Build-a-Bundle 3

Well well well, what have we here? Another Groupees bundle? Another "Pick the games you want" gimmick? Well, well, well. Let's inspect the goods.

So. Secret of the Magic Crystals.



Okay, it's, um, a horse-breeding sim. Uh...um...hang on, I feel an infographic coming on...

Also, double take, is that a Nightmare? I am pretty sure that's a Nightmare. Yeah, that's definitely a Nightmare.

So. Uh. This game. What is it? Is it like...uh...the closest comparison point I am coming up with is the Chao Garden from Sonic Adventure and sequel. That...actually, that might not be too bad. Hmm.

Moving on, we have Detour.



This is some sort of real-time strategy game intended for multiplayer. So okay, two things right off the bat. First, I don't play RTS games. Second, who exactly am I going to be playing with, R.O.B. the Robot? I don't have any friends who own this game, do I? At least I don't think I do. And is it worth getting into?

In its defense, it's a nice concept. You don't see a lot of RTS games that have no combat. It's all about building roads and disrupting the other guy's roads, and the goal is to clear a path for your trucks to make deliveries. I've seen worse premises.

Moving on again: Omegalodon.



The kaiju thing is nice and all, but I'm sorry, this is clearly a game that's heavily focused on multiplayer, and I just don't think the servers will have, like, people, y'know? Look at that gameplay and tell me with a straight face that you can enjoy it with one or two players. I just don't see it. Again, it's the problem of "I have no friends playing it" and "Even if I did, why would we play this instead of something else?" And it's not on Steam, either, so minus points for that.

Next is War in a Box: Paper Tanks.



Or as I like to call it, Generic Tower Defense #92: Rehash Edition. I'm really sorry, guys, I'm sure you worked hard on this game and it's got really cute graphics and everything, but...I already own it. I already own two dozen damn versions of it. And I can play another five dozen for free. This market is more oversaturated than six spoonfuls of sugar in a shot of iced tea. I am not going to buy another clone like this one.

Moving right along, Apox.



This is some sort of real-time strategy game intended for multiplayer. So okay, two things right off the bat. First, I don't play RTS games. Second, who exactly am I going to be playing with, R.O.B. the Robot? I don't have any--wait, hang on, deja vu.

Okay, so from the look of it, this is standard RTS fare, with the main gimmick being the introduction of tactical first-person-shooter elements such as hiding in cover.

Why would I want that? Somebody must have woken up one day and thought, "You know what this RTS game needs? More finicky micromanaging of individual units!" Now, to be fair, I haven't played it, so for all I know it's actually well-executed and handles beautifully. But, uh, given its Metacritic score of 48, I'm not terribly inclined to give it a chance.



Can I be the first to say that CreaVures has beautiful visuals? No, I can't? Somebody already said it? Oh, okay then. Well, it does look very nice.

Aside from that, I don't think I have much to say. It's a platformer. I have lots of platformers. Is it any good? Well, I looked at some reviews and the consensus seems to be that it's short and not very challenging. So, meh.



This Chrome, or SpecForce, or Chrome SpecForce, whatever it's called...I dunno, it's like a stealthy-type FPS, right? It's just that first-person shooters in general are, like, dead to me. I mean, I have two Half-Life and three Serious Sam games in my Steam library all untouched. And those are supposed to be the really good ones. If I were playing a shooter, why would I play this shooter?

A lot of people like this sort of game. I dunno, I guess I'm just not one of them. Must be one of those "No accounting for taste" things.



And then there's Kaptain Brawe, which is a point-and-click adventure. Yeah...again...this, uh, this whole genre. Doesn't...doesn't really do it for me. And it doesn't look like this one is doing anything particularly different or interesting. So...meh? I don't really see myself playing this.

And the lastly, we have 99 Levels to Hell.



Out of all the games in this bundle, this one interests me the most. It's got dungeon-crawling, exploration, character development, platforming, and unforgiving death mechanics. Maybe I'm just on a roguelike kick after spending a combined 325-ish hours on Dungeons of Dredmor and The Binding of Isaac, but this 99 Levels to Hell thing seems kind of cool. It's--wait, hang on, it's not on Steam? And it's...it's still in Alpha? Really? >_<

It does look like fun, though.

So where does this leave us?

I'd say in order of most to least interested: 99 Levels to Hell, Secret of the Magic Crystals, CreaVures, Chrome + SpecForce, Detour, War in a Box: Paper Tanks, Apox, Omegalodon, Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World.

But hey, this is a Build-a-Bundle! I get to pick only the ones I actually want. So I'll just snag the top two and forget the rest. Sound good? Sounds good to me. Yoink!

That's all for this time.