Oceanhorn [iOS]

Oceanhorn was developed by Cornfox & Bros who are a Finnish game developer. This game has received rave reviews and at the time of writing it sits on a Metacritic score of 92. Basically saying it is one of the greatest games of all time. Is it that great? The simple answer is no, a lot of flaws have been overlooked in it's achievement of that score but it is still a good game, let me explain.

You play a boy on a Zelda Winder Waker-esque quest to save the world. You travel from island to island in your boat, which triggers a shoot 'em up mini game. This is probably the easiest part of the game as everything in your path has a giant hit-box, it makes for a good way to stock up on money and items. Most of your adventuring will take place on these islands in their dungeons. You have your typical sword and shield, plus you find other classic Zelda items along the way such as the bow, bombs and even heart containers. Plus you push boxes around to solve puzzles. It sounds pretty good really. Take a classic game and bring it to iOS, well...

Unfortunately Oceanhorn suffers from a lot of flaws, these range from bugs, to aspects of the game that weren't playtested enough. I'll give you a few examples. Unlike in a Zelda game, it's not obvious when you have finished with a dungeon. There is rarely any plot development at the end of a dungeon, rather you get an item that can help you in the next area and you awkwardly move on thinking, "Did I miss something?"At one stage, you have to climb along the gate you want to open in order to solve the puzzle. Why not just jump down off the gate? It's moments like these that break any suspension of disbelief you may have with the game and bring you back to awkward reality. You can pass through some solid objects, the game chugs at points on my iPhone 5, the enemy A.I. ranges from dumb to far too accurate and devastating. All of these things make the game frustrating at times. At lot of them are little but when taken together lead to distraction from the game experience. The worst offence is when you die to a boss. Now you'll want to go back and fight them again, of course but there probably won't be enough pots to smash around you to get back all your health and arrows to fight them again. This means you'll have to back track, which just takes time without adding anything to the gameplay.

But Oceanhorn does have a lot of enjoyable moments too. Adventuring is fun, I always want to see what is next and what new item I will put out of a chest. Levelling up is a pretty cool feature and something that Zelda certainly lacks. The boosts you get from each level are small but they do add up and it is something to look forward to. The graphics and audio are superb. The way the ocean realistically waxes and wanes, whilst the sun shines brightly off it, looks stunning. It makes me want to go swimming. The music was done by two Japanese composers Kenji Ito and Nobuo Uematsu who are probably most famous for working with Square, on titles like Final Fantasy and Secret of Mana. The music does a great job of driving the story and applying the overall mood for the scene. I do also enjoy that the game is challenging because it really does give you a solid sense of achievement when you accomplish something. The problem is that often the challenge isn't due to clever game design but rather awkward controls, poor game design or bugs.

Oceanhorn is a big adventure for an iOS game and it took me a bit over the claimed 10 hours to complete. There is definitely a good game here but it is not for everyone. If you are looking for a challenging, beautiful, yet ultimately flawed Action RPG, this is worth picking up 7.9/10.

3 Games That Are Now Free To Play

There are a lot of games converting over free to play at the moment. Asphalt 8 and AVP Evolution are taking the microtransaction route, whilst Mecho Wars has just become free to play. 

Asphalt 8 [iOS, Android]

Asphalt 8 was a dollar to play for a short time, with plenty of pay for extras options and now it is a free to play, pay for extras game, confused? Good. The game offers a bunch of control modes with the worst being the on screen controls, meaning that tilt is the only real option. If this was a serious racer that would be a big problem but as it's an arcade, crash your way to the top title, it's not such a big deal. The crashes are completely ridiculous with minor taps sending cars flying and scoring you points. Sometimes cars will ram into me and this will count as me destroying them, granting me extra turbo bonuses. It's totally silly but that's half the fun. 

The menu is atrocious with everything smashed onto one screen and the most useful item, the settings button, is reduced to a tiny blip in the corner. Otherwise the presentation of the rest of the game is quite good. The graphics are top notch and it features music from some great musicians including my favourite Go with the Flow by Queens of the Stone Age. Some people are bound to love this game and if you want an over the top silly racer this is for you. For me though, I don't think racing titles will move into the "great" category on phones until titles are released with universal controller support, which, incidentally isn't too far away 7.2/10.

Mecho Wars [iOS, paid on Android]

My first impressions of this game were bad. It's full of typos, the story is horrendous, the graphics are an odd mix and the tutorial goes on for far too long. Basically I wished it was Advance Wars, the game on which it is clearly based. Yet, I kept playing and eventually I was hooked. It may lack the complex tactics of more advance turn based strategies but there is still some substance here. Once you learn which unit does what (and trust me the bizarre art style does not help this) the game begins to make sense. What it does lack though, are clear indicators of defensive bonuses, easy to find attack radiuses and just any useful information in general. The most outstanding feature is probably the music which apparently was nominated for a bunch of awards. I quite enjoyed it though I am suspicious that one of the songs is actually from Star Wars!

If I was playing this game on a Gameboy Advance or a PC, I think I would laugh at it till it ran off into a corner never to be seen again. But phones have such few options when it comes to turn based strategy that this ends up okay 7.3/10.

AVP Evolution [iOS, paid on Android]

It's cool because it's Aliens Vs Predators and those creatures are just cool. Unfortunately the game knows this and it doesn't really try hard at all to do anything with it. The original two games on PC will always be the classics, looked back upon for inspiration despite the fact they were hardly groundbreaking at the time. However they did incorporate a lot of classic moments from the movies in a relatively seamless and fun way. Now every game after them has to try to do this and it just isn't fresh anymore. You have to burst out of a chest and walk around as a stupid snake that can't do anything. There is no real jump in the game and the snake thing just jumps when necessary. You can't climb as the alien except where it wants you to and those sequences are just painful. Despite all of this I thought I chose to play as the Predator but I spend more time as the alien.

As far as I can tell the gameplay is about fighting with the camera and then bashing to death anything that isn't you. I could say more but what's the point? This is for fans only 5.9/10.

Eldritch [Windows]

Eldritch by Minor Key Games is a First Person Roguelike, set in a Lovecraftian world. It looks a lot like Minecraft and plays something akin to Dishonored with guns, knives and magic. It's an indie title and it only costs $14.99 USD, if that's got your interest keep reading.

Knowing this was a roguelike I set about my first play quite cautiously. I snuck about, got stealth kills and looted every bit of treasure. Doing this I found the game got a little tedious and I had become complacent at how powerful I felt I had become. So I started running about, killing things in the noisiest way possible and not looting everything. Then the game threw something new at me and I died. When you die in this, you can keep all of the artefacts you have banked and you can keep your progress in the way of unlocked books but everything else is lost. This means items are gone, as well as any progress you achieved without unlocking a book. Artefacts act as your currency as well as fuel for your magic powers and books are your gateway into the next world.

After my first death I wasn't frustrated with the game but rather I wanted to get back at it. I thought I knew how to solve my problem and I had learnt a lot through my first play through. I was really impressed with the way the game taught me things without throwing it in my face. I learnt how to manoeuvre through spikes by watching worms, for example and I thought the game had a lot in store in terms of this. However the game is rather short and this is it's most disappointing feature. I was hoping for an expansive RPG world with lots of items and things to do but I finished the game in one session. You can go back and play the game on an extra hard setting which is a nice challenge but it adds little to the gameplay. There aren't a huge variety of weapons and there aren't many things to learn.

Eldritch has a great atmosphere and loads of interesting ideas but it runs out of steam too soon. This adventure is going to have huge appeal to a small niche of people and I think that's really what they aimed for 7/10.

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."

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.