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A Recommendation: Humble Indie Bundle V

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What a deal!

I’d always heard about the Humble Indie Bundle, but never bought in until I learned more about it courtesy of jsicktheslick and his post covering the Humble Indie Bundle 4. It came packed with seven critically acclaimed games and their soundtracks, DRM free for as much as I wanted to pay. As the name suggests, these games are developed by smaller studios and usually don’t have the multi-million dollar marketing plan behind them. Even though the developers might not be grossing as much as they would off each individual sale, they’re probably getting into the hands of many more consumers then they would’ve otherwise and that’s awesome.

Now that I’m in the know as it were, I bought in on the just-released Humble Indie Bundle V. It contains Bastion (I’ve heard nothing but praise for this hand-drawn action-RPG), Amnesia: The Dark Descent (a survival-horror game that I’ve also heard good murmurings about), LIMBO (a well received artsy puzzle-platformer often compared to Braid), Psychonauts (one of video games’ hidden gems that I have yet to play), and Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (a game that I played on iOS).

Each one of these games is critically acclaimed and wonderful in their own ways, and you have the potential to get all of them and their soundtracks for as much as you want to pay. While I still have plenty of games to play from the previous bundle, I jumped on board right away and picked this one up, and I recommend you do the same!

In Between Posts

In Between Posts, August 14, 2011

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To recap last week, I published my review of Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP and my demo impressions of Driver: San Francisco. I liked pretty much everything in Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, except the point and click gameplay and I thought the Shift mechanic in Driver: San Francisco as at odds with the realism I thought the game was attempting to portray, but I still enjoyed it.

This week I return to college as my fall semester is beginning! I’m not sure how it will affect the frequency of my writing yet, but my homework load will be the determining factor.

I’m still playing Grandia Xtreme. I know I’m close to the end, but I’m not sure how many hours away from it I am. I should hopefully be done by next week, or the week after next. That’s all I’ve been focusing on, but I did go out and purchase Halo 3: ODST last week which means I finally have all of the multiplayer maps for Halo 3! I’ve been playing Halo 3 multiplayer every now and then with a friend, but I don’t expect to write about either Halo 3 or Halo 3: ODST having beaten both ages ago.

I don’t know what’ll get posted this week, but keep watching!

iOS, Reviews

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP – Review

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The man at the game's title screen, The Archetype, makes me question much about the game's setting.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is a downloadable adventure game for iOS devices. There are two versions, one specifically for the iPad and another that works on the iPhone and the iPod Touch. It was developed by Capybara Games; art was done by Superbrothers, and special mention was given to the musical stylings of Jim Guthrie. The two versions were released in March and April of this year, respectively.

While infrequent, the battles, specifically the boss battles, made me stop playing in frustration.

Superbrothers is a point and click adventure game. To move my character (The Scythian), I clicked where I wanted her to go and she went there. Alternatively I could hold my finger on the screen and drag to where I wanted her to go. I played the game on my iPod Touch, and I wasn’t really that happy with the size of the screen. Then again, I don’t have a past with point and click adventure games, so this was sort of a new experience for me.

I explored my surroundings and tried to figure out what was going on and what I had to do. The Scythian wasn’t all brain however. Occasionally as I explored, I’d run into enemies and have to fight them. Normally I’d hold the iPod in landscape mode, but whenever I had to fight I’d have to stand the iPod upright. During fights, icons of a sword and a shield would appear in the bottom right of the screen. Battles were infrequent, but battling the bosses became tedious. The bosses attacked in mostly the same way and a lot of these fights required precise timing swinging my sword; easier said than done.

The game is broken down into sessions. My first session lasted about thirty minutes and it introduced me to the character I controlled, The Scythian, my surroundings, apparently the Caucasus Mountains in Eurasia, and my quest. After a bit of walking I ran into a couple of people. One of them, Logfella (voiced by Robert Ashley!) led me to Mingi Taw, where I found the Megatome. For one reason or another, the Megatome is what the Scythian was after. After it was removed however, a deathless spectre awoke and I had to find a way to deal with it.

