Well, first off, I wanted to get the Full Value out of my cheap video game bundles. What's the point of getting great bargains if you buy the games and never unwrap them? Indie bundles are all about value, and if I want that Value, I have to actually play the games. I can't just let them gather dust in the corner of my hard drive; that's not what games are for.
It also creates a meta-game around the games. Even a boring game can be a satisfying experience when it's part of a larger quest. I hated Twin Sector, for example, but crossing it off of my list and writing a little rant about how bad it is still felt good. I completed another task. I accomplished something. Ding!
Additionally, it gives me opportunities to find hidden gems. Finding hidden gems is awesome. And I know they're out there because I have found hidden gems. Multiple times. The biggest example is Dungeons of Dredmor. If it hadn't been part of a larger Quest (in this case the Steam Holiday Sale event rather than my self-imposed one), I never would have touched it. But when I forced myself to try it out just a little bit, I discovered that, wow, this game is awesome! And now I've logged more than a hundred hours of it and it's one of my favorite games. Now that's a gem! And of course, even on a smaller scale, I've had good experiences with lots of games that I'd probably not have played sans Quest, such as LaserCat, Alien Shooter, FlatOut, and The Baconing. It's definitely worth sifting through the chaff.
There's one other advantage that I discovered later on: a long list of new games to try out means lots and lots of easy writing material for my daily blog. Writer's block? Not anymore! Pick up another game off the pile and pen a first impression. Ta-dah!
I stopped maintaining my Quest for Value list when I moved it over to Backloggery. But it's been some time since then, and I think I've swung too far in the wrong direction because of that change. The thing with Backloggery is that they don't have anything in between "Never finished the first level" and "Beat the game." There's no "Played it for long enough to get a good feel for whether or not I enjoy the game." As a result, if I play for just an hour, Backloggery doesn't let me "cross it off", and it's almost as if I haven't made any progress at all. So that's kinda sad.
But I still think the Quest does good things for me, and I do still like the idea of Backloggery even if it's not a perfect system. So I've been thinking, and I think I'm going to try and see if I can't hack away at that "Unplayed" category in my Backloggery. It's full of untouched, unplayed, unwrapped games, and that is definitely not good value. Plus, I'm slowing down on the indie bundle front--getting better at resisting the allure of the Value. A couple months ago I was adding new games faster than I could play the old ones.
So yeah. The Quest is not over yet.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
At first I was excited because the new Indie Royale is headlined by Dungeon Defenders. I've heard good things about that game, and I'm interested in trying it out, so...cool.
But then I looked at the rest of the lineup and...come on, really? All those other games look totally lame.
Containment is a block-swapping puzzle game with zombies. And I never play games like that. And if I did, I would just play Tetris or whatever. Just because you have zombies doesn't mean your game is cool.
Data Jammers and Brainpipe are both about going down tracks without hitting obstacles and that's just not interesting. I have Audiosurf if I want to run down a track collecting some blocks and dodging others, and I have 1...2...3...Kick It! that looks a lot like Brainpipe, and I never play it.
This Weird Worlds game looks...worth trying, I guess, but I looked it up and apparently not only is it not even on Steam, but the original version of the game is freeware...so why wouldn't I just download that for free instead?
So basically, the game I wanted to get in a bundle (Dungeon Defenders) is finally in a bundle, but the other games in the bundle are crap. And the bundle is five bucks...which is more expensive than buying Dungeon Defenders by itself during a Steam sale. So...sad face.
Anyway, it looks like I'm passing on this one. I'm sure there will be opportunities to pick up Dungeon Defenders on the cheap in the future for better value than this.
But then I looked at the rest of the lineup and...come on, really? All those other games look totally lame.
Containment is a block-swapping puzzle game with zombies. And I never play games like that. And if I did, I would just play Tetris or whatever. Just because you have zombies doesn't mean your game is cool.
Data Jammers and Brainpipe are both about going down tracks without hitting obstacles and that's just not interesting. I have Audiosurf if I want to run down a track collecting some blocks and dodging others, and I have 1...2...3...Kick It! that looks a lot like Brainpipe, and I never play it.
This Weird Worlds game looks...worth trying, I guess, but I looked it up and apparently not only is it not even on Steam, but the original version of the game is freeware...so why wouldn't I just download that for free instead?
So basically, the game I wanted to get in a bundle (Dungeon Defenders) is finally in a bundle, but the other games in the bundle are crap. And the bundle is five bucks...which is more expensive than buying Dungeon Defenders by itself during a Steam sale. So...sad face.
