Virtual Villagers: Lost Children review

Ok, I'm not a fan of life simulations, you know the kinds of Sim City, the Sims, etc yachhh. But I said let me try Virtual Villagers - The Lost Children out what the heck. And I confirm that I still don't like this genre. I know most of you out there like these types of games so be my guest and try it. I'm just gonna rant away.


From what I've seen the game is pretty polished and if you re-start the game the events that occur won't be the same. How do I know? Well... for starters I didn't know that the game was real-time, i.e. while I wasn't playing the game, the game would still know that I have neglected the villagers from food etc. When I relogged in the game after a day, I found 3 people from my village dead so I couldn't do anything. So I had to re-start the game campaign (after I dug a grave for the villagers ofcourse).


The game says there are puzzles during the game but I really didn't have the time to invest on such a game to get to the puzzles. I'd rather play a 5min game to take a break and that's it, rather than having to check out the villagers to see how they're doing. I've got more important commitments in my real life than checking how the virtual villagers are doing.

Although the default setting for the game is real-time you can set it half-speed(who would do this?) or double speed but it may still be really slow still. They should have had another setting x100 speed :). To build a hut it took the little guy ages. After 10min it was still at 1 percent. Argh!! It's a game! Why should it take so long to build something?


Also the start of the game is really slow to my liking. In order to do anything you have to research it. So you grab people and stick them near the research bench. At first they wouldn't want to, but apparently with some persistance they get good at it.

Also those random events that took away all your food pissed me off. It would tell you that some savage boy has come to your village. You tell the game to chase him off? And he would still steal the food. Huh?? So I just gave up on this game.

If you don't have a lot of patience and don't like life simulation games, don't try this out. Otherwise be my guest and download it. It still is a polished game if you like this game genre ... tribal music, tropical graphics, cartoony look and feel. But the game is just not my type :)

Download Virtual Villagers - The Lost Children

Peggle Deluxe review

Peggle is a very cool game. Developed by PopCap and distributed by BigFishGames. It's like an evolution on Breakout where instead of having a paddle to at the bottom and you bounce a ball around to break bricks, you basically shoot a ball as a projectile from the top and to pass a level you have to hit all the orange pegs/bricks with just 10 balls. At the bottom of the screen you have a big container going left to right, and if the ball falls in this container, you don't loose the ball you have just shot.


You only shoot one ball at a time, and you then see how the gravity together with some physics will effect the ball to hit the pegs making the level. When the ball goes to the bottom of the screen, the pegs/bricks that you hit are cleared from the screen.



When you're going to hit the last orange peg/brick the game zooms in the action and goes slow motion. Very nice effect. Sometimes you can miss it and you will hear a sigh from a crowd, but if you hit it, it's a feast of eye candy. The ball leaves a colorful trail, a rainbow with cycling colors is splashed on the screen and some powerful classic music (which I believe is used in the eurovision transmission starting theme song) is played. Fireworks are also sent off when the ball deposits itself at the bottom of the screen where an extra bonus is given depending where the ball falls, the middle giving the highest points.




Besides the orange targets and blue pegs (which are just obstacles in the level), there are also green objects which when hit will give you a special power-up depending on the current stage you are in. Examples of power-ups are

• trajectory prediction so you will see where the ball will go after the first bounce,
• multiball where the ball is split into two balls (image in the effect if you hit multiple green objects)
• container extension where the container at the bottom will expand so you don't loose the ball so easily

Later on you will also have moving objects rather static on the screen. There is a nice touch to the controls where you can fastforward a bit the time. So if you have a rotating set of objects, and you want to wait for the objects to get in the right position, you can right click your mouse and you fastforward time. Nice :)




The game is very polished. It is colorful and good for all ages. Very addictive too. My girlfriend didn't want to stop playing it :). The music and sound effects are also excellent. The backgrounds are just right, they give enough color to the level but not distracting - they keep the focus on the objects you should be targeting by not being high-contrast images. I suggest you give it a spin ;)

Download Peggle Deluxe

Turtle Odyssey 2 review

This time I've tried out Turtle Odyssey 2 from BigFishGames which is a pretty decent platform game for the buck.

