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Sharkoon Skiller PRO Review

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Showing posts with label IndieGameStand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IndieGameStand. Show all posts

Monday, 11 August 2014

Indie Gems - Vintage Year


Info:
Developer: Nooner Bear Creations
Indie Game Stand "Today's Deal": Until August 14th

Did you ever had your wine cellar invaded by merciless thugs that completely ruined your most exquisite bottles of wine? Of course you did, who hasn't right?! But don't you worry, it's time for revenge, it's time for... Vintage Year!
As you can probably guess by now, Vintage Year is an indie game that features a wine cellar being invaded by a band of criminals, these criminals are only known as the Skull Faction and the wine cellar is unique as it holds a one of a kind wine that has aged through the ages and has become the ultimate bottle of booze (maybe it's a barrel).
Your job is to retrieve this precious liquid by whatever means necessary, to do that you'll have to shoot and stab your way through a set of randomly generated levels that get tougher and tougher as you go along.


Vintage Year is a really interesting game because it mixes and matches a bunch of different aspects and gameplay mechanics from several genres like shmups, twin stick shooters and some roguelike elements like permadeath and randomly generated levels. While it's not a completely original setup, it's still pretty cool to see this bunch of different game mechanics working together and providing a really interesting experience overall.
If you think games like FTL or Sword of the Stars: The Pit are cool but need a bit more action then you're going to love Vintage Year, while it is not as deep or strategic as the examples I just mentioned, it is easier to pick up and play. As long as you know that a gun shoots and a knife stabs you're pretty much good to go.
Strategic movement and knowing your enemies only becomes relevant when you reach later stages of the game or in the occasional boss fight, much like Sword of the Stars: The Pit you advance from randomly generated floor to randomly generated floor with not only enemies getting tougher and hitting harder as you move along but the levels themselves also becoming harder to navigate, expect to find more and more tight corridors with little to no room for dodging those pesky bullets with each level that passes.


In order to keep each run interesting and fresh you can choose a different "hero" (5 available at the start, more to unlock) at the start of every run, each has a unique trait that will affect the way you play the game just slightly, unfortunately the developer Nooner Bear Creations needs to do a bit of fine tuning here as some of the skills are pretty underpowered. Still it's a nice idea and with more and more updates coming out every now and then, I'm sure that this feature will be improved upon.


From my experience with Vintage Year I can say that it's a challenging game, the occasional cheap shot does not ruin those moments where you are able to dodge and weave through a rain of bullets coming at you from 3 or 4 different enemies.
Unfortunately in its current form Vintage Year probably does not have the staying power of games like The Binding of Isaac or FTL, still the developer (great guy that helped me out with some technical issues) seems committed to add more and more content to the game which makes me hopeful that in the near future Vintage Year can indeed compete with the aforementioned titles.

Should you get it?
Yes.
One of those games that you quickly learn how to play but take a long time to master, Vintage Year is action packed and strategic at the same time. If you like roguelikes/roguelites then you will probably enjoy the time you spend playing Vintage Year.

Nooner Bear Creations Website: Link
Vintage Year Steam Greenlight Page: Link


Tuesday, 22 July 2014

Indie Gems - Drive to Hell


Info:
Developer: Ghost Crab Games
Indie Game Stand "Today's Deal": Until July 25th

For our second Indie Gems episode, we bring you Drive to Hell, a frenetic shoot 'em up with a top-down perspective that could easily be mistaken for something that you would find in the arcades back in the early 90's.
It's all there, tons of different types of enemies, non-stop action, a cheesy storyline and colorful graphics, thankfully since Drive to Hell does not need to keep stealing your money with every playthrough, the developers have implemented several difficulty levels in order to please everyone.
Aside from that, you also have a Survival Mode and trophies to unlock, get all the trophies to gain access to a new (mystery) vehicle, there's no shortage of content to unlock or things to do in Drive to Hell and that's part of the fun, unlocking new and cool stuff is addicting and keeps you coming back for more time and time again.


