Hearthstone Beta

Aaaaargh! I have become addicted to this game, help me, it might be worse than this. Seriously though, Hearthstone might only be in beta but it is a great game. It's an online trading card game (TCG) developed by the folks at Blizzard and set in the world of Warcraft (pun not intended). It's free to play and to get into the beta all you need to do is register for it in your Battlenet account.

The game starts you out in a tutorial, which is perhaps a little longwinded and currently unskippable, at least users are reporting errors when they try to. Here you'll learn the basics like hero powers, what cards to play and when. There are 9 different heroes to choose from, each with a unique set of cards and hero power. All hero powers cost 2 mana to play and they really add to making each character distinct. Some examples of hero powers are the Warlock, who loses 2 life and draws a card or the Mage, who gets to deal one damage to any character on the board.

Cards are broken up into 3 types, spells, weapons and minions. Whilst there are cards of all types that are unique to heroes, there is a pool of neutral minions that anyone can select from. Decks are comprised of 30 cards and in Constructed mode you are limited to 2 of the same card. Constructed mode allows you to select cards from your collection, to battle it out in either casual or ranked play. You can also enter Arena mode by paying in-game gold, or real money. In Arena mode you select a hero and then a deck of 30 cards from cards randomly presented to you. There are no restrictions on how many of one card you have in this mode, which can make for some interesting decks. Playing in the Arena gives you rewards such as cards, gold and dust.

Like all TCGs a large part of the addiction factor is collecting the cards. Cards can be crafted by using dust and cards you don't need anymore can be disenchanted into dust, to make the cards you want. You can also buy packs of cards with gold and real money. I think this is a major factor in what got me hooked. There are a lot of cards to collect and creating a new deck with the shiny card you just won can be a lot of fun. And yes there are shiny cards; cards can either be standard or gold and the gold ones are animated and just look cool. The other factor is that you are given a quest everyday, which when you complete gives you gold, plus you can earn 10 gold for every 3 matches that you win. The combination of the addiction to collect and free rewards, has really sucked me in and makes me want to login everyday.

Now, onto the gameplay. It is very similar to Magic the Gathering and those sorts of card games, except it has a much better flow. There is no possibility to play a card on someone else's turn, instead you can play secrets, that are triggered when the other player meets the conditions. For example, the Counterspell secret card that Mages have, will be played on the Mages turn as an undisclosed secret. Then as soon as an opponent plays a spell, it will trigger, countering the spell. This actually speeds up gameplay a lot, as you no longer have to pause constantly and wait for someone to decide if they want to make an action. It is definitely a card game that is designed to be played on a computer and not the other way around. For me the constant flow of the game is what makes it so fun, it even has clever elements such as timed turns that get faster if someone doesn't complete their turn, i.e. goes AFK.

There are numerous glitches in the game as it is only still in the beta stage. Cards will go flying around the screen, there are flickers and odd graphical errors. Sometimes the music will stop, or the sound will appear distant, or distorted. However, the core engine is very solid and these errors rarely get in the way of the gameplay. It's always difficult to judge a game whilst it is still in beta but with the open beta already being pushed back by Blizzard I think they are going to take the time to get this right. Of course Blizzard are notorious for taking a long time with releasing their games, so it will be interesting to see how their first big foray into the world of free-to-play unfolds.

If you are looking for a fast paced action game this is not for you, however, if you want a tactical card game that your are going to end up addicted to look no further. Apply for the closed beta now, or wait for the open beta, which surely is just around the corner. Either way you better start building your card collection now and abandoning friends and family 8.8/10.

Desktop Dungeons

Desktop Dungeons began it's life as a Game Maker game that is still available for download as a sort of demo of the game. It has changed a lot since then, including changing to a Unity based engine. As I too am making a game based in Game Maker, I was interested to play the original to see how much can be done with Game Maker and I was pretty impressed but for the purposes of this review let's look at the full version.

The original isn't as pretty as the full release.