Anyway, it looks like I'm passing on this one. I'm sure there will be opportunities to pick up Dungeon Defenders on the cheap in the future for better value than this.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Not the best value.
I guess I forgot to mention that the Groupees Be Mine 2 bundle added an extra game at the very last minute before it ended. But I don't really want to add it to my Quest for Value because it's a point-and-click adventure game. Those games are lame.
It's called Scratches: Director's Cut, and it's (apparently) a point-and-click survival horror adventure game. And really, I am just not very interested in the whole style of gameplay. More than any other control scheme, it pulls me out of the experience and makes me aware that I'm clicking on things on a computer screen. And it's so easy to hit a wall and be completely unable to proceed. And also there are these other things I don't like and...I dunno, I just don't really like it...
Okay, I played a little bit of Machinarium, just a few screens. I admit that the art and animation and general aesthetics on that one were very good. The little robot is pretty adorable. But aside from the visuals, it didn't appeal to me all that much. I mean, I guess a lot of RuneScape quests have the same kind of problem-solving gameplay, and I like them, but...
...Sigh. Alright, I guess now I'm going to have to play the damn game just to be able to articulate the things I don't like about it, huh? Okay, it'll have to be an intellectual exercise. But I'll do it tomorrow, okay? I'll just try it and keep an eye out for things that I like or dislike, and I'll write them down, and maybe I'll learn something from it. It's probably going to suck though.
Speaking of games added to bundles, the Indie Gala 4 unlocked its third game. It's Steel Storm: Burning Retribution. Which I already have, so...disappointing. I actually liked it at first, but it got repetitive and annoying pretty quickly once I unlocked some stronger weapons. As soon as I unlocked the homing missiles, the correct strategy became "Spam homing missiles constantly and never bother trying to actually aim or hit-and-run or kite or anything" and all of a sudden it was boring and tedious instead of exciting and suspenseful. To say nothing of the awful sound effects. I have Babo: Invasion now, which seems like a better-executed version of the same concept, so if I'm looking for a top-down shooter I'll just go with the Madballs instead.
They also added Alien Shooter 2 and Really Big Sky to the bundle for people who pay above the average. Which I didn't. I was waiting to see what they would add. Well, Really Big Sky looks like a decent "bullet hell" shooter, but if I wait for a Steam sale I can get it for $2.50 which is actually cheaper than paying an extra five bucks to upgrade my Indie Gala bundle...so that's not good value at all. And it's hard to be excited about Alien Shooter 2 when I don't even know if the first game is any good yet. How many Alien Shooters do you need?
So I think I'll pass on the bundle upgrade once again. There's just nothing there that interests me. I like value, but I'm not going to go that far out of my way to find it. I'm already bending over backwards to try and get value out of the games I already own.
It's called Scratches: Director's Cut, and it's (apparently) a point-and-click survival horror adventure game. And really, I am just not very interested in the whole style of gameplay. More than any other control scheme, it pulls me out of the experience and makes me aware that I'm clicking on things on a computer screen. And it's so easy to hit a wall and be completely unable to proceed. And also there are these other things I don't like and...I dunno, I just don't really like it...
Okay, I played a little bit of Machinarium, just a few screens. I admit that the art and animation and general aesthetics on that one were very good. The little robot is pretty adorable. But aside from the visuals, it didn't appeal to me all that much. I mean, I guess a lot of RuneScape quests have the same kind of problem-solving gameplay, and I like them, but...
...Sigh. Alright, I guess now I'm going to have to play the damn game just to be able to articulate the things I don't like about it, huh? Okay, it'll have to be an intellectual exercise. But I'll do it tomorrow, okay? I'll just try it and keep an eye out for things that I like or dislike, and I'll write them down, and maybe I'll learn something from it. It's probably going to suck though.
They also added Alien Shooter 2 and Really Big Sky to the bundle for people who pay above the average. Which I didn't. I was waiting to see what they would add. Well, Really Big Sky looks like a decent "bullet hell" shooter, but if I wait for a Steam sale I can get it for $2.50 which is actually cheaper than paying an extra five bucks to upgrade my Indie Gala bundle...so that's not good value at all. And it's hard to be excited about Alien Shooter 2 when I don't even know if the first game is any good yet. How many Alien Shooters do you need?So I think I'll pass on the bundle upgrade once again. There's just nothing there that interests me. I like value, but I'm not going to go that far out of my way to find it. I'm already bending over backwards to try and get value out of the games I already own.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The Quest for Value Escalates!
The indie bundles just don't stop!
