robot-reviews

[robot-reviews]

Turn based special

Today I want to mention some turn based games I’ve played lately. I got interested in this genre while thinking about game genres for mobile devices. Turn based games seem to be perfect for mobile devices, because there is no need for fast reactions or complex controls. The player is able to play the whole game while using only one finger.

In the following text I will show you 3 turn based games I really enjoyed:

DRL (former DOOM RL)

While playing this game one sentence keeps coming to my mind: „Every good video game idea is still fun to play as a paper and turn based prototype!“

I’m not sure who said it or where I read it, but DRL proves it’s right. Basically DRL is the same game as DOOM. Only the camera perspective and it is turn based. The player has an isometric view on the level and the character he plays. There is some fog of war so the player can’t see whole level at once.

The turn based gameplay may seem very slow but the player is able to skip steps by clicking a tile further away from the character. The character then walks to the destination by itself but also all the enemies will keep moving. Every enemy performs an action when the player performs an action. This way the game can get very fast and hectic if the player performs many actions in a row or skips some turns. On the other side it can also be „paused“ if the player doesn’t perform an action and is therefore very tactical. This way the game evolves its own dynamic but still feels like playing DOOM.

The RL in the name tells us that there is more… RL is an acronym for Rogue Like (in this case). The game will not let you save your run or even let you respawn. If you die, you will have to restart. That’s a good thing because the levels are random generated and every restart will show the player something slightly new.

There is only one thing I don’t like about DRL. The UI is pretty awful. It took me a very long time to find every option and to navigate through the inventory. It’s a complete mess. I hope the unofficial sequel Jupiter Hell will give us a better UI ;)

Btw Jupiter Hell just got funded on Kickstarter and DRL is completely free to play. Give it a try ;)

https://drl.chaosforge.org

Keep in mind: DRL is only available for PC and not mobile

Lara Croft GO

I always thought that a mobile game like Lara Croft GO is only recognized because of the franchise. I didn’t want to play it because it’ll just badly copy the „real“ Tomb Raider games. I was wrong… oh yes… I was far from right…

Good thing I was mistaken and gave the game a chance besides my prejudice. Lara Croft GO uses the franchise very clever for the setting and revolves all around puzzles. Actually every level is a puzzle. So only the main character, the setting and the puzzles are used from the franchise.

The rest of the game is very unique and not typical for Lara Croft. A very clean design, turn based puzzles and no dramatic cut scenes. It concentrates on the levels/ puzzles and the way of Lara to get into an ancient and mystique temple. No word is spoken or written to transport the story. Only the levels and there names give you a hint of what Lara is doing and where she is.

During the whole game there is no need to explain anything by text. There is not even a tutorial. Every new gameplay mechanic is explained and introduced by itself while playing. That’s awesome! Great game design!

The turn based system is completely new to the franchise but fits perfectly into the environmental puzzles. At this part I have to mention that Square Enix has already released other games like Hitman GO and Deus Ex GO with a similar gameplay. For the other franchises the turn based system feels like it doesn’t fit in.

The puzzles are integrated very well and are not to complex. It’s not like you’re playing The Witness ;) For some puzzles I had to drop the phone for a few hours just to recognize how easy and obvious the solution is. The puzzles are just right for playing them while traveling with the train or bus. There is always time for one level :)

Lara Croft GO is definitely not a game I would want to play on my PC for 3 hours straight but it’s good entertainment on mobile device for a little game while traveling.

Shattered Planet

The last game I want to mention is Shattered Planet. It’s a rogue like game with random generated levels. Another rogue like game… I know…

The game does nothing really outstanding or special. Every run you start with another clone and you try to go as deep as possible into the levels. These levels show flying parts of the Shattered Planet. In every part of these levels is one teleporter which ports your clone to the next part. You are also allowed to jump of the edge get into other parts of the level but you will loose health points while doing it.

At the end of each run you will die. Every item you’ve been using while the last run will be lost. Only your gathered amount of the two currencies will remain.