Gameplay-wise Drive to Hell feels pretty solid, while the controls and mechanics are simple to understand, mastering them will take you a little bit longer, learning when and where to activate certain power-ups or abilites will determine if you survive for more than just a few minutes at a time in the midst of the hordes of demons that the game throws at you constantly.
Here's my first real issue with Drive to Hell, your primary gun is useless, I understand the developers idea, they wanted to add an extra layer of strategy to the deployment of certain power-ups, still I would prefer to freely upgrade my weapon much in the vein of old shmups like Raiden or Gradius, this kind of customization would add even more layers of strategy to Drive to Hell (edit: your main gun does increase in power as your multiplier also increases though).


The second issue I have with Drive to Hell is the sound effects, the primary weapon in particular sounds really weak, especially when compared to some of the temporary weapons that you pick up along the way.
The soundtrack on the other hand boasts some really nice tunes, while not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, it does the job nicely.


Drive to Hell is a simple yet challenging game that can be enjoyed in either short or long bursts, Ghost Crab Games, the developers have clearly drawn inspiration from older titles like Outrun and Spy Hunter while at the same time adding new features and more reasons to keep you coming back time and time again. If you enjoy this sort of arcade non-stop action, then your epic quest to avenge the destruction of your favorite bar (yep, that's the plot) will be a fun one.

Should you get it?
Yes, especially if you enjoy old school shooters.
The low price tag on Drive to Hell combined with the simple but challenging gameplay, makes it a great option for those of you who are searching for a viable option when it comes to action-packed shooters.

Ghost Crab Games Website: Link
Ghost Crab Games BandCamp: Link


Friday, 18 July 2014

Indie Gems - Perfection.


Info:
Developer: Dumb and Fat Games (Yup, that's correct.)
Steam Achievements: No.
Steam Trading Cards: No.
Steam Price: 2.99€
Indie Game Stand "Today's Deal": Until July 21st

As you might know if you keep up with our twitter feed, No Review Left Behind is currently partnered with IndieGameStand. This collaboration aims to bring you, the gamer, clear and transparent reviews of the indie titles that IndieGameStand features on their "Today's Deal", these sales work under the "pay what you want" principle, this feature alone makes them awesome for the gamer that gets to play and discover a new indie title for a low-low price while at the same time contributing to charity.
Seeing as their work has the chance to gain a bit more recognition even developers win with the "Today's Deal".


The game under the microscope in our first collaboration is actually really adequate I would think, Perfection oozes indie all over the place, it's clearly the vision of one guy (Greg "Banov" Lobanov) that just wants to provide gamers all over the glove a slightly different experience when it comes to puzzle games.
Perfection is a minimalist and very soothing puzzle game where your objective is to cut randomized shapes in order for them to fit the outlines displayed on the background of each level. There's no time limit, no complex storyline and not even a set of levels through which you can progress (they're all randomized), it's actually a very relaxing experience overall and that's the goal here, Greg, the developer, actually describes his game as: "A minimalist, zen puzzler about cutting shapes".
As far as I am concerned mission accomplished.


Talking about Perfection and omitting its soundtrack would be a huge mistake on my part, I can safely say that the tunes composed by Omni-Psyence (find them here: Link) are one of the game's strongest points. Every track combines in an almost symbiotic way with the relaxing and chilled out gameplay presented to us in every randomly generated level.
While the aforementioned gameplay is incredibly simple, it does have one flaw that I could point out almost from the get go and that's the way the game determines when the shape is correctly cut or not, sometimes you're dead on and it still doesn't allow you to move on, other times you're way off and the game accepts it as the correct "answer". It's not a very big issue since you can't actually lose in Perfection, still it's something that you'll have to deal with and adapt to when playing the game.


Perfection is an experience that's meant to be enjoyed in short bursts more than a real game, if you're the "completionist" type of gamer then steer clear, Perfection is not for you. On the other hand if you're looking for something a little bit different, a game that you can play and relax with every so often then go right ahead, Perfection might just be what you're currently searching for.

Should you get it?
Yes and No.
It's such a quirky game that I consider it a personal choice really, read the full review and maybe watch a few gameplay videos, if it's something that seems to interest you then go right ahead, even if you miss the "Today's Deal" the regular price on Steam is super affordable.

Perfection. Official Website: Link 
Dumb and Fat Official Website: Link
Omni-Psyence Bandcamp: Link