Shadow Complex, Mass Effect, Balloon in a Wasteland, Various
A long day of gaming today, and a lot of skipping around between many games. Three in particular stand out.
I finally got past the choke point in Shadow Complex, and managed to get three major upgrades, finally getting the ability to double-jump and breathe underwater, as well as the particularly pointless but essential foam weapon, which is the only weapon that can destroy fans. Don’t you go assuming that normal grenades could do it. Only explosive foam.
The game is a pretty fun Metroidvania, a genre that is slowly growing on me. The only problem the game has is it’s a 2D game with a 3D environment. (No, I will not call it 2.5D. That means nothing.) Which is great for making the game look good, but the fact that there are often enemies hanging out in the space behind you. Way too often, in fact, which makes it impossible to know how exactly to shoot them. I think you hold up, but sometimes this causes the boring brown-haired hero to look straight up, which is hardly helpful. Not to mention the background characters are invincible to the most powerful weapons, the grenades, which makes them a tough kill. There is a cool thing that shouldn’t possibly work; some pipes have openings, and if you fire a grenade into it, fire shoots out of pipes in the background, taking out any jerks back there. Ridiculous.
I also got a bit further in Mass Effect; I had completely forgotten about this big fight scene to save some girl alien. It wasn’t very difficult, but it did add some excitement to the running around and helping random aliens with all their problems, and I became a Spectre, so that’s great. I didn’t realize how much I had done the first time I played, because I keep finding myself with a sense of deja vu, making it easy to find all the sidequests, but also having a sense of “yes, get on with it!”
I also find it hard for me to act like a jerk in these games. I know that it’s going to be necessary to get the achievements, if I want them, but it just seems insincere to be an asshole. You’re supposed to be a military hero, and you don’t get that way by yelling at people and being irrational. I just think that someone in Comm. Shepard’s position would have a little restraint. (Shrug)
I also played a flash game, Balloon in a Wasteland, a few times, the latest from a designer that I admire, jmtb02, the man behind the fairly meta elephant games. This is a really easy survival game, where you have to shoot a bunch of blobs and can build a fort and try to repair a downed balloon to escape the wasteland. It’s fair, spacing out when you get certain upgrades, but the only problem is once you’ve built a fort...you don’t ever have to worry. If you can’t handle a particular wave of enemies, you just climb up the ladder and they will completely ignore you. It’s almost not a challenge, and the majority of the upgrades you won’t be able to afford unless you intentionally don’t try to end the game. The hosting site also didn’t do a very good job supporting the game.
I also tried a bunch of horrible Arcade games, one which seems like a really transparent Lumines clone, another word game one that is way too easy, and Explosion Man, which I finally got around to trying. It’s interesting, a game with only three buttons, left, right, and EXPLODE! I also like the insane characteristic of the main character...it’s hilarious, and the fact that the scientists explode into actual meat, t-bone steaks and ham haunches, makes the insanity very entertaining to play. I may buy it...still on the fence for no reason, but I’m sure I’ll come around.
A long day of gaming today, and a lot of skipping around between many games. Three in particular stand out.
I finally got past the choke point in Shadow Complex, and managed to get three major upgrades, finally getting the ability to double-jump and breathe underwater, as well as the particularly pointless but essential foam weapon, which is the only weapon that can destroy fans. Don’t you go assuming that normal grenades could do it. Only explosive foam.The game is a pretty fun Metroidvania, a genre that is slowly growing on me. The only problem the game has is it’s a 2D game with a 3D environment. (No, I will not call it 2.5D. That means nothing.) Which is great for making the game look good, but the fact that there are often enemies hanging out in the space behind you. Way too often, in fact, which makes it impossible to know how exactly to shoot them. I think you hold up, but sometimes this causes the boring brown-haired hero to look straight up, which is hardly helpful. Not to mention the background characters are invincible to the most powerful weapons, the grenades, which makes them a tough kill. There is a cool thing that shouldn’t possibly work; some pipes have openings, and if you fire a grenade into it, fire shoots out of pipes in the background, taking out any jerks back there. Ridiculous.
I also got a bit further in Mass Effect; I had completely forgotten about this big fight scene to save some girl alien. It wasn’t very difficult, but it did add some excitement to the running around and helping random aliens with all their problems, and I became a Spectre, so that’s great. I didn’t realize how much I had done the first time I played, because I keep finding myself with a sense of deja vu, making it easy to find all the sidequests, but also having a sense of “yes, get on with it!”
I also find it hard for me to act like a jerk in these games. I know that it’s going to be necessary to get the achievements, if I want them, but it just seems insincere to be an asshole. You’re supposed to be a military hero, and you don’t get that way by yelling at people and being irrational. I just think that someone in Comm. Shepard’s position would have a little restraint. (Shrug)
I also played a flash game, Balloon in a Wasteland, a few times, the latest from a designer that I admire, jmtb02, the man behind the fairly meta elephant games. This is a really easy survival game, where you have to shoot a bunch of blobs and can build a fort and try to repair a downed balloon to escape the wasteland. It’s fair, spacing out when you get certain upgrades, but the only problem is once you’ve built a fort...you don’t ever have to worry. If you can’t handle a particular wave of enemies, you just climb up the ladder and they will completely ignore you. It’s almost not a challenge, and the majority of the upgrades you won’t be able to afford unless you intentionally don’t try to end the game. The hosting site also didn’t do a very good job supporting the game.I also tried a bunch of horrible Arcade games, one which seems like a really transparent Lumines clone, another word game one that is way too easy, and Explosion Man, which I finally got around to trying. It’s interesting, a game with only three buttons, left, right, and EXPLODE! I also like the insane characteristic of the main character...it’s hilarious, and the fact that the scientists explode into actual meat, t-bone steaks and ham haunches, makes the insanity very entertaining to play. I may buy it...still on the fence for no reason, but I’m sure I’ll come around.
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