Sunday, May 27, 2012

It's like Zelda, but it's not

Got something short and sweet for you today. A game about princesses and the legends thereof. A game by the ever talented Konjak, Legend of Princess was a fan game he made as a sort of parody to the Legend of Zelda games.
However, it clearly doesn’t play in anyway similar to them, its far more action oriented. What puzzles it does have are of the block pushing, torch lighting variety, certainly not any brain teasers, so you wont be pulling your hair out over this game.
Pictured: complicated puzzle mechanics
Art wise the game manages to pull off the Not!-Zelda look pretty well, each enemy in the game looks similar to their Nintendo counterpart that you know what they’re referencing, as do the items. Even the music has that Zelda twist to it while being original In its own right, and its available for download separate from the game itself!
I'm not Link, I'm Lonk!
If you feel like an action game, or like Zelda games, then Legend of Princess might be worth a download. Its not a long game but if its what you’re looking for you should be all over it.

You can get Legend of Princess and the music from it over at
http://www.konjak.org/index.php?folder=4&file=11
Konjak has multiple games up for download on his website, I'll get to another of them next time!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

THE FUTURE AS PICTURED BY THE NINTIES

The original System Shock  could be said to be overshadowed by its more popular and graphically intense sequel, but doesn’t mean its subpar, quite the opposite, as there obviously never would have been a sequel if the first System Shock wasn’t up to snuff.
Placing you in the shoes of “The Hacker” after you remove the ethical restraints on an artificial intelligence in return for a military neural interface in a shady back room deal so you don’t go to jail for hacking into the database of a major corporation. Obviously this bites you right in the ass, good job there, smart guy. Awakening after six months of recuperating in a healing coma, you’re stuck on Citadel Station with SHODAN and everything has gone to hell, and that’s where the game begins.
The enemies the games throws at you range from robots, to mutants, to cyborgs, and mutant cyborgs. All of the enemies in the game come from those types but there is some significant variation between them, in stats, gameplay, and art assets. System Shock also has a oddly in-depth difficulty system, allowing you to choose how difficult you want the combat, the puzzles, the cyberspace segments, and even the plot, each with its own setting, allowing you to crank the puzzles and cyberspace sections to the highest difficulty while keeping combat easy. Or you could keep everything else at a normal level but put the plot on the hardest setting, which adds a time limit to the game.
Some people might find the games dated graphics to be a turn off, I say that’s a stupid way to think. For its time, back in 1994, System Shock was praised by critics and was considered to be a significant innovation. The game’s pros far outweigh the dated graphics on a nearly twenty year old game, and if you‘re into FPSs, cyberpunk action, or enjoyed Bioshock or Deus Ex and want to see what those games draw inspiration from, this is definitely worth your time.

System Shock can be downloaded from
http://www.systemshock.org/index.php/topic,211.0.html
or
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/24684/System+Shock.html
or a plethora of other places.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Why do some of those guys get helmets with netting and others dont?

 WATCH OUT, we got more Nazis COMING RIGHT UP!
Video game companies are good at making Not-Swastikas to put on their cover art
Continuing the CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN trip, this time we got Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. It’s a free (obviously) multiplayer FPS. Back when World War Two themed games hadn’t ENTIRELY saturated the market.
Look at this. WHO thought this was a good idea?
Based around predictable Allies vs. Axis teams, the game used objective based gameplay. None of that “Hold this point for thirty seconds” stuff neither! You’re planting dynamite, defending huge rail guns, and escorting tanks. And yes, it has a D-Day map, I think theres a law somewhere that demands it be inserted one way or another in all WW2 games that take place in the European theater.
ITS LIKE I'M REALLY THERE! SO REAL.
The game uses an experience system and  has five classes to choose from: Soldier, Medic, Engineer, Field Ops, and Covert Ops. By getting experience for a class players can get access to abilities such as a fill revive for Medics, or an artillery strike for Field Ops players. Experience often resets when the map cycle (campaign) ends, the player leaves, or maybe the server doesn’t have experience enabled at all.
Not that bad for a game that's nine years old
Released back in May 2003, the game is obviously showing its age at this stage, but that doesn’t  stop it from being a good game, it's still played to this day. Plus it has all the benefits of dedicated servers and custom maps, so if you feel like getting setting up a server for you and your friends to play on yourselves rather than letting in the guys who have been playing this for years and get your asses kicked you can do that. And yes those guys totally exist.

Wolfenstien: Enemy Territory is available for download at http://www.splashdamage.com/wolfet
That page has all the computer requirements the game needs incase some of you are running this on an old laptop or something

Monday, May 14, 2012

MEIN LEBEN

Ha ha! Time for some classic nazi shooting! 20 years ago CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN came out, made by id software. The basic premise being that you’re a nazi prisoner and that you’re shooting your way out. Sort of like The Great Escape, but with even more Nazi’s, no back up and random Nazi gold everywhere.
But less motorcycle jumps, unfortunately
For the anniversary, a free browser version of Wolfenstein was released. Containing all three episodes, it’s the full game, playable with both keyboard and mouse support. Everything from the different sound effects that played when you picked up different types of treasure from the snippets of German that the guards says when they see you. Even the secret rooms are in the same place!
All guns use the same ammo. Dont question it.
The browser version of the game includes a level select option when you start the game up, allowing you to skip to the end of the game, or to go straight to the secret level. But of course the MANLY WAY is to play the game the way it was meant to be played, from the start to the finish. Unfortunately, the browser game does not have a save/load game option, so if you plan to go from start to finish you’re gonna have to power through it in one sitting.
SOMEONES gotta stop him, may as well be you
The release of the browser game coincided with a directors commentary of sorts by John Carmack. It provides an interesting look into the games development and what made it stand out from the rest at its release.