Gear Grinder has been added to the Indie Gala 3. This is another driving game, but with more focus on the "destruction derby" aspect--that is, blowing up everything else on the road. Your vehicle gets all sorts of guns and stuff. Sadly it is not redeemable on Steam, but it's still worth a try.
But wait! There's more! Some website called "Groupees" released the Be Mine 2 bundle today, with five more games for me to try out. I snapped this one up right away once I saw Beat Hazard was in it. I heard about that one a while back and I really wanted to try it. And I watched the promo video for the bundle, and the clips of the other games looked like fun too.
Beat Hazard is like Geometry Wars crossed with Audiosurf.
It's a "two-stick shooter", which means you move your ship around with
the left analog stick and shoot with the right analog stick, and you
blast all the enemies that show up. The twist is that it plays music of
your choosing during gameplay. And depending on how the song goes, the
action speeds up or slows down, or your shots get beefed up, or more
enemies appear. It's pretty sweet.
The Baconing is...some sort of action game. Maybe a beat-em-up? I'm really not sure. But it has "bacon" in the title, so how bad could it be, right?
Plain Sight has something to do with robots that need energy and you jump around a globe looking for energy and try to steal energy from other players, or something? Some sort of multiplayer thing. I dunno.
Madballs in...Babo: Invasion appears to be a third-person shooter game where you're a little ball and you roll around shooting things. Based on the trailer footage, it looks like it's got some good action. It has online multiplayer too, both co-op and competitive. I'm interested in how this one plays out.
Sol Survivor
is a tower defense game. From the look of it, it seems pretty standard.
Its big gimmick appears to be that it's a multiplayer thing. I guess
that's neat, although I dunno how much multiplayer I'm likely to play.
I already spent 2 hours glued to Beat Hazard. Yeah, it's real sweet. I don't have a lot to say about it, though, except that good music is good and good music games are good and I enjoy rocking out while blasting alien spaceships.
Anyway, it seems my Quest for Value is rapidly ballooning. There are a lot of bundles out there! So many opportunities for value, and yet my Steam library will overflow with unplayed games if I try to grab them all. It's a conundrum for the ages. And of course, #FirstWorldProblems.
There's another bundle running now too--the Indie Fort. But in a shocking twist of events, I am not buying this one! Two reasons.
But wait! There's more! Some website called "Groupees" released the Be Mine 2 bundle today, with five more games for me to try out. I snapped this one up right away once I saw Beat Hazard was in it. I heard about that one a while back and I really wanted to try it. And I watched the promo video for the bundle, and the clips of the other games looked like fun too.
Beat Hazard is like Geometry Wars crossed with Audiosurf.
It's a "two-stick shooter", which means you move your ship around with
the left analog stick and shoot with the right analog stick, and you
blast all the enemies that show up. The twist is that it plays music of
your choosing during gameplay. And depending on how the song goes, the
action speeds up or slows down, or your shots get beefed up, or more
enemies appear. It's pretty sweet.
Plain Sight has something to do with robots that need energy and you jump around a globe looking for energy and try to steal energy from other players, or something? Some sort of multiplayer thing. I dunno.
I already spent 2 hours glued to Beat Hazard. Yeah, it's real sweet. I don't have a lot to say about it, though, except that good music is good and good music games are good and I enjoy rocking out while blasting alien spaceships.
Anyway, it seems my Quest for Value is rapidly ballooning. There are a lot of bundles out there! So many opportunities for value, and yet my Steam library will overflow with unplayed games if I try to grab them all. It's a conundrum for the ages. And of course, #FirstWorldProblems.
There's another bundle running now too--the Indie Fort. But in a shocking twist of events, I am not buying this one! Two reasons.
- First, I looked at the games in it, and they're just not that interesting. Kenshi looks horrible--I can tell just by looking that I'm not going to like it. Cardinal Quest looks meh. Devil Whiskey is like a first-person dungeon crawler, which I am really not that into. Steel Storm I already own. Black Market doesn't excite me. The only game I'm mildly interested in is Wanderlust, which looks like a decent co-op action-RPG, but if I'm only going to play one game, that's not very good value, and it's not as if I have anyone to play co-op with. Now, I might just buy it for the value of a cheap bundle, except...
- ...it's $6 minimum. What sort of value is that supposed to be? I'll pay $5, tops, and that's pushing it for games I've never heard of and know little to nothing about. If I'm going to buy games sight unseen, I expect a lower price than that.
- Besides, does it even come with Steam keys?