With the currency you’re able to buy new items, companions and upgrades for your clones. After upgrading and buying stuff you will start a new run… over and over again…

The game is good because it is nice to play one or two runs on your mobile device while sitting in the train or bus. It’s just fun to see how long you’re able to survive. While playing you learn to evaluate if you should fight some enemies or if you should dodge them. It’s more about dodging and getting an advantage over enemies. That’s also why it’s perfect that the game is turn based. You can play very tactical but you can also skip turns the same way it is done in DRL.

While playing Shattered Planet I had one big issue. After a few games I got a headache and I felt some kind of sick. It actually felt like motion sickness that some players have after playing VR games. I assume it’s because the camera follows the character at every step he does while the ground and the background stay at the same position. It just feels some kind of weird to me. Somehow I hope someone else is having the same issue while playing this game just to know that I’m not crazy on the other hand I wish no-one else is having this issue and is able to just enjoy the game.

I hope you enjoyed this special about turn based games. Maybe you will like one of the mentioned games or the whole genre ;)

[robot-reviews]

Aaargh! My Cats

Apparently chasing your stolen cats can be a very fast and funny thing.

Aaargh! My Cats is an Endless Runner for Android and iOS. The player controls a Goatman which is chasing goblins who stole his cats. The game is separated in levels. In each level you have to accomplish some quests (e.g. Jump over 10 stones in one run) to get to the next level. The Goatman is riding on a skateboard. He is able to jump over obstacles and can do backflips. After landing a backflip he gets a boost and is indestructible for a few seconds.

In the beginning the gameplay is very slow… actually to slow for a game like this. On top of that, you really have to focus to land the backflips. It doesn’t feel intuitive at all. The beginning of the game does not offer good gameplay. I only liked it because of the art style and the funny story. I actually just kept on playing because I wanted to know how the story goes on.

A little time later I was happy, that I didn’t quit. The 1st store was introduced and gave me the opportunity to customize my play style. The game got faster and the gameplay became more enjoyable. I guess the biggest problem of Aaargh! My Cats is, that the really good gameplay where you are in a constant flow, starts at level 22. That’s a loooong time until the gameplay kicks in!!! Especially for a mobile game!!!

Another problem is, that you can’t skip the introduction for each level. I liked to watch them one time but not every time I’m replaying a level. I know that you can skip each sentence in a conversation but there are also animations. Level 29 has definitely the longest introduction! The animations should be skipable and the quests could be shown in the background at the beginning of the level (Alto’s Adbenture does this in a very good way).

Sooooo… That was a lot of negative feedback but I really have to say that I like Aaargh! My Cats. It is a very unique and good idea to give an endless runner a story. There is a lot of variety in the levels and the art style and the gameplay is very good after level 22. But… there are more good things :)

The whole financial policy of this game is great!You can watch ads to get an extra life after you are game over in a run, but you can only do this one time for each run. - Great!

Sometimes the game offers you to watch an ad to get some extra coins. You don’t have to watch the ad. - Great!

The shop offers items for real money and items for in-game money. The items for real money are not always the best items. - Great!

This is definitely how a financial policy for a game you should look like :)

I just can say: Give the game a chance! It gets very good and is really fun to play. Maybe Catsoftstudios should shorten the beginning of the game to get to the good gameplay very fast. I really recommend the game :)

Actually I haven’t finished playing the game yet but I will finish it. I’m excited for all the new items, gameplay elements and the rest of the story :)

Good job @catsoftstudios

[robot-reviews]

Why is Tiny & Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers fun to play?

You want to see whole buildings collapse because you could stone in pieces with a laser? Or let big rocks fly through the air? Tiny and Big is all about these two things.

„Tiny“ is a human who travels with a radio through the desert. At the beginning of the game his underpants get stolen. Yes you’ve read underpants… And his brother „Big“ has stolen them. He is now wearing them on his head and has superpowers because of them. The whole game is about chasing him to get back the underpants.

Tiny has 3 tools to use: A grabbling hook to pull stones towards him,  Rockets which he can place on rocks to let them fly away and the laser who cuts through stones. The laser is the most amazing thing about this game (besides the story :D ). You can cut stones in every way you want. There are no predetermined breaking points and it doesn’t matter how big the rock is. Just cut through 30 meter walls of a building… no problem!!!