There is a story of forging a new kingdom to ward off the monsters of the world or something but it is all rather silly. The main crux of the game is defeating dungeons and then using that gold to upgrade your kingdom. This will unlock new classes, races, items, etc for you to use in the dungeons. But don't think these upgrades will make the game any easier, quite often an upgrade will also let loose a new dangerous type of monster that will require new tactics to defeat. You really need to be focused when playing Desktop Dungeons as it is quite a challenging game. Dungeons will often take multiple tries to complete and the game explains that dying is learning. Often you just need to learn the pattern of the dungeon but as they quite often randomise key features you can't always rely on your memory. The random nature of the dungeons also means sometimes you get off to a horrible start and other times you find the items and enemies you need straight away. This can be immensely frustrating at times.

Look at those graphix

It's an odd style of gameplay where you just bash into your generally unmoving foes until they die. Then as you explore through the fog of war you regain health and mana. However, there are various additions that mix this all up. Magic plays a big role in this and can give you an edge in combat. So to do shrines. Worshipping at a shrine will grant you powerful benefits but the gods get angered by certain actions like drinking potions, or using magic, so you have to be careful. To switch up from just straight dungeon crawling all the time the game also offers puzzles. Puzzles have a specific way they are to be completed and are meant to teach you about the game. The thing that really tricked me with them is that you don't have to "win" them like you would a dungeon. In a dungeon to win you typically have to beat the strongest monster there but in a puzzle you just need to perform the actions in the correct order. I was trying so hard to be able to beat this one monster and when I figured out all I needed to do is hit it once, well, I was a bit shocked. I really think this could have been explained as it would have made it a lot easier. Oh well you die you learn.

 

I don't normally go for immensely challenging games as some others do but I got a lot of enjoyment out of Desktop Dungeons. There are some annoying issues and the game isn't going to win an award for it's graphical achievements but it has a lot of charm and character. It has a good balance of patient, tactical play and loot grabbing silliness to keep you coming back for more. Plus it's pretty cheap and on Steam, which means it will go on sale eventually, I say at the very least put it in your wishlist 8/10.

LGR Lazy Game Reviews

One of my favourite places to get game reviews, hardware reviews and odd gaming news has become the Lazy Game Reviews YouTube page. Run by the slightly mad Clint Basinger, the page is host to all sorts of reviews and let's plays. Some of the most interesting pieces look at old and obsolete hardware such as the Bernoulli Box, or classic computers like the Apple IIGS. He has also reviewed every Sims 3 major expansion including the latest one, Into the Future. His review style is a little weird and unlike other reviews he doesn't give a game a score but there is something interesting about his reviews as he is a bit of a character. Although he does a lot of new games I find his most interesting stuff is the reviews of older games and hardware. The fact that he actually plays a lot of these games on the old hardware instead of just DOS Box really adds to it, as you get to see the painstaking processes involved in playing early games! If this sounds of interest to you I highly recommend his stuff and remember as Clint would say, "Laziness is a state of mind, not necessarily a (lack of) action."

Card Hunter Review [Windows, Mac, Linux]

Card Hunter is a freemium browser based game for Windows, Mac OS and Linux (if you can get the appropriate version of flash running). You get three heroes, a warrior, mage and paladin, for the single player campaign and off you go to war. Or at least a DnD style RPG bash with cards.

The core mechanic is, the gear you have equipped provides the cards you will be playing with. You get to play one card then your opponent goes, a round is ended when both players decide to pass. It seemed really cool to me at first but as moving is tied to your race/items the game becomes little more than clever manoeuvring. Manoeuvring is alright but really you just want to pull off a cool move and watch your enemy explode, not chase them around the board.

Card Hunter has a single player campaign, competitive multiplayer and they are planning a co-op mode to be released in the near future. The single player campaign follows a cheesy story of you playing the Card Hunter game with your friend. However the game is owned by your friends big brother, who butts in every now and then to tell you that you are doing it all wrong. A cute pizza delivery girl is involved as well but it's all so silly it isn't worth focusing on. As is to be expected in such a game the focus is really on leveling up and collecting sweet loot. In the competitive multiplayer mode you don't level up. Instead you are given a team of already high level characters in order to balance out play. If the client can't find a person for you to play against you will just fight an AI opponent which I found was happening more often than not.

