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  • World of Warplanes Review
    Reviews
    • PC
    World of Warplanes Review

    By

    Wargaming.net proved they could make a pretty mean free-to-play MMO with World of Tanks. But why stop with World War II-era combat on land when you can conquer land, air, and sea (insert evil cackle here)? World of Warplanes represents the second of the company's three stages of domination, and it's got everything it needs to equal its sibling in terms of popularity. Except for a catchy abbreviation, that is. I'm fairly certain "WoW' is already taken.As far as truth in names goes, World of Warplanes is right on target. It's all about 15-on-15 aerial battles, and except for a brief but necessary tutorial to get you acquainted with the basics of flying and firing weapons, it's all player-versus-player (PvP). If you're not fond of pitting your skills against other human opponents, this isn't the game for you."The controls are as simple to pick up as a flying game could possibly make them. There's no throttle (save for a boost button that can temporarily increase your speed), so all you need to worry about is your altitude and heading. Climbing slows your plane, and doing too much fancy stickwork headed away from the ground is a good way to stall the engine. Anecdotal evidence suggests the mouse is the preferred way to fly, but the game supports just about everything: keyboard, joystick, and PC-compatible gamepad all work.Like World of Tanks, the game features 10 tiers of vehicles from five different countries - the USA, Germany, Great Britain, the USSR and Japan this time, sorry France - that increase in power as you advance through the tiers. The matchmaking system is designed to get you into matches quickly with teams that are roughly equivalent and have planes from just two different tiers, and while it's possible to team with friends to ensure there's a familiar face on your side, most of your time spent early on will be battling alongside and against strangers.
  • Adventure Park Review
    Reviews
    • PC
    Adventure Park Review

    By

    When you think back to the greatest theme park simulation video games ever made, there's always been something to fit each style of play. Bullfrog's original Theme Park, for example, allowed more casual players to build a simple park, clack together some neat roller coasters, and pull in the punters. Meanwhile RollerCoaster Tycoon was a more complex beast, giving the hardcore players something to drool over.Adventure Park attempts to straddle that line between hardcore and casual, offering up theme park building gameplay that is easy to get into, yet providing tools that can be used to potentially get really deep into the action. Unfortunately the game doesn't manage this all too well, leaving an unfocused experience that feels poorly structured at times."You are the proud owner of a massive chunk of land, where an old theme park used to reside. Utilizing the existing paths and track pieces that have been left behind, you're tasked with building a great, bustling park full of attractions, hot dog stands, and worlds to discover - while taking in plenty of cash, of course.It's fairly easy to get started with Adventure Park. A tutorial teaches you how to place shops, rides, bins, staff et al, and you'll jump straight in pretty quickly. A mission system guides you through the game, giving you tasks to complete and generally pointing you towards the oodles of content that you'll find lurking in the menus.
  • Blue Rose Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    Blue Rose Review

    By

    Visual novels are fairly new in this country, but thanks to the popularity of the iPad and other tablets, they're quickly gaining ground. A crossover between graphic novels and games, they emphasize story and give players the power to alter it to varying degrees. Blue Rose, the new visual novel from White Cat, has everything an A-list visual novel needs: nice graphics, pleasant music, and player choice—but it also boasts a collection of bothersome flaws that prevent it from rising to that same level of greatness.Blue Rose makes a good first impression with 2D graphics that are clearly indebted to Japanese anime. Men and women are attractively androgynous and have the typical anime googly-eyed, tiny-nosed, heart-shaped faces. Blue Rose is indebted to anime in other ways as well, such as in its melodramatic approach to storytelling. Anime stories are characterized by save-the-world plot lines filled with noblemen, magic, reluctant heroes, love triangles, and corny humor. Blue Rose has it all."In this scenario, you're Lena, a young Templar. Your story kicks off with an action-filled scene on the edge of a cliff. You and a cohort of Templar veterans are battling a dragon, desperately trying to protect a noblewoman called Lady Adale. Two kingdoms are at war, and it's hoped that the Lady can perform some critical fence-mending. During the battle, however, you're knocked unconscious and awake in a strange room. The owner of it is a handsome but defensive young hunter who seems to want to get rid of you. To his chagrin, you discover his village which is hidden in a mountain area believed to be inhabitable. Who is this surly young man? How has a village full of people kept itself a secret? After battling a dragon, why are you even alive?Blue Rose sets us up to solve these and many other interesting mysteries. It also serves up the promise of romance. Despite his hostility, the young hunter's obviously your first suitor. The antagonism between the two of you goes into typical Taming of the Shrew territory as it's clear the guy's being a jerk because he likes you. If he isn't to your taste though, you've got other hunky options. If you're not into the hunter, then why not the sly, wise-cracking rogue, or the stern-but-sexy Templar officer?
  • Avadon 2: The Corruption Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    Avadon 2: The Corruption Review

    By

    Usually when something is named "The Black Fortress," it's the place where the bad guys hang out practicing their evil cackles. Not so in the world of Avadon, where it once was the symbol of order and justice. That's changed in Avadon 2: The Corruption, a retro-styled RPG that offers you a choice: either rally people around the old ways in the face of dangerous new threats, or add to the chaos that threatens to overrun everything. Either way, hours of fun await you.Playing the first game isn't a prerequisite for getting into the sequel, which summarizes the partial fall of Avadon in the introduction before throwing you into the quick character creation - just pick one of five classes, a gender, and a name, and away you go - and introducing you to a scout who shows you the ropes. Life isn't easy in this particular fantasy setting, what with dangerous wildlife, magic-powered mines, and a budding rebellion consisting of humans, ogres, and titans."To make matters worse, the relationship between Avadon, led by the mysterious Redbeard, and the people it claims to protect is clearly strained. The citizens seem resentful of the Black Fortress' influence even as they rely upon its power to hold off the approaching darkness, especially the magical Corruption that is running big chunks of land. Some of Avadon's hands have been conscripted to serve against their will, and the game asks some very modern questions about how much liberty is worth giving up in exchange for relative safety.
  • Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    LEGO The Lord of the Rings Review