Tiny & Big is definitely a game, which works just because of this one feature. I caught myself cutting through stone walls and rocks for half an hour… just for fun. I just wanted to cut stones and see them fall on each other.

The game itself is very short. I’ve played about 4 hours but I’m fine with it. The game has only one main feature and the developers had to keep the game compact. Otherwise the feature would have gotten boring. I think it was the right decision to keep the game that short. This way I remember the game as a short and fun destruction trip.

Tiny & Big is basically only fun to play because you can cut through stone and let them fly around. The physics work great and give you the feeling to move big and heavy rocks. In my opinion the story of Tiny & Big is also very funny but it’s very special and I can understand if it’s too crazy for some people. So if you answered the first two questions of this article with „Yes“, you should play Tiny & Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers.

[robot-reviews]

Why is Renegade Ops fun to play?

My fingers hurt, the screen of my PC is exploding and I can’t see my car anymore!! I guess I’m happy :)

Renegade Ops is fast, loud and has many explosions (ok maybe a little bit more than just many explosions). It’s a twin stick shooter in which you drive a car with attached weapons. There are about 10 different cars/ characters available (Gordon Freeman is a playable character!). I’ve picked the character Roxy because she is able to call in an airstrike and as everyone knows attack is the best defense ;)

The game starts very slow and boring. You are defending a village against a typical enemy called Inferno. This mission is all about driving from A to B and killing every enemy you see. The mission is only necessary to let you learn the controls and the most important thing about the game: NEVER STOP MOVING AND SHOOTING!!! That’s also the reason your fingers will start to hurt, because you never have time to stop using the joysticks of your game pad. With the left stick you drive the car and with the right stick you aim and shoot.

The other missions are much better than the first one. In one mission you are escorting a tank and you have to kill all the mortars on the map. Another mission is all about chasing and invading an air craft carrier. All the missions have a good variation in enemy types, environment and objectives. I’ve been surprised about that much variation in such a short game!

As you might have guessed, the story is completely irrelevant in this game. It’s the typical „Kill the bad terrorist“ story with happy ending plus a little sequel. I’ve played the campaign in about 5 hours, but that’s fine. Renegade Ops is fun, fast and not complex at all. Just right to turn off your brain and enjoy the firework.

Renegade Ops is fun to play because it is simple and gives fast paste action with many explosions. Also it is very cool to do Burnouts and Drifts with your car. Driving your car feels cool and is very funny. You can drive through houses, jump over hills, crash into enemies and many more things. The good physics and awesome graphics (for a Top-Down Shooter) are supporting the gameplay very well.

[robot-reviews]

Why is Alto's Adventure fun to play?

Deep down in my heart I’m a hardcore PC gamer but sometimes even I play games on other devices. This time I played on my smartphone and I’ve played an Endless Runner. I know it’s nothing new or really exciting about this genre but Alto’s Adventure does something different.

Alto’s Adeventure has a very special style for an Endless Runner. It’s quiet, very calming and very relaxing to play even though Alto is riding down a hill on his snowboard. The art style and the sound effects are what makes Alto’s Adventure so different. Other Endless Runner are flashy with much color and weird sounds. Playing Alto doesn’t feel like being rushed, gathering points or even being alerted to not fail at the next obstacle. The developers even have implemented a Zen Mode. This mode disables the scoreboard, earning points and even the game over. It’s just you riding down the hill as long as you want… That’s all Alto’s Adventure is about. It’s fun to play because it is relaxing and it is the first mobile game which makes me want to use my headphones only to hear the game sound.

So if you are searching for a relaxing game, which you can play while traveling, Alto’s Adventure is the game you should play ;)

[robot-reviews]

Is Dirty Bomb fun to play?

You like very fast multiplayer shooter? You are always yelling „PTFO!!!“ because everybody is just killing each other ignoring the objectives? You miss the depth of gameplay mechanics in games like CS and CoD? Maybe you should play Dirty Bomb.

Dirty Bomb is a free to play multiplayer shooter with heroes (they are called Mercs in this game). Yeah I know what you think… It’s another hero shooter with pay to win, that tries to get some of the Overwatch fame, but that’s not true. The beta phase of Dirty Bomb started long time before Overwatch was even announced and the games are not really comparable. You will see why if you keep reading ;)

The game is definitely not pay to win. I haven’t paid a cent while playing this game.

