Planet Sillicon

The lure of beautiful games

By blog on Apr. 22, 2009.

I have been trying, and failing, to play Far Cry 2 which I bought the other day, but that is another post, today’s is about a couple of great games that I stumbled upon rather accidentally.

After looking at the beautiful screenshots and great review, I decided to get Braid. There is something so magical about a beautiful game with haunting music, and the water-coloured backgrounds of Braid are certainly beautiful. So refreshing when there are so many games with jarring backing tracks and visuals that, whilst realistic, are overly harsh.

First impressions of the game… It is very, very fun. In the early stages especially. The gameplay is refreshing because it combines both classic 2-D platforming, but with game mechanics that are new and invigorating. The fact that you have no lives, per say, but instead a function to reverse time… it is really very fun and unique.

With each new world that you unlock, there are six in all, you are introduced to a new game mechanic. In world two, you find objects that are green and sparkly, which means they are resistant to you reversing time. There are objects in later worlds that can be affected by your doppelganger, which appears as you reverse time.

I thoroughly enjoy the puzzle solving nature of this game, they are difficult without being too difficult… in most cases. And as for the game being so short, I am finding it worth the money I spent on it. I am also really enjoying the story line, it is intriguing, original, and refreshingly adult!

Another game that I recently stumbled upon and have thoroughly enjoyed is a independent game by the name of Crayon Physics Deluxe. This is a very fun, if a little short lived, game where you use a crayon to draw ways to get a little red ball to a little yellow star, using physics. The music is very nice and soothing, like with Braid, and I sometimes play just to hear the nice backing tracks.

It is a nice thing, in the gaming world, to stumble onto games that are fun, unique, don’t glitch constantly, and don’t cost an arm and a leg!

I need a new game

By blog on Apr. 15, 2009.

After playing Mount & Blade for a while, and then having my sixty odd Swadian Knights decimated by a stupidly large opposing force, I am not feeling as enchanted with the game right now. I want a new game. I don’t know specifically what I want, I just know that I want a new game. I headed on over to IGN before to see what was new and looked good. I am rather picky about what games I will actually put money into, and if it scored less than 8.0 at IGN there is absolutely no way I am getting it. A few things popped out at me. Ceville, Braid, and because I didn’t get it when it first came out, Spore.

Ceville is a point-and-click adventure in much the same style as Monkey Island. I really enjoyed Monkey Island when I played that years ago, and the review of Ceville had a lot of good praise for it. The only downside to this genre of game, in my opinion, is that it can fail to be as immersive as other games. You are more removed, there is, in a way, less required of the gamer in order to progress through the game. I mean sure, you need to work your bonce in order to solve the puzzles, but there is less hand-eye skill required, as in poor reflexes aren’t an issue. And that is all well and good for this genre, but perhaps I find that it can have you a little removed from what is going on. Of course, I could just be talking from the wrong end, as I thoroughly enjoyed Professor Layton and the Curious Village, but I feel belligerent today so I am going with it.

Another game that got a good score, but I probably won’t get, is Braid. Sure it looks like a groovy old platformer, but short games irritate me. I hate paying full price for a game that lasts under twenty hours. This is why I play RPGs. Something that Braid has going for it is it’s challenging difficulty. The last thing you want when you play a game is a cake walk, it makes the achievement of finishing the game feel so anticlimactic. I also like the fact that it is it’s own game, not overly like anything else out at the moment. That is refreshing.

Then there is Spore. I probably won’t get this one either. But then again, looking over the closing comments on IGN, maybe I will. I don’t know, probably not. It looks good, and got a great score. This was one of those games that was in development for years, and in a way that turns me off a game. Now, if a game is in development for years, and still comes out on the day they say it will, then booyah for them and I am all for it. A game that says it will be out by the end of the year, and then doesn’t appear for another two years… well that has got to be one hell of a game to get me to buy it at this point. I also don’t like all my games being online, I don’t want to have to interact with others in the majority of my games. One MMO is about all I can handle, really.

So as for a new game… I still don’t know.