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."

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star {Android, iOS]

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star is Tiny Tower in space. Just like Tiny Tower you are in charge of a series of rooms stacked one upon the other and you need to manage their day to day affairs. Restock stores, deliver people to floors and get bitizens to move into your apartments. However it's not all the same, the game introduces some new ideas and streamlines some functionality of the previous title.

The premise behind the game is that the Emperor needs to make money to fund the Death Star, so the Empire rents out space to shops and apartments. You can also build Imperial levels which go below your other levels and they allow you to complete Imperial Assignments. Like in the last game people come to your lobby and you take them by elevator to the floor they want to go. The twist in this one is that you can take anyone down to an Imperial level to speed up it's production time. My favourite is to take unsuspecting Gungans down to the interrogation room to be tortured. Well they just walk through the room but I like to think they are being tortured.

Other new features are things like, you don't have to spend money to buy stock for your stores and the Emperor gives you missions to complete but the main new thing is that this is Star Wars. The Star Wars factor is probably the only real appealing thing as if you've played Tiny Tower you've played this. Again it is a pay or wait type game so it isn't as interactive as other titles out there but the little details can really suck you in. When the Cantina theme plays or an Imperial Guard moves into one of your apartments, it really brings that fun Star Wars feel to the game and these are the moments you play it for. The game gets you to chase rebel spies and sometimes plays little vignettes of events going on which add a bit of atmosphere to the game.

At first I was quite surprised buy the generosity of the special offers going on in the store but I quickly released how limited these are. The game wants you to decide straight away on a purchase as the more you play the worse the deals get. This is a step in the right direction but ultimately it falls flat, which is a shame as I thought it would be something I would purchase.

If you haven't played Tiny Tower or you are a Star Wars fanboy you have to play this game; it's free so you won't lose anything. It's bound to while away a good amount of your time before the repetitive nature of it brings it all crashing down 7.5/10.

Review of DeSmuME the NDS Emulator

Want to emulate DS games on your Mac, PC or Linux? Then DeSmuME is the application for you! Well probably don't try and run it on Mac as it is way too slow and I can't speak for Linux but in Windows it runs fine. Want to emulate DS games and dual (triple, etc.) boot into Windows? Then this is the application for you!

So far I have played Super Mario 64 DS, Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown wars. Some of the top rated games on the system. They have all been almost unplayable on Mac, Super Mario ran too slowly, Bowser's Inside Story had glitches as pictured below and GTA wouldn't even run. So I gave up and focused on Windows, everything ran and for the most part it ran smoothly. I did have a few issues with Bowser's Inside Story such as sound glitches and an error that almost caused it to crash, yet somehow clicking around fixed it.

To play these games I was using a Logitech Dual Action Controller as well as a mouse to control the touch screen. It worked well enough but there are probably going to be some games that won't work very well on PC; Metroid Prime: Hunters springs to mind. Though that game was basically unplayable on the DS anyway. The unique combination of touch screen and gamepad that makes up the DS is always going to be tricky to replicate but I found these games to be playable enough.

It's hard not to recommend DeSmuME even if it has a stupid name. As long as you are using it in Windows it runs quite well and there are a tonne of games out there for you to play. Yes there are some issues with the emulator but they are pretty minor and the team is still working on them, the latest update was released in the middle of this year. As long as you're willing to run DeSmuME under Windows I say go and get it and pick some ROMs up here 9/10.

Tower of Fortune [iOS]

Tower of Fortune [iOS] Tower of Fortune 2 is now out which means the original is free to play. It is best described as an RPG with pokie gameplay. You are basically playing slot machines, leveling up and getting loot.

 

It's a very simple game, you just take your chances on the rolls of the slots. Whatever symbol lands in the first position determines the result, any matching symbols after that just add to the result. For example a skull means the enemy strikes, a sword means you strike etc. In terms of gameplay there isn't much else to it, yet like the pokies it is some what addictive. It's the kind of game you want to play when you are too tired, or have no attention span for much more complex, interesting games.

When you die you lose all your levels and equipment. What you do keep is your gold and any of the tower you have unlocked. Dying is immensely frustrating but it does add to the longevity of the game. I do wish it was less punishing and let you keep your equipment slots as those things are very expensive but I have continued to pick it up even after my untimely death so there must be something to it.

If you want something to zone out and play I think it is good fun but it isn't something that is particularly engaging. As it's free now I think it is worth picking up,  it is way better than actually playing pokies that's for sure 7/10.

Case Blue DLC for Company of Heroes 2 [Windows]

Relic and Sega want to charge you $13 US for some Theatre of War DLC, that was included free with some pre orders and the collectors edition. Is it worth it?

You get one co-op scenario, two solo challenges and two AI battles. That seems like a decent amount of content but it doesn't take long to finish it all. In one of the solo challenges you pilot a tiger tank, which is actually a pretty enjoyable mission but it is just a rehashed idea from the previous games DLC. The co-op mission is by far the standout. It sees one player as an armoured division and the other as an infantry division. They will have to work together to balance each others weaknesses.

It's a cool addition for free but if you have to pay I think you are best to wait. It will come on sale on Steam at some point or it will be bundled with some other DLC and that will make it worth the money. As it stands it is too short and doesn't really add much we haven't seen before, especially considering that Relic release new multiplayer maps for free 7.5/10.

Tight Arse Gaming News

EA have released Battlefield 1942 for free and you can download it now on Origin. The Battlefield 4 Beta is also available for free too. Though some would say the cost of having Origin installed on your machine is quite a hefty one and I would tend to agree, DICE do make some pretty sweet games. So go get them!

Three Free App reviews [iOS, Android]

FIFA 14 [iOS, Android] It's cool, really cool; you can play with touch controls which is very relaxing or more intensely with an onscreen control pad and I like that. They want you to pay for some stuff but that's okay because you get to do a lot for free, even play as an A League team! However connecting to Origin is entirely broken both on Android and iOS, so once you get past the initial stages you can't do anything 6/10.

Pocket Trains [iOS, Android] It's sort of a game that you don't play; you wait around for your trains to get their goods to the destination, then you tell them what to do. It's not bad, it feels enjoyable when you do play it, it's just that you need to be playing another game, or doing something else, otherwise you'll just get bored 5/10.

Turbo Racing League [iOS, Android] I've had this game on my phone for months now but the movie has only just come out here so it seems like the most appropriate time to review it. It's a simple racer but it includes a lot of different race modes, boosts and upgrades which keep you coming back to the game.  It's a very highly polished game but there are some annoyances, it bombards you with ads and the tracks seem bland and repetitive after a while. Sill it's the pick of the bunch 7.2/10.

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