While there is no shortage of real-time strategy area controls games on the market, I would be negligent in my duties if I didn’t bring “Abstractanks” to your attention. It draws some similarities to games like “Eufloria”, “Starlink”, “Planets Under Attack”, and “Oil Rush”, but I found it to be unique in that you’ll have a say in where you can actually send your units. If you’re familiar at all with the aforementioned games, you’d know that you’re limited in terms of how your units behave and travel…not so with “Abstractanks”.
I’ve written so many zombie articles at this point that I’m all out of lead-ins and funny puns. So, you may ask, why do I continue to cover zombie games? Well, why not? Most of the zombie games I come across are incredibly fun to play, and “Tiny Zombies” ended up being no different in that regard. Don’t let the name fool you, these zombies are anything but tiny. In this instance, you and your friends will team up and take on the role of a group of survivors. For those of you who have played the video game, think “Left 4 Dead”, but on your dining room table with cards. Will your group successfully make it to the safe zone before you succumb to the horde? Before we take a quick look at what makes this game tick, I’d like to thank Christopher Haskins from Nord Games for sending out a prototype copy. It’s important to stress that prototypes aren’t usually representative of the final product, so the content and pictures featured below are subject to change.
Not many games get through Steam’s Greenlight process, but “Papers, Please” did and rightly so. I mean, where else can you play a paper stamping simulator? Before you make that face, it’s important to stress that the game isn’t as boring as it sounds…quite the opposite, in fact. In this particular simulator, you take on the role of an immigration inspector that my accept or reject applicants attempting to cross over to the Arstotzkan side of Grestin from Kolechia. Yeah, try saying that ten times fast. Before we get started checking out the game in further detail, I’d like to thank Lucas Pope, the creator of the game, for providing me with a free review copy.
Whenever I’m playing a war game, whether it be a World War II first-person shooter or real-time strategy game, my heart sinks a little every time I catch a glimpse of enemy Panzer tanks approaching in the distance. I don’t know what it is about those massive beasts that makes me so anxious, but I do know that I can never get enough. “Tanks of War: Third Reich Rising” does nothing but satisfy that craving, putting players in the role of commanders who must manage their ever-growing deck of tanks in an attempt to grasp victory. As the last sentence implies…yes, this is a deck-building game. With tanks. How could that not be awesome? Before we take a look at this upcoming Kickstarter project, I’d like to thank Rich Nelson, the President of Giant Goblin Games, for providing me with a prototype copy. It’s important to stress that because this is a prototype, the rules and components mentioned in this article are subject to change.
Sharpen your pencils and flex your math muscles, it’s time to play “Mahta Mahti”! In this easy-to-play card game designed for three to ten players, you’ll be trying to match numbers on the cards you play in order to score points. The game itself comes with a deck of one-hundred and twenty-nine square playing cards. The four numbers listed on any one card can vary, forcing players to think about which card they should play when considering the playing field as it stands. Before we get into specifics, I’d like to thank Jeff Greenmun from Mahta Mahti Ent, LLC for providing me with a prototype copy. It’s worth noting that because this copy is a prototype, it’s possible that the pictures you’ll see in the content below are not fully representative of the final product.
Looking to earn a quick buck (or bell, in this case) in “Animal Crossing: City Folk”? Below are some tips that helped me to pay off my entire house (all of the upgrades) in relatively short order.
I’ve come to realize that “Animal Crossing” is legalized crack…there’s just no other reasonable explanation. It has a cartoony / kiddie theme and doesn’t feature any sort of violence in the slightest (unless you count roach squashing). Yet…I keep playing it. I’ve come to the realization that at this point, I should probably stand up, announce my name to the general public, and admit that yes, I’m an “Animal Crossing” addict. Admittance is the first step to recovery, is it not?
Show of hands…how many of you folks dabbled in creating your own space missions in whatever pop-culture medium you happened to like at the time? I myself had a very bad addiction to the “X-Wing” series on the PC, followed by “TIE Fighter” and later, “X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter”. The latter of the three even had a downloadable mission editor which I relentlessly picked at. “Gunship: First Strike!” reminds me a little of those days, as I didn’t find myself focused on any one ship, but on the larger picture at hand. In this particular game, players will be given three different types of ships and will be endeavouring to outmaneuver the other in deadly space combat. Before we start priming the turrets and charging the shields, I’d like to thank Steve Wood from Escape Pod Games for providing me with a free review copy.