The art style for Superbrothers was very interesting. I usually don’t like games that use a darker palette, but the pixel-like design of Superbrothers drew me in. The mystery behind the story also drew me in. I was perplexed by the quest The Scythian was on and the hipster dialogue kept me questioning the time period the game was set in. The objectives I accomplished were conceptually very interesting, but the actual gameplay I had to go through was oftentimes not ideal. I enjoyed everything but the gameplay in Superbrothers and for a couple of bucks, that’s a good deal, even if I didn’t beat it.

In Between Posts

In Between Posts, August 7, 2011

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I’m very happy about last week. I was able to throw a lot of posts up and made progress in the games currently on my docket.

I believe I’m in the final stages of Grandia Xtreme. Before I began playing the game I read a few reviews and one of them mentioned a one hundred floor dungeon. Well, the dungeon I’m currently in seems like it’s going to go on for a long time (there’s been a teleport back to town every five levels so far) and it being the final dungeon would coalesce with where I’m at in the story.

My friend and I also played a couple more hours of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, but we’re still pretty early on in that game.

I think I will write my first impression/review of Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP this week. I’ve played it off and on for a month or so now, but it has been frustrating me recently and I’m going to write about it and be done with it. Although I’ll probably play it when I’m bored in the future…

I began playing a lot of Halo 3 last week. I remembered I recently renewed my Xbox Live Gold and began playing it with my friend. We also played a good deal of NBA Jam on the Sega CD and that game is awesome!

So I should post something about Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP this week, and we’ll see what else.

In Between Posts

In Between Posts, July 24, 2011

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I’ve decided to move my In Between Posts posts to Sunday instead of Monday. I guess I believe the week begins on Sunday, and that fits the purpose of these posts better.

Anyways, I played two demos last week and finished Advent Rising. The demo for Catherine kept me interested in the game, while the demo for Dead Block was enough for me.

Now that I’m finished with Advent Rising I will focus on Grandia Xtreme for the PlayStation 2. Grandia Xtreme was a spin-off of sorts for the Grandia series; it plays more like a dungeon crawler than a traditional role-playing game where you go from town-town with small dungeons in between. I’ve enjoyed it so far.

I also played a little bit of Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcey EP on my iPod. I bought it about a month ago and started playing it, but as I’m prone to do with iOS games, stopped. I took a few long breaks at work and will hopefully finish it soon.

As far as posts for this week go, I’ll probably have some demo impressions up, and maybe a review for Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP.

In Between Posts

In Between Posts, July 11, 2011

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I’m glad I was so active last week. In five days I posted six articles, a new record for myself. This week will be much lighter on content.

After completing Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Zombie Ninja Pro-Am last week I began playing Advent Rising on the Xbox. I remember the game showing a lot of promise before it’s release, even garnering a Game Informer cover. But it  turned out to be a major flop when it came out in 2005.

I haven’t played any more of Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, but I plan to.

If all goes according to plan I should beat Advent Rising this week and post my thoughts on it, but I’m not feeling great right now so we’ll see what happens.

In Between Posts

In Between Posts, July 4, 2011

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Actually threw a lot of posts up last week. Got my Vanquish review up along with two DLC reviews relating to Mass Effect 2. One of those DLC reviews I had written and forgotten to edit and post earlier in the year, but better late then never, eh? With those done I only have two more packs of DLC for Mass Effect 2, but I don’t anticipate playing them too soon.

After completing Vanquish (twice!) I’ve turned my attention to Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Zombie Ninja Pro-Am for the PlayStation 2. I imagine it won’t take me too long; it seems pretty short as I’m already a third of the way through it! I have also been playing Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP for iOS. It’s a point-and-click adventure game, but the developers have emphasized the art style and audio design more than the gameplay. It’s pretty cool.

I have finally checked out the contents of the Devil May Cry 4 collector’s edition fully which means… a review of both the game and the collector’s edition will be posted this week! Expect those Tuesday and Wednesday. The last productive thing I did last week was play through the demo for El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron on the PlayStation 3. It’s an action game, but like S:S&SEP, it focuses more on the art style than the gameplay. They’re both competent games, but not the best in terms of their gameplay.

So expect two posts attributed to Devil May Cry 4 and my thoughts on the demo for El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron this week for sure, and maybe something else.