Banished [Windows]

So, you are in charge of a small group of people who have been banished and you need to start your own town. The game plays something akin to Sim City and The Settlers and it's set in the medieval era. This seems like a winning formula so let's check it out.

Depending on which difficulty you select you'll start out with a bunch of goods and some people. The harder the difficulty the less goods and citizens you will have. Then you will have to look around the landscape and start planning out your town. Food and firewood, are important resources to start gathering and they will need to be stockpiled for when the harsh winter rolls in. Surviving the winter is one of the biggest challenges of the game and not being prepared for it can kill your towns inhabitants. The game also has disasters like tornadoes and fires, plus infectious diseases can break out amongst your livestock and crops. So yes, survival is the main aim of the game.

Unfortunately Banished is not without its issues. I did encounter a few bugs, the most annoying of which was my cursor disappearing. I also had the bug that only allows you to install it on C: drive though there is a work around for that here. I also had a known bug that causes the game to crash when you are viewing the paths your citizens use.  They are fairly minor issues and they are being looked into but as the developer is only a very small company, it may take sometime to resolve all this, which is one thing to consider when purchasing. There isn't a huge amount of content in Banished and the late game suffers a little from this. Sure you can collect every last type of seed and livestock but that isn't as rewarding as having something completely new and different to build. However, the developers will be launching a modkit soon which will hopefully alleviate this problem. The only thing is again you are going to have to wait.

I know a lot of people like me were looking forward to the release of Sim City but were bitterly disappointed with the poor decisions made by Maxis and EA on that title. I think a lot of people who felt that way will really enjoy this game because it has so much more charm and even comes in a DRM free version. For those of you who are big fans of this genre it is a must have right now, for everyone else, it is worth waiting and picking up on sale. Once the modding community has got its hands on the modkit, the major issue of lack of content will disappear and judging by it's current success it may even see an expansion or two. This game is like a fine wine, it needs time to reach its full potential but I really think it will make it there 7.9/10.

Titanfall Beta Hands On [Windows, Xbone]

There is a lot of buzz around Titanfall and when I was sent a free beta code to stress test it I couldn't resist. I do love the idea of giant mechs running around blowing each other and everyone up. Titanfall is by Respawn whose main claim to fame, (which the ads won't shut up about) is that it has people who once worked on Call of Duty.

It starts you off in a pretty in-depth training "simulation" where you learn how to run about as a pilot and as a titan. There is a lot to this game and the lengthy tutorial is very much needed. As a pilot you can parkour off walls, double jump, kill other pilots in a variety of ways and you even get an anti-titan weapon as part of your arsenal. Titans can do a swift dodge, fire their main gun, fire their powerful secondary weapon and even put up a shield that catches bullets and fires them back. Plus you can get out of your titan and have it follow you or guard itself. It's a lengthy list of abilities and something that you are going to forget instantly as you jump into your first multiplayer match but it shows the game has a lot of depth.

Running on my computer

I was surprised at how well the game ran on my computer which is starting to show it's age now. I turned everything to low but ran it at my native resolution of 2560x1440 and it still looked beautiful and ran smoothly. I had no issues with servers either, unlike some players, it was quick for me to find a match and get playing. I had a fairly high ping at times but I didn't really notice any major lag issues.

The full beauty according to EA

There are some odd things about this game and I'm not quite sure how I feel about them. Polygon called it the perfect game for people who are terrible at first person shooters and in a way I agree. There are only 6 people in a match but there are also minions that run around and mostly just wait to be blasted, sort of like in a MOBA. They can be fun and even put up a bit of resistance at times but many have complained that they'd rather have more actual live humans playing the game. Respawn have yet to announce how many gameplay modes there will be and currently in the beta there are 3 plus one that randomises all 3 together. As the game is going full multiplayer only, I really think they should add a mode with double the players to keep things interesting. We'll have to wait and see on that though. It's also weird that despite these hugely powerful titans you have at your disposal there, is basically no object destruction in game at all. I guess I have been a little spoiled with the Battlefield series but it seems odd that the world itself is so static.