    By

    The Lord of the Rings brand has become an almost sacred property. So beloved are the books and movies that expectations have grown to proportions nearly as epic as the journey the nine must make to Mordor to destroy the one ring. So how can familiar and exceptional stories be reworked into the video game medium while maintaining the elements that breed popularity while expanding the universe and reaching innovation? Throw LEGOs into the mix. Boom. This is LEGO Lord of the Rings, and you need it.Tolkien's massive tale of power, corruption, love, adventure, and orcs transitions into the LEGO universe with ease. That said, the iOS version is definitely smaller than previous releases. LEGO Lord of the Rings will be especially familiar to those who played last year's handheld or PC/Mac versions of the title, but whether through platform limitations or conscious choice for mobile style of play, everything has been diluted."Encounters and boss battles play out a bit differently, which in and of itself isn't a bad thing. It is, however, something to be aware of for those who are curious. In other words, there are more expanded iterations of this game floating around and just about all unnecessary mechanics have been cut, so should LOTR fans wish to experience a deeper adventure they might be better off playing the more expensive bigger brother versions.Mobile or not, there is no denying that Warner Bros. have executed a fantastic game. The LEGO gaming brand has long been known to infuse subtly humorous moments into not-so-humorous properties, and these spoofs fit with LOTR surprisingly well. For example, the opening moments—Cate Blanchett/Galadriel's speech from The Fellowship of the Ring film transposed over LEGO versions of the same events—provides a moment where one of the kings of men drops his newly-gifted ring.
  • Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition Review

    By

    The overhaul of Baldur's Gate by Overhaul Games scooped up many deserved plaudits for bringing a true classic to a new generation of gamers. But while it was a reminder of how great old games can be, it also demonstrated how much things had improved in terms of graphics and user interfaces.I was expecting a similar experience from this enhanced and extended version of the sequel, Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition. It is after all, a similar package: the original game with its expansion, plus some new characters and their plotlines and an arena mode focussing on the battle engine."So I was pretty shocked to end up comparing it to much more modern RPGs like The Witcher series. The graphics might not be directly comparable, but the original game looked stunning on release, and a little spit and polish has left it looking perfectly respectable today. And this is a much more party-based affair than the modern fashion for single-character focus.But in most respects Baldur's Gate II can stand toe-to-toe with its antecedents and come off proud. Vast amounts of content are crammed into the three gigabytes of download: horrible villains, lich-haunted libraries, and vibrant cityscapes.
  • Mush Review
    Reviews
    • PC
    Mush Review

    By

    On paper, Mush should be fantastic. You are a crewmember aboard a spaceship, and each other crewmember is also a player online. You're tasked with working together to keep the ship safe and stocked, while venturing out to surrounding planets to gather information, resources, and whatever else you can find. But here's the catch: there's an alien disease spreading throughout the ship, and you have no idea who has turned.A great idea indeed, and one that I was eager to jump straight into. Unfortunately the proof lies in the execution, and this isn't so well thought-out. Clumsy, slow-moving free-to-play action means that it's difficult to truly immerse yourself in the drama, and eventually you end up just bounding around the ship every so often, completing a couple of menial tasks here and there that aren't exactly what I'd describe as exciting or fun.The game starts off pleasingly enough. You choose a character, get plopped onto the ship, and are then shown the ropes, from keeping yourself fed to manning the turrets and taking down enemy ships. This is all told from an isometric viewpoint, with the various rooms on the ship separated up as to show what you can see at any one point.Mush is a semi-turn-based style affair. You're given action and movement points, and once these have run out, you then need to wait for the start of the next "cycle" - i.e. 3 hours of real time - before you can make another move. Hence, it's all about making the best of your actions, and preparing yourself for what you hope to achieve in the next round.
  • Lilly Looking Through Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    Lilly Looking Through Review

    By

    The world of Lilly Looking Through is a gorgeous, hand-painted landscape that is more Don Bluth than Disney, a place where fantasy is only the dressing of a personal, human story.  Its backdrop is a mechanical, gritty reality juxtaposed with the colorful, fairy tale impression of childhood.  In the shoes of young Lilly, players will explore both sides of this setting, using a magical pair of goggles that allow Lilly to see and interact with the alternate version of her current environment.Lilly's journey through this world begins as a search for her younger brother, Row, who has been wrapped up and swept away by a piece of red cloth caught in an invisible breeze.  The chase takes the form of a minimalistic point-and-click adventure, with no dialogue—save a few shouts from the siblings—or inventory system to manage.  Each scene is a self-contained challenge as in Machinariumor The Tiny Bang Story, with Lilly moving ever-onward once she has traversed the current screen."This means that puzzles in Lilly Looking Through are generally more decipherable than those found in sprawling, multi-location adventures like those by Daedalic.  Until the very end of the game, the goal is always to get from one side of the screen to the other, with all the objects and tools required to do so located within the same scene.  When a loose on-screen item is needed, it will be picked up by the player and moved to its destination directly without Lilly ever intervening.  These interactions save players the frustration of watching Lilly wander around, picking up and attempting to use items futilely, and provide their own satisfying moments of physical interaction, like burning rope or popping bubbles.