Revved for FTL
If this image hasn’t already made you uncontrollably excited, you may have missed out on childhood.
The Federation has had a bad year. Taxes are down, overheads are up, and to top it off the Rebellion has begun a massive assault with an aim to topple the (generally benevolent) government. Enter The Kestrel, which stores data that is crucial to the survival of the Federation, and the Rebels know it.
So begins FTL, the upcoming indie game from Justin Ma and Matthew Davis. I’ve been playing a fair amount since it entered closed beta, and I suspect it’s going to be one of the best indies of the year.
Spec Ops: The Lie
Three Delta Force operators hike into Dubai.
I wonder if, at any point during the promo period for Spec Ops: The Line, anyone at Yager Development mentioned the irony of marketing a game for its difficult moral quandaries when in fact it contains no moral quandaries. Oh, there’s some moral mugging. And some moral posturing. Maybe some half-baked moral messages. Alas, the quandary department is skint.
After the jump, I’ll explain why SO:TL, despite being an enjoyable experience, was ultimately a letdown.
Tiny and Big: Channeling… Portal?
Tiny begins his quest to reacquire his grandfather’s legacy: underpants.
This feels a bit insane, but I’m going to go out on a limb here. I could tell you that I finished Tiny and Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers last night, but that would only be half of the matter. I also started it. I played it in a single sitting. It took a little over three hours. I didn’t set any records, though I found most of the recorded collectibles and only got stumped twice in the process. And I loved—loved, and I emphasize that because I didn’t expect it—about 170 of my 192 minutes with it (numbers approximate).
The last game to have that effect on me was the same one that I kept thinking about while playing Tiny and Big. I’m referring, of course, to Valve’s masterpiece, Portal.
Engage the Flick Drives!
A spaceman ponders the mysteries of the wide universe.
There’s this game I’ve owned for a long time, Ascending Empires from Z-Man Games. It’s a great game, and I’ve known that since the day I bought it, but it only made it to the table twice. This summer we started having friends over for game nights a lot more often, and as a result, I’ve been playing it regularly—and it’s rocketed onto my Best Board Games Ever list. Why? Not only because it’s a good game (I already said it is), but because it makes me feel pathetically fantastically hilariously inept.
A New(b) Zero
A battle rages over and around the AI island in A New Zero.
Some days I wake up in a curmudgeonly mood, indignantly refusing to play anything newer than the original Far Cry or some Sega 32X classics. Thank goodness that on the most recent of those days (Monday), I got a helping hand from SB! bros-in-arms Digital Pariah and Alikchi, who tossed a smelly potato sack over my head and hauled me off to a remote location to try out A New Zero, a fascinating game-in-progress from Cryptic Sea. The curmudgeon inside me was temporarily contained by its joyous recipe, milled from recognizable influences into something interesting and yummy.
Some Thoughts on Indie Game: The Movie
The sneakers-from-a-wire of our generation.
I intentionally avoided reading much about Indie Game: The Movie, though what little I heard was enough to establish two things: one, that it wasn’t, as I originally assumed, a satire or spoof; and two, that I had a healthy fascination with the subject matter. After much hype, it’s been released to the common public through Steam. I’ve now seen it. Some thoughts below.
What Max Payne 3 Got Wrong
Max Payne, pondering life choices.
Alright, time to whine! On Wednesday, I talked about the things Max Payne 3 does well. It nails most of the fundamentals, and makes for a very satisfying cinematic shooter—though for some reason, it often feels more like it’s channeling Max Payne than being Max Payne. While I’m having a hard time identifying exactly why I’m not as pleased with MP3 as with its predecessor (I’m talking MP2 here), I’ve outlined some ideas below.
Not-So-Humble Indie Bundle
7 days left to get possibly the best indie bundle I’ve ever seen.
I’m supposed to be finishing up a complainy article on Max Payne 3, but that’s just going to have to get pushed back to tomorrow, because this news is a time-bomb—a piñata time-bomb, filled with delicious joy and the good candies—like Arcor fruit candies, and no Necco Wafers in sight.
It’s the fifth Humble Indie Bundle, and it would behoove you to check it out and give them some money. You can pay basically any amount to get four incredible games, or pay above the average (about eight bucks) to get eight awesome indie games that will amaze and astound you. Five soundtracks (two of which I know personally to be fantastic) are included, and you get to choose (via sliders—everyone loves sliders!) how much of your contribution goes to the developers, the Humble Bundle site itself (for maintenance and such), and to two great charities—The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a non-profit group that works to defend digital rights, and the well-known Child’s Play has probably helped out a children’s hospital near you (if in doubt, you can take a gander at their map). If that sounds great, get to it: you have seven days left to be a part of this great bundle.
No reason to read beyond this unless you want a brief introduction to the games on display.
What Max Payne 3 Got Right
Max Payne, about to jump into action.
I doubt there’s any reason for me to jot this down—chances are you’ve already read everything you need or want to about Rockstar’s latest take on everyone’s favorite lugubrious detective. Still, I have a fond niche carved into my stony heart for Max Payne (the second ranks as one of my ten favorite games of all time), so although I suspect this will be superfluous, I’m just gonna write it anyway.
The Curious Incident of the Tyrrhenian Steamer
A steamer, carrying Count Dracula among its cargo, embarked from Genoa.
Well, everyone knows Count Dracula died at Borgo Pass. What Fury of Dracula presupposes is: Maybe he didn’t?
The riddle of the vampire’s reappearance was not the one plaguing our heroes tonight, however. Rather, they (Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, Professor Van Helsing, and Mina Harker) were preoccupied with a mystery of an algebraic nature: If a steamship sets sail from Genoa, fixes the setting sun to starboard, and ends its voyage into the Tyrrhenian after but a short distance, where but Cagliari, Naples, and Rome could its passengers have disembarked?
SPACE-BIFF! 