Living LIVE 11.09.09: Issue No. 46 - Antigrav Racing Championship, Squid Yes! Not So Octopus, Space Milkman, Mirror, Head Shot 2, More
Posted by Trace Aber on 11.09.2009
Featuring reviews of Squid Yes! Not So Octopus, Space Milkman, Mirror, Head Shot 2, and five other community games!
Just got back from Chicago where I had both a vacation and an assignment for 411 to complete. Got a first look at the new EA MMA game and I must say, I am highly impressed by what I saw. Expect impressions on Wednesday. I know last week I said I would have my Forza 3 review up but my computer has been having problems all week, randomly crashing daily. I've had three reviews of it get lost, so hopefully the fourth time is the charm. Most of my video game playing in the last week has been dedicated to the Left 4 Dead 2 demo, which will bide my time until Modern Warfare 2 comes out this Tuesday. That is going to be absolutely awesome.
This week the only arcade games released this week were three Wallace and Gromit games. While I'm admittedly not the biggest Wallace and Gromit fan, I think reviewing three of their games in a row would be overkill regardless of my fandom. Instead, I'll be reviewing more community games, nine of them in fact!
Squid Yes! Not so Octopus! (80MP)
First off, I have no idea what the game's title is all about. According to the game info the main character was born of atomic death and is a squid, not an octopus. He's also very irritable, from what I understand. Apparently, this game comes from the creator's hatred of people who confuse just what an octopus is and what a squid is. At least the title, anyways. The basic mechanics of the game are that of a classic arena shooter kill the enemies before they kill you. What makes SY!NSO! unique is it's goal it's not to get to a final boss or reach some uncharted territory all you have to do is reach a score of nine. Yup, that's it: nine.
Oh, and make sense of this
While that sounds easy, it's actually quite difficult. Damn difficult. If you know anything about decimals (and if you're reading this hopefully you do), you'll know that when you have to fill up eight decimal spaces that's a lot of decimals. Especially when you only get a couple points for each enemy you kill. Luckily, you can collect gems which net you bonus points as well as picking up occasional bonuses to help you along the way. You'll also get a full point for each minute you last in the game, so sometimes running away works better than going straight into battle. When you reach nine points or last the full eight minutes, you win the game and can try again.
As if having only one life wasn't hard enough, you'll also have to combat with the special effects the game offers. Explosions, music, shaking controllers and uncontrolled mayhem exist all throughout this game, which makes things that much harder. You can opt to turn down the effects in the settings menu, but it kind of takes away from the gameplay. With the original configuration you shoot with the A button but I found having it on autofire works a bit better since the manual shooting can be awkward (and confusing) at times. Overall, SY!NSO! is a fun little shooter that will provide players with a challenge not often seen in community games. Rating: 7.5
Lodestar 1000 (80MP)
Lodestar 1000 is a robot that is essentially a modern-day Simon Says machine built with old technology. Strange things have happened but I'm not quite sure if they have in the "Simon Says" world. Developed by BadRadish Entertainment, Lodestar is a simple yet addictive simon clone that will provide both entertainment and frustration for players, all while Lodestar tries to be as robotically adorable as possible. Luckily, the folks at BadRadish decided to add a little more to the game by adding full controller support.
Actually, this is kind of terrifying.
Throughout the game you will "level up" after completing a set number of rounds with the robot (who also acts as the game board) and as you continue to do so the gameplay moves over to the d-pad and two analogue sticks. This means instead of the typical 4 possible buttons to press you'll have sixteen possible options. The leveling up system is a perfect way to introduce players to this unfamiliar scenario as you'll move from the fact buttons to the right stick to the d-pad to the left stick. I made it to level 14 before messing up, but then again I never was a huge Simon player. As it stands, Lodestar 1000 is an interesting take on the "Simon Says" genre and will no doubt be a challenge for even the best players. Rating: 7.0
Space Milkman (240MP)
When I think of intelligent life out in space, I assume they're way more advance than us and very little in common with us. It just makes more sense and is a way better story. Well, the developers at SmileBoom disagreed and thought that in space they still need milkmen, which who knows, maybe they do. Basically, Tsuneo (that's you) is a milk deliver who for whatever reason drank his entire supply and now has to quest through the universe to find a fresh supply of cows to milk (which thankfully they do not show).