- Alien Zombie Megadeath
- Astro Tripper
- The Baconing
Beat HazardDefense Grid: The Awakening- Explodemon
FlatOutFuture Wars- Gear Grinder
Greed: Black Border- Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes
- Hack, Slash, Loot
- Madballs in...Babo: Invasion
- Plain Sight
- Sol Survivor
- Trapped Dead
Twin Sector
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The Quest For Value: Indie Royale April Fools Bundle
Oh man, I haven't finished my last Quest For Value and there's another bundle out. No matter! The quest continues. It's the Indie Royale April Fools Bundle, available at http://www.indieroyale.com.
I'll run this concurrently with my other Quest For Value. Each game gets at least an hour of play...for value. Because I love value.
Defense Grid: The Awakening is a tower defense game. Hey, I already own this one! I got it from the Potato Sack back when Portal 2 came out. It's a pretty good tower defense game, as tower defense games go. I've already logged 9 hours in it and written a full review of the game. As such, I will exempt this from my Quest for Value, since I have clearly gotten Value out of it already. Ideally I can trade away the Steam key for another game and get extra value that way!
Hack, Slash, Loot is a turn-based dungeon-crawler with retro graphics. From the description given, it sounds like a Roguelike. Okay, I've played those before. The Binding of Isaac and Dungeons of Dredmor were both about as awesome as they come. If this is another game of that caliber, I will be pleased. If it's more of an RPG with random encounters and whatnot, eh, that's okay too. Well, I dunno, we'll have to see.
Alien Zombie Megadeath has a pretty loaded title there. They're not just aliens, they're alien zombies. And it's not just death, it's megadeath. Sounds like the title of a cheesy B-movie that you might see on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Well, apparently it's a platformer shoot-em-up. A lot of variance in that genre. Maybe it's something like Contra or Sunset Riders? Who knows.
Explodemon touts itself as a throwback to SNES-era platformers with added physics-based puzzle elements and lots of bangs and booms. I don't really know what to expect here either. Platform games vary a lot in quality. Hopefully this is a good one. Sad that it's not on Steam, but what can you do.
Astro Tripper appears to be a horizontally-scrolling shoot-em-up. Sure, that's always a classic genre. You've got your guns, your bad guys who shoot at you, your boss monsters or whatever. They're pretty much all the same, more or less, and from what I can tell this doesn't look like it's going to stray far from the formula. Not necessarily a bad thing, since the formula is fine (I liked Jamestown), but hopefully it doesn't feel like I've already played it for ten hours after only five minutes.
Let's review my progress so far.
I'll run this concurrently with my other Quest For Value. Each game gets at least an hour of play...for value. Because I love value.
Let's review my progress so far.
- Alien Zombie Megadeath
- Astro Tripper
Defense Grid: The Awakening- Explodemon
FlatOutFuture WarsGreed: Black Border- Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes
- Hack, Slash, Loot
- Trapped Dead
- Twin Sector
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Indie Gala 3: The Quest for Value
It's no secret that I am a big fan of value. That's why I love indie game bundles. True, I already have lots of video games, and I haven't even played all of the ones I currently own. But the value! Think of the value!
But as great as it is to get value, it's dangerous to spend money on things just because they're on sale; it might turn out that you never use them at all. So for the newest Indie Gala bundle, I pledge here and now that I will play each of the games I've just bought for a minimum of one hour each, to see if they're any good. Heck, maybe I'll liveblog them too. Why not?
So what are these games that I've never heard of before I bought them? Uh...good question. I guess I'll take a look at their descriptions and jot down my first impressions.
Trapped Dead: This is some sort of zombie strategy game where you like, control survivors, and it's like a real-time tactical thing where you try and kill all the zombies, or something? Well, I dunno, it doesn't sound that great, and I'm not usually into RTS-type stuff, but I'll give it a shot and see how it turns out. Maybe it'll be fun. Maybe not. We'll see.
Greed: Black Border: This is a sci-fi- hack-'n-slash action game with RPG elements. I like the sound of that. I am a big fan of hack-'n-slash games with RPG elements. I loved X-Men Legends and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King: The Game. Hopefully this has lots of fun hacking and slashing action with a satisfying level-up system. High hopes for this one.
Future Wars: This is another strategy game, but this time it's turn-based. It's a tactical thing, like Advance Wars or whatever. I don't play a lot of this type of game, but I have had some good experiences with turn-based tactical strategy games before. Shining Force is kind of like that, and I loved that one enough to play through it like five times! And I like Fire Emblem, although I never beat it. And I played a lot of the DS version of Age of Empires II and enjoyed that. So maybe I'll like this. It's certainly worth a shot.
Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes: This one is an RPG. I don't usually go for PC RPGs. They're better on handheld consoles, generally. That's why I never finished Cthulhu Saves the World. But I'll try this. It says this is a satirical RPG, which sounds good. I do like satire. And it's another tactical strategy combat system like Shining Force or Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics. Okay. It says you control a party of 10 anti-heroes. Based on the title, I guess that means you're playing as the bad guys? Cool, cool. Sounds promising enough. We'll see.
Twin Sector: Okay, so it's a first-person physics-based puzzle game where you have a red glove and a blue glove and you play as a woman in a futuristic abandoned science lab that's completely empty except for you and a computer voice who tells you what to do and...hey, wait a minute, this is just going to be a Portal knockoff, isn't it? Well, I guess there are worse games that you could rip off. But on the other hand, if you set yourself up next to Portal, you're gonna look bad in comparison. Well, I'll try it and see how it measures up, but...well, we'll see.
Five games. Five hours. Four dollars. It's time to see if it was worth the price.
...Well, okay, it's not time now, because I'm going to bed now. But soon. Soon.
Visit http://www.indiegala.com/ if you want to buy these for yourself, by the way. Proceeds go to charity.
But as great as it is to get value, it's dangerous to spend money on things just because they're on sale; it might turn out that you never use them at all. So for the newest Indie Gala bundle, I pledge here and now that I will play each of the games I've just bought for a minimum of one hour each, to see if they're any good. Heck, maybe I'll liveblog them too. Why not?
So what are these games that I've never heard of before I bought them? Uh...good question. I guess I'll take a look at their descriptions and jot down my first impressions.
Five games. Five hours. Four dollars. It's time to see if it was worth the price.
...Well, okay, it's not time now, because I'm going to bed now. But soon. Soon.
Visit http://www.indiegala.com/ if you want to buy these for yourself, by the way. Proceeds go to charity.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
"Bob, which kind of salsa do you want?"
"Get the ten-pound tub! It's only two cents an ounce!"
The Adventures of Bob, Value Addict
"Bob, I had five creatures in play and you had none! You're telling me you were holding a Wrath of God the whole game and never cast it?"
"Yeah, you still had like five cards in your hand. I was hoping you'd play out more of them so that I could get them all. You know, for value."
"Bob, you died."
"Yeah. I guess maybe I should have cast that Safe Passage at some point."
"You had a Safe Passage too?"
"Well, I was hoping I could wait to cast it until I could set up a good block and get you really good with it. You know...value."
"Actually, that brings up another question. You must have seen at least half your deck that game. Did you really just never draw any creatures?"
"Are you kidding? I had loads of creatures! I had this War Priest of Thune that could have traded with your 4/2, but you didn't have any enchantments for it to destroy, so I thought I'd hold onto it, just in case I could get some value. And I had a Briarhorn, but I figured it would be more value if I could set up a double ambush and kill two of your guys. And there was the Gravetiller Worm, but I was saving it until I could get the Morbid effect active."
"You have a problem, Bob."
"Oh! I meant to tell you! I bought a horse!"
"You bought a what?"
"A horse! Her name is Sissy. She was only fifty bucks! Can you believe it?"
"Get the ten-pound tub! It's only two cents an ounce!"
The Adventures of Bob, Value Addict
"Bob, I had five creatures in play and you had none! You're telling me you were holding a Wrath of God the whole game and never cast it?"
"Yeah, you still had like five cards in your hand. I was hoping you'd play out more of them so that I could get them all. You know, for value."
"Bob, you died."
"Yeah. I guess maybe I should have cast that Safe Passage at some point."
"You had a Safe Passage too?"
"Well, I was hoping I could wait to cast it until I could set up a good block and get you really good with it. You know...value."
"Actually, that brings up another question. You must have seen at least half your deck that game. Did you really just never draw any creatures?"
"Are you kidding? I had loads of creatures! I had this War Priest of Thune that could have traded with your 4/2, but you didn't have any enchantments for it to destroy, so I thought I'd hold onto it, just in case I could get some value. And I had a Briarhorn, but I figured it would be more value if I could set up a double ambush and kill two of your guys. And there was the Gravetiller Worm, but I was saving it until I could get the Morbid effect active."
"You have a problem, Bob."
"Oh! I meant to tell you! I bought a horse!"
"You bought a what?"
"A horse! Her name is Sissy. She was only fifty bucks! Can you believe it?"
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