“Crootle”, put simply, tasks players with matching colored tiles in an attempt to form a path from one end of the board to the other. Sounds simple, right? Well, yes and no. While being able to match colors is a skill that we learn at a very young age, the manner in which players place the tiles will ultimately determine who wins and who loses. I have weakness for games that are easy to play but involve a bit of critical thinking and strategic planning…to that end, “Crootle” certainly fits the bill. Before we get started with the preview, I’d like to thank the folks at World Village Games, LLC for providing me with a prototype copy. As with most prototypes, it’s important to stress that they usually aren’t representative of the final product. The content in the pictures featured below are therefore subject to change.
The original “Settlers of Catan” has been around for over ten years and is probably one of the most popular board games ever to set foot outside of Europe. Like “Monopoly”, many different versions of “Catan” have surfaced over the course of time…”Star Trek: Catan” being among my personal favorites. We’re here today to take a look at the video game adaptation released in August of 2013 titled, “Catan: Creator’s Edition”. Before we get started, I’d like to thank Michaela Schultheis from United Soft Media for providing me with a review copy.
More and more board games are being funded through Kickstarter as of late, and I’m not going to complain. “Bring em on!”, I say. Most of them show a lot of promise, and such is the case with “Elemental Blast.”
In the preview I published back in March of 2013, I compared this game to flying through the forests of Endor on a speeder bike. After months of fine-tuning, the game was finally released to the public on August 19, 2013. Things have changed a bit, but the concept is still the same…dodge obsticles at high speeds in an attempt to get the highest score possible. Before we take a look at the game in closer detail, I’d like to once again thank Forest San Filippo from Flippfly LLC for providing me with a free copy of the game.
Stuck on the video game, “Gone Home”? You can check out my walkthrough video and review via the links below.
There’s something to be said for games that simply focus on telling a story. They are either loved or hated, as is the case with games like “Dear Esther” and “Proteus”. In “Gone Home”, you take on the role of a teenage girl (Katie) who’s come home after a full year of studying abroad. As you may have guessed, the experience of coming home didn’t exactly turn out the way you had expected. With the family missing, it’ll be your job to explore your house in an effort to piece together what has transpired. Before we get started, I’d like to thank Steve Gaynor from The Fullbright Company for providing me with a free review copy.
“Hammerwatch” has been on my watch list for quite a while, especially since my experiences with the Beta where positive overall. On that note, feel free to check out the preview I published back in February of 2013 if you have the time. “Hammerwatch”, for those of you who don’t feel like browsing between two different articles, is a “Gauntlet-esque” hack and slash adventure featuring pixel art and many, many scary looking creatures. You and your friends will be able to team up, pick a class, and wade through hordes of enemies as you attempt to clear Castle Hammerwatch from the ground up. Before we delve any deeper into how this game works, I’d like to once again thank Jochum Skoglund for providing me with review copies for the game.
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.