The Space Milkman has a tough life many don't realize
Featuring colorful graphics and a certain old school vibe to it, Space Milkman is a pretty fun platformer that may just be worth purchasing. In the three levels I played I was introduced to new concepts and puzzles. You have a slide move that will cause Tsuneo to jump and slide through tight spaces (while eliminating any obstacles) as well as suits that grant him special powers. In the demo I encountered two of them, a red one and a yellow one. The red suit allows you to create blocks at will while the yellow suit will throw a banana that will eliminate obstacles and enemies from afar. You can also collect donut-looking things and cupcakes along the way that will determine your rank upon completion of a level, though they don't seem to do much else outside of that. Though the music and sound effects may get on your nerves after a while, Space Milkman is a fun platformer that goes for a reasonable price as long as the look and feel of the game doesn't bother you (which may be too childish for some). Rating: 7.0
Antigrav Racing Championship (400MP)
There is a definite lack of racing games on the community platform and developers Red Dragon know this. That's why they made Antigrav Racing Championships (or ARC), which is clearly inspired by the old Wipeout games, at least graphically. Unlike Wipeout, there are no weapons to be had in this one and instead it's just some good old racing with some impressive features for a community game. One look at it will show you that the graphics are better than normal and actually quite impressive though the AI holds this game back from playing as good as it looks.
As you can tell, the graphics are top-notch
The game also has eight unique cars that come with their own stats and pros/cons. In a rare instance for the community games you can actually tell the difference between the stats too. You'll be racing along twenty tracks, each with their own environment and well-rendered backgrounds. In addition to that, you'll have ten championships to conquer, which are made up of tracks in the game. Despite the impressive features the game has, it's not without its flaws. For starters, the AI seem to travel in packs and feature very little variety. They follow their course and that's it. It's very akin to driving against the ghost racers that some other racing games feature. Another problem is that this racing game is only one player, and one of the best things about racing games is actually, you know, racing people. Because of these shortcomings it's hard to recommend this game for 400MP, though it's definitely worth checking out if you're looking for a solid, if unspectacular racer. Rating: 6.5
Mirror (80MP)
Mirror is a pretty unique puzzle game that introduces people to the world of iterated functions. Not willing to look up what that actually means, let's just pretend it has to do with reflecting things in space. Because that's what mirrors will have you doing and it's actually fun. Featuring plenty of levels to warrant the 80MP asking price, Mirror doubles as a game and art gallery since each time you beat a level it becomes unlocked.
So, uh, yeah
The levels are ordered in a solar-system set up that can be kind of confusing at first but once you get the hang of it things start to make a little sense. Once you decide what you want to discover you'll see a dividing line at some point in the level and various green nodes. It is your task to find out exactly where they would land on the opposite side of the "mirror" based off the dividing line. It's a bit confusing to explain but really fun to play. As you advance through the levels you will be tasked with figuring out the reflections of nodes through multiple mirrors, which is where things can get hard. Scores are based off accuracy of the actual spot and thankfully the game is a little forgiving, not expecting you to get it right on the money to unlock the art. All in all, a fun experiment that deserves some attention. Rating: 8.0
Snaker Ace (400MP)
I remember when my dad first got a cell phone being really intrigued by it. Especially the games portion of it. While time hasn't been too kind to most of the games, one that has always been fun to play is Snake. When I saw that there had been a community game released that promised not only the same classic snake gameplay but with more modern features, I was excited. Well, as excited as one can get about a game of snake. But, I figured, updated graphics, different game modes, multiplayer it all sounded good. Good God, I have never been more wrong in my life.
Where is Snake and what have you done with it?
The problem with Snaker Ace is, well, everything. The graphics look stupid and illogical. One, why do the eggs (which help your snake grow bigger) have huge stars on them and have multiple colors? Two, why are the obstacles in the game construction cones? Three, I've never seen a snake look more dumbfounded in my entire life. The gameplay is pretty terrible to. Movement is choppy, the ability to shoot venom adds nothing to the game and the mazes are simply not fun. Everything fun about Snake was ruined in this remake. All of the modes are completely devoid of fun and multiplayer is a joke.