I've had a lot of fun with beta so far and there are a lot of cool ideas in it. Things like evacuating to a dropship when you've lost the game for some bonus xp and jumping on a titan when you are a pilot and  blowing it's brains out are cool additions but I'm not convinced yet. For a full price game it's really gotta have some exciting modes and whilst I found Attrition and Last Titan Standing fun, the Hardpoint mode seemed a little lacklustre. I say go and give it a bash in the beta if you can but it hasn't made me want to preorder it. I want to wait and see what the full offering has in store.

Oh and if anyone has an Xbone, I have a beta code for it, just message me.

Octodad Dadliest Catch [Mac, Linux, Windows, PS4]

This game is killing me. I was so excited for a full-blown Octodad game but now I just can't play it. I fire it up for a bit and then after a few minutes I want to stop. This makes it nearly impossible to review but I have stuck with it. I am going to make this a short review because I need my sanity.

The controls are fun because they are so wild and a little bit unpredictable but that also makes them so taxing. The most fun I have, is when I get so frustrated that I go on a rampage and do all the wrong things, or the game glitches out a little bit and something whacky happens. Unfortunately, that isn't the aim of the game. I just don't care to complete the games puzzles as they don't feel rewarding at all. The only reward is more awkward puzzles and more frustration. I'm sure there are sadomasochists out there who would love this game but that really isn't my style.

I hate these escalators so much!

Octodad is fun at times but the frustration overtakes the moments of joy. Sure the graphics might be better and there is a bit more polish but when Octodad was a freeware game it was short and to the point, unique even but it lacks any real new ideas since then. Playing this game makes me sad, why would Octodad want to live the life of a human? Everything is so hard for him. I think the best thing to do is put him down 5/10.

That's it, leave me alone, I'm off to shock my genitals or anything more pleasurable than this. Happy Valentines Day!

Broken Age Review [Mac OS, Windows, Linux]

Man that was a short ride but what a ride! Broken Age is a point and click adventure that has been broken into two parts. For the price of $25 US dollars you get Act 1 now and when it's ready Act 2 for free later. Or you could have kickstarted it but that was a long time ago now. It even has a tie in with Australia in that the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra recorded the soundtrack.

Right off the bat you'll notice how beautiful this game is, they have gone for an animated style rather than realistic but it totally suits the theme. Perhaps the most captivating aspect is the animations. The main characters are animated so smoothly that they blend beautifully into the world and there are plenty of whacky on screen antics to keep you amused. The music is incredible, as are the sounds and the voices are supplied by a star studded cast. There is that hobbit guy and the Adventure Time guy and even that women who is in all the games.

 

Gameplay is what you would expect from an adventure game. You talk to people, get items, make the items do silly things and solve logic puzzles. In general I found the logic to be pretty understandable and you were guided enough to know what to do, without it taking away from your sense of discovery. There was one time though, when I tried to combine an item with another item but I did so too early and not in the right screen. This meant I stomped around in frustration not knowing what to do next. Aside from that I found it to be quite flowing if a little short.

You'll want to take your time with this game, get stuck on puzzles and stare at the odd animations as it is all over very quickly. This is only Act 1 though and Act 2 will be free, so it isn't a big deal but that second Act is going to take a long time to come out. To get the first half done it took 2 years but at this point the optimistic view is Act 2 will be out next year. This is disheartening because the game leaves you on such a brilliant cliffhanger. I need to know what happens next and I need to know now god damn it!

That's sort of the thing with Broken Age it was all a bit of a gamble and it still is. I feel pretty invested in the story now and I really want to know what happens next but will it be as good as what I have just witnessed? We'll just have to wait and see. Because of this it makes the game really tough to score. I had a lot of fun with it but it just leaves me wanting more and there is little to no replay value. I think I'll give it an optimistic 8.5/10. It really is a joy to play and I highly recommend it but I'm worried about getting caught in the hype and promise of the next act.