From the name I thought it would be a rather slow game... you know... Turtle Odyssey :). However it is not the case. It is a Super Mario Bros. kinda clone where you jump on all sorts of sea creatures to kill them and pick up coins. It is a relaxing game and more oriented to a young audience however it is still fun to play and take a break.


The game is story oriented where you need to go through a number of levels where then you have to kill some big boss which will guide you to the next part of the story.



In each level you have to find 5 jewels and go through the exit door. You will also find other goodies like starfish, treasure chests, etc. At the end of level, if you have picked up a star fish, you will have a go at the spinning wheel where you can get more points, health or a bonus level. Also try to pick up all the coins, kill all the enemies and try to find all the secret places - they are not so hard to find and they are full of coins and treasures to pick up :)



The bonus level is basically a coins-fest where you have to pick up all the coins within a minute. You have to be fast and don't waste time!! The more coins you pick, the closer you are to get an extra life.


Later in the game you will also be using a sea-horse which runs faster and also jumps higher. Even further down the game you will have the ability to do a double jump but I'll leave the rest for you to discover.

Some other features
- tried and tested gameplay (a platformer is always a platformer)
- very easy to pick up and play
- relaxing music
- relaxing animated backgrounds

Download Turtle Odyssey 2

Mistery Case Files - Ravenhearst review

I got to download another bigfish game. This time the Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst. Actually I was offered the option to download while I was playing Atlantis - Sky Patrol. I found this background downloading feature quite useful.


The ambience of the game is a bit spooky but nothing really scary. Just some graphics of an abondoned house, mysterious music theme, ticking clock, squeaking door sounds, and occasionaly some whispering like "save me" or "unlock the doors".


The idea of the game is to visit locations in a house and for each level you have to find a number of objects in some rooms. Each room is basically a dump yard and the name of the game is to spot the required objects in each dump yard room. Some objects are really hard to spot since they have craftily placed them to camouflage them with other objects, like for example a shrimp placed inline with the handle of a coffee cup. If you can't find the objects and you're stuck you have 5 hints available which will highlight a region where the object is with a circular star formation.


Sometimes before you can enter a room you have to solve some puzzle, like for example placing objects in the right place, or making a sequence of clicks to open up the lock for the room.


When you have found the number of objects required in a level, you will be shown a faded picture and you have to put matching pieces on the picture. You may have to rotate the pieces to get them in the right orientation. It's like a 35-piece jigsaw puzzle. When you manage to map the whole picture you will be given some text to read to uncover the next part of the story.

If you like to play a simple game to take a break and you like "spot the object" games, this is for you.

Download Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst

Atlantis Sky Patrol Review

It's been a while since my last post. I was (and still am) busy developing my projects.

I encountered Atlantis - Sky Patrol, a very cool game which reminded me of Zuma but much better. I tought I would share why I liked this game.

In Atlantis - SP, you have to stop a trail of colored spheres from reaching the end of the half-pipe. You control horizontally with the mouse a sort of space ship and when you click, the current sphere in your ship is fired. If the sphere you fired makes contact with trail, and forms a group of 3 spheres with same color, these 3 spheres are destroyed. Sounds a bit complex but it's more difficult to explain rather than playing it :)

So far this is similar to Zuma, however it has some other interesting gameplay elements. The main one being that to stop the continous spewing of spheres, you have to destroy some strategically-placed stationary spheres which are outside the half-pipe.


Another interesting feature is that you collect coins during the game and you can then upgrade your ship, like for example to help you with accuracy, speed of firing spheres, magnetic effect for pickups to make it easiers to not miss any pickup that is thrown at you, etc.




It boasts 111 levels (or devices that you have to stop) and there is this theme of travelling around the world, each level is a destination.


There is also a bonus level every 5 levels or so. This is somehow reminded me of the class Asteroids game. The only similarity actually is that you have some big spheres that move and wrap around the screen. When you shoot them, these divide until they release some coins and you have to pick them up. You have to avoid the mines which would explode and make you loose the possible coins in the bonus level.


Another interesting feature is that for some levels the ship slides over a curve rather than just horizontally. These levels give you a bit of harder challenge to aim the firing of spheres.

There is also an element of physics where sometimes there will be objects that bounce the spheres you fire at them and will remind you of some pinball game.

