Faster Than Light [Mac, PC]

Faster Than Light (FTL) is a Kickstarter project that has come to fruition. You are in charge of a spaceship and it's crew, that is on a mission to stop the rebel invasion. The game gives you a top down view of your ship and you must direct each of your crew members about. Whether you tell them to use a system, or repair one, or even board an enemies ship, is up to you. If this sounds like your kind of game already then just go out and buy it, it's only $10.

The game is quite difficult and in normal difficulty it is a challenge to finish. You'll want every last piece of scrap you can find in order to upgrade your ship. There are plenty of different ways to upgrade your ship and you'll never be able to afford them all, so you need to choose wisely. This has made me want a freeplay mode where you have unlimited time to upgrade your ship and just blast about the galaxy however you want. Perhaps it is a hidden unlock I haven't found yet. That is one thing about this game there are lots of things to unlock. Not only do you get new ships from completing various feats but each ship has a variant to unlock through completing different goals.

Battling aliens, recruiting new team members, buying that upgrade you so desperately need, all of this makes for a great game but there are a few let downs. The game can feel too random at times, it can be so hard or too easy just because of a few random dice rolls going on in the background. this does however give it an old school kind of feel and that is no doubt endearing to some. There are also small little niggles that I sincerely hope are corrected in future updates like no cloud saves and autofire turning off between saves but I these are not major problems.

A cheap price, an innovative take on space combat and a lovely nostalgic feel make this game hard to ignore. It is not perfect but there is something so loveable about it that it is hard not to recommend 8.5/10.

One Sentence Reviews

Montopia [iOS, Android] A game about battling monsters, yet you don't control the monsters whilst battling 2/10.

Fluffy Diver [iOS, Android] A shameless rip-off of Tiny Wings; the name and the fact that animals hold signs that say "Ride Me", point to this game being a euphemism but they claim it raises money for Harp seals 5/10.

Great Little War Game [iOS, Android] It seems so easy to make a grid based war game but it is amazing what little features can make or break a game 6/10.

Plague Inc [iOS, Android]

In Plague Inc you play as a pathogen whose aim is to spread to all humans and wipe them out. It's a cool premise and one that I think we will see become more developed in subsequent games inspired by Plague Inc.

I wish there was more space to write silly names for your pathogen.

You'll start the game out as a bacteria, each time you finish the game as your chosen pathogen you will unlock a new type. The difficulty curve is incredibly steep, in fact the first 3 pathogen types are probably the hardest.The game gives you incorrect advice at times which really doesn't help this either.

Do not listen to this advice if you want to win.

The other problem the game has it that there is very little to do. You plonk your disease down onto some unsuspecting country then you wait for it to spread. Occasionally a DNA bubble will pop up which you burst, or maybe your disease will spread to another country giving you another bubble to burst but most of the time is spent waiting.

Pop bubbles to get more DNA points to develop.

There is some fun to be had in this game though. Once you have enough DNA you get to upgrade your pathogen and some of the malicious things you get to unleash, such as Total Organ Failure are great fun to let loose on the world.

Graphically there is nothing amazing in the game. As your chosen pathogen spreads across the Earth you get ugly lines everywhere and it isn't very appealing. The music is repetitive though it isn't too annoying. A recent patch added in extra sounds that I find quite irritating, little beeps and noises that aren't always matching up to what is going on in the game.

The map gets quite ugly as your disease spreads.

Overall the game is in that grey zone, if it appeals to you, you will probably get it and enjoy it but if the concept doesn't appeal to you and you aren't looking for a challenge it is best avoided 6.9/10.