In total there are 19 mercs available at the moment I’m writing this review. Before each match you have to choose between 3 mercs which will be available for you in the upcoming match. Each of them has different loadouts. Loadouts give Mercs different weapons and perks. To get new loadouts you can open cases or craft the loadouts by yourself. Cases will drop after each Level Up and if you complete daily quests. Mercs are unlocked with credits. It’s also possible to buy every item and merc with real money.

There are 3 game modes and each is concentrating on objectives. The game mode Execute is basically the bomb defuse scenario from CS.

The game mode Objective gives the attacking team 3 objectives which they have to accomplish one after the other. The defending team has to stop them. If the time is up and the last objective is not complete the defending team wins.

The game mode Stopwatch is basically the same game mode as Objective. The only difference is, that you have to play 2 matches on the same map. This way both teams have to be defender and attacker at one time in the match. The winning team is the team that completes the most objectives in the shortest time.

So now you know the basics of the game but these basics are not really innovative or show why Dirty Bomb is fun to play. If you really want to know why it is fun to play… you actually have to play the game. The game is great because of the gameplay mechanics and the way they are implemented.

I’ll try to explain it with two examples of gameplay mechanics in Dirty Bomb. The first is the movement. You would expect that there is walking, running, crouching and jumping in a FPS, but Dirty Bomb gives you much more variation. The most special thing about the movement are the jumps. There are normal jumps, crouch jumps, long jumps and wall jumps which you can use up to 3 times in a row. All these different jumps can be used to navigate very fast through the environment even with a slow merc like Rhino.

At the beginning you will barely know that you can jump and that you are faster while you have your knife equipped. All the other things are not explained in the game. You have to carefully watch out to find hints in the menu or watch other players to know that wall jumps and long jumps are even possible. To perform these jumps by yourself you have to train them. If you are able to perform the jumps you still have to find out, when it is good to use them. The movement is way more complex than the movement in other FPS Games. At the same time it’s not irritating or frustrating because you can still get around the map by simply walking/running and jumping.

The second gameplay mechanic I like to mention is the reviving of team mates. If a player gets shot down he will lay down on the ground waiting for a teammate to pick him up or an enemy to finish him. This state lasts only for a couple of seconds. The player has still the option to kill himself, just to make sure that the enemy does not earn points by finishing him and to respawn faster. The merc Nader even has the option to blow herself up and hopefully kill enemies nearby. If a player gets taken out by an explosive or gets shot in the head by a sniper, other players won’t be able to revive him.

To revive a player you will have to press „F“ for a long time. While reviving you’re not able to shoot or even to look away from the person you revive. Medics have the option to revive teammates very fast with a defibrillator. The longer the defibrillator is charged the more health it’ll give the revived player. You can even give a player full health while reviving. Of course charging will take some time. Therefore you always have to decide how much time you have to revive a player. Sparks is the only merc who is capable to revive players from a distance with her revive gun. All other medics have to stand right next to the player they want to revive. Not all mercs have to wait to be revived. The merc Phoenix is able to revive himself to get back on his feet.

As you can see, even simple game mechanics have much more depth than you would expect. All these little elements in every mechanic may sound confusing but the developers combine them in a way that it just feels right. I never felt overwhelmed or confused. Actually I really had to remind myself how much depth there is in this game, because it all feels so natural.

So why do I think Dirty Bomb is fun to play?

1. There is a lot of depth and love for detail in every game mechanic

2. The feedback while shooting, running, jumping and completing objectives is awesome

3. The matches feel very satisfying because you complete objectives as a team. You’re not just killing the enemies to get points (you can even be the leader of the scoreboard without killing one enemy).

Dirty Bomb is a fast pasted multiplayer shooter for PTFO players. Oh… and it is definitely made for hardcore shooter fans ;)

[robot-reviews]

Why is Styx fun to play?