Some other points:
- 111 levels
- addictive gameplay
- nice visuals and presentation
- 28megs download only
- catchy music

Download Atlantis - Sky Patrol

Flatout 2 - a very good stress reliever

It was a very busy stressful week, but I got to play a very good stress relieving game this weekend. It's called Flatout2 by Bugbear. It's very similar to the Burnout series which never came out to the PC. But now we have a very decent replacement for our destructive racing needs. The scenes are very destructable (unless you hit a tree). The game mode I like best is destruction derby which reminds of the classic game called Destruction Derby by Reflections who are known for their other classic Shadow of the Beast.

You need to try it out to appreciate the destructive nature of this game :)

Cloud game - relaxing gameplay

If you want to try a relaxing game, then download the Cloud game. You will be in control of a dreaming girl that is able to fly and influence certain clouds. You need to guide this type of cloud near other similar clouds to enlarge the controlling cloud. You can then make any shape you want with the cloud or go near dark clouds to transform the clouds into rain and thunderstorms. It's a pretty relaxing game, and for being a university project, I must say it is very polished.

Narbacular Drop - unpolished portals game

Narbacular Drop is a game which is similar to what Portal's gameplay which will be distributed with HalfLife2 Episode 2. The major difference will be that you don't shoot to create a portal, but aim, click, hold and release.

The game's graphics are not polished, however the gameplay is there. If you want to grab the game, download it here.

GTR2 - fun professional race driving

If you like racing games, then download the demo of GTR2 by SimBin. I usually don't like too-realistic games. But this racing simulation is awesome. It's so realistic that you feel like you're driving a real car. The view I prefer for racing games is a just-behind-car camera view. I don't like the first-person view. BUT for this game, the first-person view is so real and puts you right into the driving seat that once you try it, you won't go to another view. You will see the driver changing gears, pressing the clutch/gas/brake and the high-speed vibrations of the car which really give the finishing touch.

The demo starts with the default setting set to maximum help, such as:
- steering help,
- braking help,
- stability help,
- traction control,
- anti-lock breaking system (ABS).
The fun starts when you start turning off these one by one, and see how it effects your driving, especially when you turn off traction control. It takes lots of practice to master, but you will appreciate the professional drivers' skills. I suggest that you try this demo with a wheel jostick since you wouldn't enjoy it as much.

Call of Juarez

I tried out the demo for Call of Juarez which is a western FPS with cowboys, guns and horses. It has some interesting gameplay elements such as:
- focused shooting (where you go in a sort of bullet-time and you wait until the cross hairs are at a good point where you shoot, while you can lean to avoid the enemy's bullets)
- fire spreading
- horseback riding
- whip swinging
- duel quick draw (where you use your mouse to draw your weapons at a specific time to shoot your enemy... didn't feel like too much fun though)

Having pointed out these gameplay elements, it seems that none of them are polished enough. Hopefully it's because it is still a demo. For example, horse back riding felt a bit awkward. Whip swinging didn't feel right. The focused shooting feels like it's a bit retro. There's a part where you need to steel a horse. It was a bit irritating especially since when you get the horse, you only use for 20 seconds. Might as well walk it!! But nooo, you have to steal the flippin' horse!

The things I didn't like where the following:
- Facial animations where horrendous... it would have been better if they provided some comic strips instead of cutscenes.
- It takes way too much time to load. Hope they will fix this in the final release
- I don't have such an old system, and the graphics didn't seem like they were cutting edge at low settings, but still the frame rate was very low making the game almost unplayable (unless i look at the floor LOL).
- The weapons didn't feel too much responsive.
- If this was made 3rd person, it would have felt more like Max Payne and would be much controllable. Especially with the whip swinging and horse riding.
- You need a real high-end video card to enjoy playing the game at a decent frame-rate and enjoy the visuals of this game. But then again, the gameplay doesn't feel so polished.

If you try out the demo, don't forget to increase the brightness from the game settings since you won't be able to see the enemies.

The Ship - intriguing but slow gameplay

I tried out The Ship by Outerlight at a friend of mine. It is a combination between an RPG, an FPS but you are to kill a specific victim onboard of the ship. The gameplay is innovative, since it combines RPG elements (e.g. needs such as eating, sleeping, number 1 and number 2). But you must be a very patient player since you must explore a lot (you may get lost) and be careful to not get caught by some guards when you're with an axe in your hand for example.

