Tuesday 18 March 2014

Indie Rotunda


Humble Bundle: A Bundle Of Love For Brandon Boyer
Price: $25
Available until 20/3/14

You don’t need told to buy this. You may already have some of the games on the list but the amazing beautiful Castle in the Sky, Robbie’s man crush Thomas Was Alone and the art game Proteus. It has a few duffers there too(Such as McPixel, there are not enough words in the English language to express how I loathe thee), but these are few in number. So buy it!! And don’t forget how awesome our NHS system.
Worth it?
Yes.

Humble Bundle Weekly: SEGA
Available Until 20/3/2014
Price: $6 ($15)

Alpha Protocol
Claims to be a Stealth Action RPG. In reality it a boring, and frequently frustrating, game. Small amounts of customisation do not an RPG make.
Company of Heroes
I'm sure that this is a very good game, its just I don't get RTS WW2 games.
Rome: Total War
Historical Real Time/Turn based strategy set in the time of Romans. Again, I'm sure its good, I just find them boring.
Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit
The Rabbit Prince of Hell loves his ducky. Some dastardly cad takes photos and posts them on HellBook. Stupid juvenile humor, gory and entertaining. Controls are a bit shonky but the plot will keep you going.
The Typing of The Dead: Overkill
Mavis Beacon meets Grindhouse B Movie. True happiness is killing a fat zombie by typing "Man Boobs". Yes, its as bugnuts as it sounds.
Binary Domain
Surprisingly entertaining FPS with plenty of robots to shoot in the face. Uses voice recognition to manage the squad.
Renegade Ops
Twin stick shooter in trucks. Better with friends.
10 Classic SEGA Genesis Games
Collection of retro games from Sega. Altered Beast, Comix Zone, Crack Down, Ecco the Dolphin, Gain Ground, Golden Axe, Golden Axe 2, Golden Axe 3, Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master and Vectorman.
Total War: SHOGUN 2
Historical RTS/TBS but in Japan. Ok I didn't pay top tier this, as I'd never play it. Looks good and has positive reviews. Probably good if you like that sort of thing.
Medieval II: Total War
Historical RTS/TBS*

*By this point I was utter miffed with HRTSTBS, I don’t like em. If you do, tell me if its any good. Seriously, I hate them, I’d rather poke myself in the eye with a fork!

Worth It?
Yes if you like Historical RTS/TBS type games. Also yes if you like crazy stupid games (Hell Yeah and TOTD)




Thursday 13 March 2014

Indie Biscuit Roundup: SPECIAL!


Humble Bundle: Devolver
Price: $10

I’m not going to review this one. Being a Brit has the benefits of the NHS. When my father was dying with cancer, he got the very best care without having to worry about bankrupting his family. I’m alive today because our health care is universal. Several of my friends are alive and happy because, through no fault of their own, survived serious accidents or illness without having to worry about how they were going to pay. I honestly don’t know why some Americans are so against Universal Health Care, it genuinely baffles me. You know what else baffles me? In the UK our healthcare system is being privatized and no one seems to notice. It saddens me greatly that money is being put before peoples health, and a situation such as this chap will happen in our country. So GO GET IT NOW!

Bundle includes:-Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition, Shadow Warrior Classic Redux, Defense Technica, Marc Eckō's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, Cosmic DJ

Worth it?
YES. Help Brandon Boyer kick cancer in the balls.

Thursday 6 March 2014

Indie Rodeo for WB 3rd March 2014



This weeks Indie Rodeo is brought to by the letters H (for hungry) and P (for painkillers), so a little more random and prone to insanity. I’d love to say normal service will resume next week, but I have no idea what normal actually is.

blinkbundle

Blink Bundle: Hidden Gems Bundle


Available until 7/3/14
Price: $4.99 (£2.98)

Blue Toad Murder Files - A very English murder mystery, like a playable version Midsomer murders. Brave attempt at pulling multiplayer into non-multiplayer genre, sadly doesn't quite work.
Vox - Not another bloody voxel game. It would be unfair to grumble, just because I'm sick of voxel clones. This isn't a bad game, just early in its development. Potential to be quite good.
Mutant Storm Reloaded - Twin stick shooter, which made its debut on the XBOX before being ported across to the PC. Has an interesting scaling difficulty level like the Judo belts.
Bumbledore - So this sounds like a game about a bumble bee wizard. It is. That's about as interesting as it gets, as its just another tower defense game. Graphics are nice though.
King Arthur’s Gold - Part Terraria, part LOL. A 2D multiplayer brawler that revolves around rebuilding your castle and defending it from the ravaging hordes. Can have up to 32 players!
Legends of Aethereus - Very bland action game with RPG elements tacked on. Not worth downloading.
Iesabel - Disappointing Diablo clone, the flaws heavily outweigh the merits. At least the music is good
Kairo - Very odd adventure game. Stark landscape, no dialogue, just big ancient machines that you need to fix.
Little Racers STREET - 3D racing game, nothing groundbreaking but quite a good laugh with a few friends online.

Worth it?

Not really, unless you don’t already own Kairo or fancy King Arthur’s Gold. I don’t consider £3 for seven rather mediocre games a good deal.


indie_royale


Indie Royale: Mixer 2


Available until 13/3/14
Price £2

Face Noir - By the numbers point and click adventure. Nothing special but will entertain for a few hours.

The 39 Steps - Based on the book of the same name. Disappointing, just feels like a barely playable point and click.

Data Jammers: FastForward - Simple and to the point blaster game. Easy to pick up but a swine to master. Its something you can pick up and play for ten minutes.

Fairy Bloom Freesia - Short and vaguely amusing brawler in a manga style. Little replayability and can get a little repetitive. 

LightFish - Action arcade style game, with the same style as the classic Qix. Nothing groundbreaking.

Fish vs. Crabs - Underwater tower defence game. Can build your own reef and have it as a screen saver. Still in active development adding new features, but so far a solid game.

Primal Fears - Rubbish isometric shooter. At least it has nice graphics.

Dawn of Fantasy: Kingdom Wars - Until today I didn't know that MMORTS were a _thing_ This is one of them. Its an ok game, just not my cup of tea.

Worth it?
Sadly many of IRs recent bundles have been a bit of a let down. Fish vs. Crabs and Data Jammers are good, so probably worth it if you don’t have them from elsewhere.

flying_bundle


Flying Bundle 6


Available until 11/3/14
Price: $3 (£1.79)

Crater MakerA game that is still in the Alpha phase of development. A space sim with a mix of modes that should keep gameplay interesting.

Cubetractor Some sort of mental hybrid of puzzle and tower defence with a chiptune soundtrack. Bonkers, tricky but fun.

Duke Nukem: Manhattan ProjectOh look its Duke, NEXT.

Hero SiegeHacknSlash adventure game. Fun graphics and straight forward game play. Death mechanic can be punishing. Oh yes, and loot, we like loot.

Perfection Randomly generated puzzler, entailing the trimming of shapes. Once complete, its gone forever. There is no continuing agonizing over levels and high scores.

Skyward CollapseBrilliant turn based version of Populous, only you have to stop the two nations wiping each other out. Can be as laid back or as difficult as you want.

Skyward Collapse: Nihon no MuraDLC for Skyward Collapse, adding in Japan and its mythology. Nice addition to a great game.

Swarm Arena Arcade shooter much like Geometry Wars, with tight game-play and lush graphics. A little short but will entertain for a few hours.

Worth it?
Yes. Skyward Collapse and DLC in of itself is worth the tiny price tag. The others are a nice extra. Flying Bundle is a greatly underrated collection that really needs more coverage.


Crossposted to MatureGamerPodcast