Whether you’re going back for a nostalga trip or trying the game for the first time I’d say its easily worth giving a shot, you don’t even need to sign up for anything, but you might need to turn off any ad blocking programs you use.
Game doesn't like that
You can play Castle Wolfenstein right from the browser at http://wolfenstein.bethsoft.com

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

DOOM

WE'RE GONNA NEED SOME MUSIC FOR THIS

 Got another rogue like today. Its got shotguns, chainsaws, rocket launchers, exploding barrels, pools of acid, flaming skulls, zombies, demons, and blood everywhere. That’s right! This is DOOM: The Rogue Like!

This game makes no effort to hide what it is
Compared to other rogue likes, DOOM doesn’t have that much depth to it. However, its very easy to just pick up and play. Game play wise its actually fairly similar to the DOOM shooters, in that its dark as hell, everything is out to kill you, and you solve your problems with grievous violence, firearms and explosives.

This will be you at some point while playing this
Speaking of enemies and firearms, all the sounds in this game are the same as in the original games, from the satisfying shotgun blast to the sounds of an angry hell knight out there somewhere in the darkness. The game also makes use of custom music and remixed versions of songs from the DOOM soundtrack, giving the game that perfect feeling as you fight your way through hell and back.

This will also be you at one point
Like most rogue likes  the game consists of randomly generated levels with a staircase down to the next level. These levels are obviously filled with demons, and through killing these demons you level up, which is necessary as the later levels don’t screw around at all. As a bonus, the flavor text for each skill that you can choose from when you level up is all from the DOOM comic, and that’s perfect.
If you can get the BFG you will also know this feeling
The game also features special challenge levels that are all about risk and reward, since it’s far easier to get yourself killed in those, but its also how you get some of the best weapons in the game such as the BFG or the chainsaw. The core game play itself is solid, but there are also special game modes that can be unlocked that change the game. Like melee only, or a pacifist mode, or harder difficulties to unlock (which are all named after the ones in DOOM)
Typical rogue like conventions apply
If you’re a big fan of DOOM, or you’re just looking for a time sink this might just be your game. Even on the easiest difficulty you’re not getting through this game in one go. You know exactly what the game is going to be, so you cant really go wrong with DOOM.
Oh?
Ok fine, but that was just one time, everything else is great!
You can get DOOM the Rouge like at  http://doom.chaosforge.org/

Friday, May 4, 2012

CHURROS

Got another Free-To-Play game that recently got out of beta today. A third person shooter fashioned that plays like one of those DOTA/MOBA/Action RTS games. (whatever the hell they’re calling themselves these days) It’s a bundle of glorified violence called “Super Monday Night Combat”
Kind of like the NFL, but with clones, robots, explosives, and even more ads
Before SUPER Monday Night Combat there was just regular Monday Night Combat, a game (that wasn’t free) that was faster and more twitch based, it was often compared to Team Fortress 2. Aside from the usual class based shooter game play it was also a sort of tower defense game in that defensive towers could be built and waves of robots would spawn for each team and attack the other team’s side of the map on preset paths.
The robots in game are significantly less threatening, getting killed by them is actually kind of embarrassing
The Super version of the game fits with the conservative play style of MOBA games, IE: “DON’T DIE. EVER. YOU FILTHY CASUAL.”, and generally you need to be careful, as too many screw ups on either team can snowball and turn the whole match against you. The standard level up structure of MOBA games is used in SMNC, where you have skills you can level up or you could pump points into your health and damage. Towers cant be rebuilt like in the original, so defending your own and destroying the other team’s is a big deal.
"CASUAL SCUM, GO BACK TO YOUR FACEBOOK GAMES"
The classes for SMNC, though not entirely balanced, all have their roles and are capable of holding their own. The new characters added to SMNC outshine the older classes that came over from the original game in style, if not game play. From the famous wrestler who was brought back from the dead, to the talking actor gorilla who’s dressed like a mobster, to a robot who’s trying his best to convince everyone he’s human. The game has a rotating group of characters available that anyone can try, unfortunately this leads into the important public service announcement part of this post.
They're always out for your money
HOW THEY GET YOU
Unless you buy a character, you can only play them when their available on the rotating roster. There’s actually quite a few things in this game that you need to buy if you want to get it. Products and Endorsements are ways you can customize your character through stat changes or useful effects such as getting health when you kill an opponent. Fortunately, the default products you start off with are pretty useful, and when you don’t use any Endorsements you get a decent speed boost instead. All of these can be bought with credits earned by playing the game, though you could use money for it. Cosmetic items such as new uniforms requires actual money though, but those obviously don’t effect game play. You don’t NEED to spend any actually money, everything you could want that has an impact on game play can be earned by just playing the game.
The in-game announcers are the best part about this game, not gonna lie
Super Monday Nigh Combat (SUPER!) is worth looking into if you like MOBAs or third person shooters, and it has a group match making system so you and your friends can play online against people who are WAY better than you! Not only that, but between the jokes about population control, rioting in the stands, and bad television shows, it will also help prepare you for a dystopian future where corporations run everything.
Bet you didnt think this movie was a training film at the time, did you?
You can learn more about SNMC over at http://www.uberent.com/
and you can snag the game on steam at http://store.steampowered.com/app/104700/