Here are the things I didn't like about the game:
- too slow to explore the boat
- the environment is too dark and dull
- the needs get annoying (but I'm not an RPG kind of player :) )
- if you run out of money you can get stuck (couldn't buy food or drink)
- you won't know if someone is coming behind you to kill you
- takes too long to get some action

I'm sure that there are gamers who will like this game. But if you are an action gamer, you won't like this game much.

Dynamic portals not so new

There's some video dated back to E3 of 1998, where Paul Schuytema was showing off Prey at it's "early" stages. He shows some interesting stuff they were doing back at that time. They also showed off dynamic creation of portals which we are now seeing in Portal.

This is why games should be released much sooner. We should have been playing portal madness and destructable terrain since 1998!

Portal - now you're thinking in portals

Valve have released a video of the gameplay of another game called Portal which will be included in HalfLife2 Episode 2. The idea behind the game is that you can create a portal by firing a special bullet which when it hits some scenery the portal is opened. Then you fire another one to create the destination of the portal. Now this is new gameplay! Ok, we have seen portals in other games, but the possibility of creating portals yourself opens a new dimension. You start thinking in portals! The idea is simple, but it creates an interesting single player puzzle game. I don't think this can be a multiplayer game though. It would be too weird.

ArkLight - breakout + shoot'em up

ArkLight is an action game with a combination from Breakout and shoot'em up games. You control this spaceship in a scrolling level, and you have to fire these energy balls that break the blocks in front of you to clear the path. These energy balls will bounce back and you can hit them back with your spaceship to bounce them somewhere else, or you could also direct them towards your ship to recollect them and restore your ship's energy.

It has a very shallow learning curve but addictive gameplay. At first the levels are quite easy but it gets hectic :).

Download ArkLight

Wild Earth - virtual safari

Wild Earth has an FPS view, however you don't shoot and kill anything. You point and shoot photos of animals around you. At first I thought that it would be a dumb game, but after playing the demo I think it's quite a good game. At least the gameplay is different from the usual games. During the demo, I learnt a lot about elephants with the ongoing commentary. The game somehow hooks you to taking photos of animals and exploring. And at the end of the level, a web article is generated which can also be shared with your friends.

I must say, this game is a very good idea for edutainment.

Wii early in September/October?

Daily Tech and SCI FI Tech have reported that there's a big possibility that Wii will be coming two months earlier. They already started manufacturing the retail units! COOOOL. Unlike PS3.

Lets hope there won't be a shortage of Wii consoles when it launches.

HalfLife2 Episode 1 - just finished it

Warning: possible spoiler?
I found some time to finish HalfLife2 Episode 1, and although there were no new gameplay elements, some levels where fun to play. Possibly coz the rocket launcher was introduced in the levels. I really liked the level in the warehouse where a Gunship hovers over the warehouse, shooting and destroying parts of the warehouse to try to hit you. All you have is a rocket launcher and gaps in the warehouse's wood panels. Nice level.

Another nice map was the one where you protect and rescue groups of allies to take the train. You have to go back and forth to rescue them. An APC comes along at one point and you have to take it down with the rocket launcher.

Also before you catch your train, a Strider tries to hunt you down and you have to hide and take him down with a rocket launcher. Yeah I admit, I love the rocket launcher. The guiding of missiles is a nice touch.

Lets hope that episode 2 will contain some interesting gameplay (and less creepy dark levels). I think that VALVe are now playing around with their technology to create fun-to-play maps, rather then introduce new gameplay ideas. Some complex physics puzzles would be nice.

Titan Quest - been there done that

Titan Quest is an RPG where you go through several ancient locations like the pyramids, parthenon etc etc. There's a lot of detail in the graphics, however there is no innovation in gameplay. It's the usual point-and-click-allocate-experience-points-do-magic-spells kind of game. Basically it's somewhere between Diablo and Dungeon Siege. If you liked these games, but want a different story and feel like you're a gladiator, then you will enjoy this game. If you were looking for something refreshening regarding gameplay in RPGs, it feels like quite the same as the others ... at least from the demo.