And why does this trash cost 400MP? I understand the size limit thing and that may just be the reason but then my question is why is the game so damn huge? And, finally, what is up with the name? Snaker Ace? What the hell? Rating: 3.0
Tank-Tastic! (240MP)
Tank-Tastic is a dual-stick tank-shooter where the battlefield is a notebook paper. So while not the most realistic interpretation of tank battling, that's not the only problem plaguing this game. In fact, I found that to be the best part of it since it had a little neat idea behind it. The problem with "Tastic" is that it seems to forget the best part about dual-shooters the ability to shoot all the time. That's simply not the case here. Even though the enemies will seemingly shoot non-stop you'll be lucky to get three or four bullets in before having to wait for a undetermined amount of time to shoot again. It makes things unnecessarily hard and even when you do complete a level there's never a feeling of accomplishment. More along the lines of, "great, another level."
Co-Op is a redeeming factor, however
The campaign consists of eleven missions that will have you do a varying number of things. After playing through three missions on the trail the inability to really shoot makes it all the more aggravating as it becomes apparent this could be a pretty fun game. In the first mission you were destroying the enemies while in the other two you were either surviving for a set amount of time or trying to capture the enemy flag. The ideas are good and the potential for fun is there, but when the screen is littered with enemy bullets and you can barely shoot any off, the fun isn't there anymore. While it does work better on co-op, it's disappointing that single player isn't fun at all. Good idea, poor execution. Rating: 5.0
Head Shot 2 (80MP)
Some of you may remember the original Headshot a while ago, and for those of you who didn't let me just say I wasn't impressed by it. I believed it to be bland, boring and devoid of any sort of gameplay other than, "Shoot target with a scope." Silver Dollar Games, however, are back with Head Shot 2 and I must admit this one is a lot better than the original. Dare I say it's an entirely different game and everything the first one should have been.
As you continue through the game your targets will be on multiple levels
The story is pretty simple a terrorist organization is loose in your hometown and they are able to disguise themselves as anyone; from a ballerina to an astronaut. While I'm not entirely sure why people run around in large groups despite having seemingly nothing in common, waiting to get shot at, it's not my job to rate hometowns, just games. You'll receive the target you need to hit (through what looks like an iPhone) and that's when the timer begins. It's up to you, best sniper in the world, to take out the target with as little hesitation and as much accuracy as possible. Your score is rated on the aforementioned things (though hesitation causes you to lose points) and you move on to the next level, so long you don't miss or shoot someone else. It's a simple concept but it's surprisingly fun and addictive, so be sure to check out Head Shot 2. Rating: 8.0
Experiment 12 (80MP)
Experiment 12 in a minimalist approached video game that puts you in the shoes of a prisoner trying to figure for early freedom. Unfortunately, most of the time people die when trying out these experiments. And by "most of the time" I mean nearly every damn time. This game is frustratingly hard to where you want to give up. The levels are made up of primarily two colors gray and red. Avoid the red at all costs except most of the time you have to have the perfect timing or you're going to die. Get ready to hear the dying sound a lot.
Yeah, that seems reasonable
The puzzles in the game are easy to figure out, it's the timing that's impossible. In my run of the demo there was never an instance where I couldn't' figure out what to do, I just had problems getting the pinpoint accuracy down required to complete the level. The lava (red) is placed in such that even the slightest mishap will result in death and there were times where I felt it was impossible. Much like Tank-Tastic, when you beat a level you've already become so frustrated that you don't feel proud or accomplished but more upset that there's another level coming ahead. Look, I enjoy a good challenge but I'd rather that challenge be based off skill and not random luck and timing. Rating: 6.0
Review Round Up Squid Yes! Not So Octopus: 7.5 [Buy] Lodestar 1000: 7.0 [Buy] Space Milkman: 7.0 [Buy] AntiGrav Racing Championship: 6.5 [Try] Mirror: 8.0 [Buy] Snaker Ace: 3.0 [Skip] Tank-Tastic!: 5.0 [Skip] Head Shot 2: 8.0 [Buy] Experiment 12: 6.0 [Try]
Check back next week as I review the newest arcade and indie games and let you know what's worth buying, trying, and skipping. Also, don't forget to bookmark 411Mania! And a note to all of the Indie Game developers out there if you have an upcoming title that's going to be released soon drop me a line at traceaber@gmail.com and let me know. I'll write a full review of your game to be posted on 411Mania.com, which is a great way to get your game promoted!