Overall it is a good experience but it just lacks a little depth and fun at times. The game is free and you don't have to buy anything to have fun so it's worth checking out. I think you will only stick to it if you really love waiting for that next piece of loot, because the mechanics just aren't that great 7.3/10

What We Want From Apple

Apple announced a lot at WWDC and I think most of it is good news. However there is still a lot left unsaid and there is plenty more they could do. 

Like a lot of people, my first reaction to iOS 7 is that it looks ugly and a lot like Windows Phone but after watching some hands on videos, I'm going to have to wait until I see it in the flesh to really make that call. The thing that really struck me were the bright colours and the adage, "cheap and cheerful" immediately popped into my head. They way the background moves in relation to the icons, as you move the device around, is super pretty but this is going to be using extra clock cycles on your cpu and gpu. So is all that translucency. What we really want here is the battery saving performance from Mavericks. In theory all of that stuff sounded great but there was no mention of such things for iOS.

Sticking with iOS 7, I would agree that most of these new features are just catching up to their competitors but I think they are going just a tiny bit further in most regards. New ways to search the app store is something that is very much needed right now and I can't think of any app store at the moment, that I would say has great app finding functionality. Most of the other functions they have taken the best of both Android and Windows and cobbled them together, which is a good thing, well until they get sued. I sincerely hope that they have thought out the automatic update feature and stolen the "only on wifi" setting from android, whilst ensuring we get unobtrusive notes on what was changed.

The final point about iOS that I want to make is, nobody wants Apple Maps in their car. If Apple wants people to be interested in Apple Maps, they have to cram it full of data like Google Maps. You can type almost utter nonsense into Google Maps and it will find the damn thing you are looking for. Apple Maps doesn't even know half of the abbreviations for street types like Pde, typing in such a thing will blow it's mind! If they want people to take it seriously they need to work away in the background, doing the boring data collection and minor tweaks that Apple infamously hate to do. Connecting your device to your car was probably Apple's biggest new feature this launch and it is kind of disappointing, that said, I am sure they are holding something back for the 5S due out later this year.

Now onto the Mac stuff. Let's get the most important thing out of the way, Mavericks is a crap name. I think Apple should move onto small cats and call it Ocelot. There is plenty of room for them to move with these names and they could even finish on Sea Cat.

Okay so now that is out of the way, onto the serious stuff. I actually really like Mavericks and I think it will be the one to update to from Lion. So this is my first issue, can we go straight from Lion to Mavericks? Mountain Lion didn't interest me at all and I think a lot of people felt the same, so I hope this is an easy process. One that doesn't involve purchasing Mountain Lion or doing a clean install. The changes to power and RAM usage sound great, though we'll have to wait to see independent tests. Better integration with iOS devices sounds good to me too but I am more excited about finally getting iBooks. There is a lot of exclusive content such as Games Workshops rulebooks available for iBooks that otherwise required an iPad. Hopefully you'll be able to get them on the Mac too.

This just leaves the MacPro. It's an interesting design and if it works as they say it does and it is priced decently, I think it will sell well but there is one problem. It isn't really expandable. You've got six whole Thunderbolt 2 plugs out the back but what are you going to plug into them? A hard drive? Fine, whatever, what we really want is a new GPU. Apple or a third party need to get GPU's that run through Thunderbolt (preferably Thunderbolt 1 so I can upgrade mine). Yes, you can do that right now but it isn't guaranteed to work. Add to this that everything is so expensive for Thunderbolt, even simple hubs, and you make this option even less desirable. But what's even worse is that Apple themselves don't really support Thunderbolt either. The latest Time Capsule as no Thunderbolt port and this is a device that is supposed to be about quick backups. 

As usual Apple try to get you with the reality distortion field and for the most part it has worked but with just a few simple improvements, they could make the whole experience enjoyable, even for cynics like me.

One Sentence Reviews

Pixel People [iOS] It's cool how each new class is unveiled to you in a packet and you get a real sense of childish joy but there is little more to this than a collect it all mentality, still worth the distraction 7/10.

Game of Thrones Ascent [Mac, PC] I was lured in by the bacon but quickly I realised I was wasting my life, so I committed suicide 5/10.

Plants Vs. Zombies [iOS, Android] It's now free for iOS, just get it, 9/10.