“Zooloretto” (the board game) was published back in 2007, tasking players with managing a “zoo park” so to speak. Games like “Aquaretto” came later, but they all revolved around the same theme: collect animals and place them into your park in a way that made you the most points. Today, we’re going to be taking a look at the video game adaptation, coming to Windows platforms on August 3, 2013. Before we take a look at this particular game, I’d like to thank Stefan Layer of Libredia (AKA LAYERNET) for providing me with a free review copy.
Alright, here’s the deal. I’m going throw a bunch of words at you, and I want you to attempt to make sense of it. Artillery. Vikings. Tower Defense. Spells. Bombs. Real-Time Strategy. Knights. Tower Destruction. Heroes. Flags. Tower Offense. Javelins. Cartoony. Tower Construction. Exploding Sheep. 2.5D Physics. Got all that? Good. Now, throw all of those words into one giant blender of fun and let the blades spin for about thirty seconds. At the end of it all, you should have a nice, rich glass of “CastleStorm”. The closest I could come to a game that compares to this one was “Angry Birds”, but that wouldn’t do “CastleStorm” justice. Sure, it’s got tower destruction, but it offers so much more than that. Before we take a look at this game in further detail, I’d like to thank Mel Kirk from Zen Studios for providing me with a free review copy.
My time with “Strike Suit Zero” was an overall positive one, even if game’s problems prevented it from reaching its full potential. Enter “Strike Suit Infinity”, a separate sister game in the series that does not require “Strike Suit Zero” to play. Where “Strike Suit Zero” put you through a single player campaign, “Strike Suit Infinity” is all about high scores. Yes, that’s it. No campaign, no multiplayer, no kidding. Just you, endless waves of enemies, and your wits. Think of it as an “endless mode” of sorts…why they couldn’t have included it in the core game is beyond me. At any rate, you’re probably wondering to yourself, is it any good?
I’ve seen some games journalists compare “Strike Suit Zero” with “X-Wing”, the latter of which I’ve spent years playing in my youth. We had a love/hate relationship in that I would curse it for not having the ability to save in-mission, as well as the insane difficulty spikes that would sometimes surface out of the blue. Yet, I kept playing it as if my life had depended on it. While I can see why some might consider “Strike Suit Zero” to be the closest thing to “X-Wing” since “those days”, I’d have to say that it’s more comparable to “Freelancer”, minus the open-world & trade mechanics. Speaking of which, if you haven’t played “Freelancer” yet, you’re missing out.
When I first laid eyes on this particular game, I had trouble envisioning just what was inside the box. Did modern-day technology advance to the point where they can shrink herds of buffalo and put them inside a small box? Is this some odd variant of “Pass The Pigs”? Thankfully, it turned out to be neither, despite how badly I wanted miniature buffalo to go stampeding through my living room. “Buffalo”, in this case, takes on the role of a verb meaning, “to outwit, puzzle, or baffle”. It’s a card game designed for two to eight players, meant to be played by older children and adults. Before we get started checking out this game in further detail, I’d like to thank Amanda Young from Tiltfactor for providing me with a free review copy.
“Apples to Apples” and “Crappy Birthday” are big hits in my house, as both (we feel) are casual games and a lot of fun to play. “Awkward Moment” is similar to the aforementioned games, moreso to the former. For those of you who haven’t played games of this genre, you are essentially choosing someone to be a judge. Players then submit a card or cards to the judge anonymously and whoever’s card gets chosen scores points. Of course, the rules vary depending on the game, but that’s the basic idea. Before we take a look at the rules and gameplay elements of this particular one, I’d like to thank Amanda Young from Tiltfactor for providing me with a free review copy.
I’m a sucker for zombie games, whether they be open-world post-apocolyptic survival games or themes that involve players being the zombies themselves. “ZOMBIEPOX” is neither, focusing more on zombie control and outbreak prevention. Players will be teaming up to prevent the spread of the disease (ZOMBIEPOX, hence the name) all the while vaccinating and curing as many as they can. Before we get started fighting off the undead, I’d like to thank Amanda Young from Tiltfactor for providing me with a free review copy.
This particular ditty was released back in 2006 and at the time, I couldn’t have been more excited. A game like this was a long time coming, as the last title to have a similar theme (“Star Wars: Rebellion”) was released back in 1998. I won’t bother reviewing a game that is well over five years old, but I will say that it was an incredible feat and achievement.