Hiding?!…. Who the fuck needs hiding?! I’m just going to run into the room and kill everyone. Seems like a solid tactic… Apparently not for this game as the subtitle „Master of Shadows“ might tell you. At the beginning of this game I learned it the hard way. My usual „tactic“/ play style won’t work. Not at all. If you are trying to kill everybody especially without hiding, you will have a very hard time playing Styx.

Styx is a little ugly goblin with a dagger. He is not nice to anybody and he just wants to get to the heart of arkanash. It’s a powerful source in the middle of a big tower. The whole game is taking place only in this tower. It sounds like a small place but considering the huge levels, the tower has to have the size of a city. So there is enough place to find many ways to the same target. Actually there are only few chokepoints where you really have little space. But even at these chokepoints you still have the possibility to chose how to get through.

The big levels are filled with many things to do. Obviously there is a main quest, which most of a time is a person or a room where you have to get to. How you get there is up to you.

Besides the main target of a mission, there are always some side quests which you can chose to solve. These side quests show you parts of the level you won’t see while getting to the main target. The side quests are most of the time about stealing items someone asked you for. In one quest you even had to steal a whole person :D

Besides the side quests there is also the typical „collect 10 coins in an area“ quest for each level. On top of that you can also find some secret rooms, if you can figure out how to solve the puzzles to open the door. Actually most of the time I was happy to find the start of a puzzle but did not have a clue how to solve it… so no secret rooms for me… :(

As you can tell there are a lot of things to do in each level and you have a lot of freedom to do it the way you want to. I didn’t even realize how much options you have until I started to watch some Let’s Plays on Youtube. These players approached the quests in very different ways. Ways I didn’t even think of. Needless to say, that most of them were much more efficient than my approaches…

So the levels are good designed but what’s about the enemies. AI in a stealth game is a very important factor on how fun the game is to play. If the AI does not recognize you at all, the player feels no need to hide and all game mechanics are obsolete. Also it would feel very strange to stand in front of an enemy without him recognizing you. An easy AI would ruin the atmosphere and the whole game.

If the AI is to hard it can also ruin the whole game. If the player has no chance to win the game and feel a little superior while sneaking around the enemies he will get frustrated and stop playing the game.

So did Styx find a way to balance the AI? My personal answer is: Yes… most of the time the AI is good. Of course there are some issues like a guard which is not doing anything besides staring at you while you are killing one of his colleagues. Or enemies who don’t wonder where their colleague went, they talked to 10 seconds ago. But scenarios like these did not happen very often and I guess there is no way to completely eliminate logic failures like that. That is why I have to say that I think the AI is programmed very good. I had fun to test how far I can go until the enemies detect me :)

Last but not least… the story. Actually the story of this game is ok but nothing more than that. There is a huge twist during the game, which I did not expect at all, but besides of that the story is only nice to have and nothing else. Here is a short résumé on what the story is all about:

Styx wants to get to the middle of the tower called the heart of arkanash. It is some sort of powerful source which gives you unlimited power but also seems to make you a little bit crazy. He is desperate to get there, since he has lost everything in his life just to get there. He even gets imprisoned at the tower.

The tower around the heart of arkanash is built and guarded by men who try to use the source for their own purpose. The men also have imprisoned the elves who are the actual owners of the source. As you can tell there is a lot of trouble going on in this tower.

So why is Styx fun to play? It is fun to play because it limits you to the core gameplay of stealth games. You have to sneak around the levels and you should not get the attention of anyone. First of all I thought, that there will not be enough options to get through the levels but the game showed me that you can be sneaky in many different ways. But not only are there many possibilities in this game, all the options are effective and fun to use. I haven’t discovered a skill which is overpowered and only few I did not use at all. The most fun skill has been setting traps with a clone of yours, who is grabbing enemies and pulling them into a closet nearby.

So here are the two main reasons why the game is fun:

The player is limited to the stealth play style but has a lot of options on how to be stealthy. Every player can find a way that fits to him even though running guns blazing is no option.

All the options you have are made very good. The skills are balanced and the levels are big enough to give a lot of ways to get through them.

Styx is fun to play. Maybe especially for players who don’t like stealth games at all, because it gives you many ways to find your own way to play it. I’m not sure if hardcore stealth fans will be happy with it, because I’m not that kind of player.