The Walking Dead, Episode 1: A New Day [iOS, PC, Mac, PSN, XBOX]

Episode 1 of The Walking Dead is now free for iOS device owners so I decided to grab it . It's only for a limited, unspecified amount of time, so be quick if you want to pick it up. This review is applicable to all of the different platforms though I will be mainly focusing on the iPhone version. If you're not a fan of the T.V. series, you probably will be after playing this game...

The game is heavily story driven and it's gameplay is reminiscent of the much maligned quicktime event. The quicktime-esque gameplay actually works in the games favour. Though this kind of thing has always been clunky, unpredictable and a little imprecise this game feeds off of that. It does make it scarier when you aren't 100% sure what you need to do next. This will probably get on your nerves at times, scrolling around the screen seems a little slower than it needs to be and sometimes it's a bit unclear what you are supposed to be doing before it has all gone wrong.

Graphically the game looks great, it has a realistic yet painterly style to to it and there is plenty of detail. The animations really let it down though, as quite often they are jerky and break up your suspension of disbelief. The audio is great and really sets the tone. What is that beep? What the hell was that!? The audio really conveys what is happening on screen and greatly increases the tension. The voice acting is superb too, with only a few lines that sound out of place.

I had a lot of fun with The Walking Dead but it's just a little short. Releasing it free has definitely tempted me to buy the whole series, I guess $16 isn't too bad, though it's $25 for the PC/Mac. The experience is top quality but if each episode is that short it is a bit lacking in content still it gets an 8/10.

The Top 5 Games of 2012 as Reviewed by AGS*

Like all journalists, when it comes to the end of the year I am too lazy to do anything but make a compilation of the top videogames for the year. Well that isn't entirely true, there are more reviews coming but for now all you get is this.

Puzzle Craft [Android, iOS] A simple little puzzle game that has a lot of depth and it's only going to set you back 99 cents. I do wish this trend of putting 'craft' at the end of everything would end though.

Mechwarrior Online [PC] Although I didn't technically review it, I did make mention of it and it has been one of my favourite games throughout the year. It has just come into open beta which for a game like this basically means it's launched, so I will be posting a review soon. It's safe to say that if you like stomping around, blowing things up and in general feeling all powerful this is a great game and can be played totally for free.

Faster Than Light [Mac, PC] The product of a Kickstarter initiative FTL is a space sim that sees you in control of a ship and it's crew. At full price it is only ten bucks, you will definitely get your moneys worth.

Dishonored [PC, PS3, XBOX 360] This is probably the first stealth shooter I have ever played that felt really satisfying. The story was great, the world was magnificent and it actually has replay value.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown [PC, PS3, XBOX 360] Blasting aliens in turn-based strategy, building up your base and managing your resources. At lot of classic games and gameplay elements made a come back this year and if done right it makes you wonder why these concepts disappeared from the mainstream.

Any of these games would make a wonderful Christmas present for your favourite gamer (no don't buy them for me I own them all) but if you want to get something for someone you hate try Prison Ball.

*Australian Gaming Scene makes no claims that these games were released in 2012, are the best, or are even games.

Knights of the Pen and Paper [iOS, Android (PC/Mac coming soon)]

Knights of the Pen and Paper is a turn based RPG based on playing an actual game of Dungeons and Dragons or other such game. You have all the basics you would expect from the genre, the classes, loot, skills etc. plus they give the game a bit of a twist by partly putting you in the role of the Dungeon Master (DM) as well. It does all this from the perspective of an old school video game RPG with it's sound and graphics appearing as if they were from a Super Nintendo game.

Like I said this game is a bit different in that it gives you some DM like control over the gameplay. You get to choose which quest to do, and how many and what type of monsters you should fight. It does add a little bit of excitement to a game that otherwise uses very tried and true gameplay mechanics. There is a lot of  traditional RPG grind to be found in this game though the quests and loot help break this up a bit. The skills your characters have are fairly stock standard for their class type and you unlock them all fairly fast giving you little to look forward to later on in the game. Loot comes in a range of forms though and you get to power up everyone's armour, as well as load them up with bonus trinkets, and in the most interesting twist buy objects for your gaming room that effect everyone. But again I found that I had every piece I needed of this pretty fast. In it's current form the game offers two quests though only the first one is of any really note.

In it's current build the game has a host of problems. I am sure some of these things will be patched but unfortunately due to their nature many of them will still remain. Judging from their domain name Behold Studios are a Brazilian company and their translation into English is extremely poor. They didn't even manage to spell "yawn" correctly. I encountered a bug where an enemy would succumb to damage over time injuries but the battle wouldn't finish, to counter this I found if you hit defend, it would end properly, hitting anything else caused a crash. Game Centre would constantly reload all of the achievements I had received at the start of every new load.

Bugs and poor translation aside, the game really is a very standard sort of RPG grinder. There are many people who are fans of this genre though and it will appeal to them greatly but it doesn't reinvent the wheel. It is a good little title that will keep you playing for hours and there is a threat of bonus content to come later, though this may be paid DLC. For $2 you still get enough content to justify the purchase just steer clear of it if traditional RPGs aren't your thing 7.7/10.

Octodad Sequel

A new Octodad game is being worked on and is due out next year. Head over to YouTube to watch the latest trailer. You can download the original game for free here.

One Sentence Reviews

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [PC] The greatest RPG ever made for PC, ruined by the fact that it's designed for console, is full of bugs and they make you pick up coins one at a time 9/10.


Roads of Rome [Mac, PC] Build roads, in Rome, pretty good for a casual game, not so good for anything else  7/10.


Extinct! Are You Smarter Than a Plant? [Flash Game] No you are not, plants would never play this game 4/10.

Flash Games

There are a lot of flash games out there, here is a look at a few that are definitely worth your time.

In Radical Fishing you fish the "man's way", which means after you've caught as many fish as you can, you launch them all into the sky to be shot. Yes that's right in order to 'catch' the fish, you need to have blasted them to pieces. Each time you blast a fish you get money to buy new equipment to make your fishing experience better. If you are looking for some quick simple fun, it is really hard to go past this one.
You can check it out on Sugar Toast here.

Obey the Game is a collection of rapid mini games in the vein of something like Wario Ware. You play as an elephant trapped in a series of mini games and you must obey the orders you are given. That is unless it tells you to disobey, it seems simple enough but as the game gets faster and faster it becomes hard to resist your initial urge to either obey the orders or disregard them completely. While I think some people would love this game, it is the weakest of the three mentioned here. It is an Armor Game and it is available here.

A Game About Literacy has a bit of a misleading title. It is a fairly straight forward platformer with a few twists and although for the early levels it is important to read the title of the level, the literacy part of the game takes a back seat later on. I don't think it ever mentions you can wall jump but you can so remember that for later on. Otherwise it is quite a quick game but still an interesting one. Also correct me if I'm wrong but I believe you play as a chair. It is available on Daily Flash Games here.

Free Games!

Here are a couple of free games available for mac and pc. The first is Super Crate Box, an old school platform shooter. The aim of the game is to collect as many crates as possible whilst blasting away all the monsters. The monsters appear from the top of the screen and drop down slowly toward a fire pit. If you let them fall in the fire pit they will not die but come back from the top of the screen angrier and faster than ever!

The game allegedly has support for controllers but in Mac OS I could not get my Logitech controller to work and this is the kind of game that needs the precision of a controller. Playing this game using my keyboard frustrates me greatly yet there are a few compelling features to keep one playing even after the frustration sets in. As you go along you unlock new weapons such as the flamethrower (my personal favourite) or the disc shooter, which bounces off walls and can potentially slice you in half. You also unlock new levels, characters and game modes.

The next game is JCloisterZone which is a free way to play Carcassone and it's expansions. You can play with friends or bots which makes it easy to find a game and there is even online multiplayer. The game doesn't teach you how to play the game though, so a working knowledge of how to play is needed or you could just try and pick it up as you go. It includes a whole range of expansions but ones marked with an asterisk cannot be play by AI. It is constantly being worked on by it's creator so there may be plenty more exciting updates on the way.

One Sentence Reviews

[iPhone] Oregon Trail - An interesting historical game with absolutely no replay value whatsoever. 5/10

[Mac/PC] Bloons TD 4 - Monkeys, balloons, tower defence and it's free, what's not to like? 7/10
Check it out here.