Once you get past all the looting and pillaging, pirates can be alright people. As evidence, I submit Pirate101, the all ages, free-to-play MMOPG from KingsIsle Entertainment, where players take on the role of heroic pirates in a land of flying ships, anthropomorphic animals and tactical combat. Also booty, but since this is a kid-friendly game, I'm talking about treasure.
Storms are at the forefront of North America's mind thanks to the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy. Eko Software, on the other hand, is more interested in presenting a kinder, gentler storm—a storm that breathes life into the world instead of tearing it up and throwing it down on your car. Storm is an action/puzzle game with wonderful ideas and pretty presentation, but playing it is as frustrating as trying to get your picnic table down from your roof.
Abyss: The Wraiths of Eden follows a young woman on a mission to save her lost boyfriend that went missing on a recent dive. Upon reaching his last known location, our heroine discovers the lost underwater city of Eden, which comes with art deco architecture and feels incredibly similar to the city of Rapture from Bioshock. Luckily, the design of Rapture is a beautiful piece of work to be inspired by, and so too is Eden a beautiful, creepy environment to explore.
In MumboJumbo's fifth installment in the 7 Wonders franchise, 7 Wonders: Ancient Alien Makeover, we continue to see some of the most highly polished match-three play this side of Bejeweled, with an interesting Wonder/city-building mechanic thrown in for depth. The 7 Wonders series has never been known for complex storylines and extraordinary gameplay variety, but this series continues to be one that's easy to start playing, yet incredibly hard to put down.
The humble mouse is arguably the most powerful and versatile computer input tool devised so far. So it's unsurprising, then, that an awful lot of games have been built around it and it alone as a control device. What's perhaps more surprising is that there hasn't been a greater crossover between the various genres of games reliant on the mouse. Enter Botanica: Into the Unknown.
Starting off a review with a rhetorical question might be a little passe, but here's one anyway: Can a game be unabashedly retro yet forward thinking at the same time? Actually that might not be rhetorical, because in Space by the one-man indie shop Ysty Games qualifies on both counts. It's a quirky space shooter that marries a minimalist aesthetic with challenging and potentially unlimited gameplay, pretty much taking less is more to a whole new plane.
In Her Interactive's 27th installment in the Nancy Drew franchise, we see our master sleuth investigating a cold case in the equally cold mountains of Colorado. Locked away in a Tesla-inspired laboratory are secrets surrounding the murder of a brilliant scientist, killed by a device with which Nancy must become incredibly familiar with along the way. The hunt for clues is on.
Most brides worry about drunken wedding crashers, people running late, or not having enough food. In Shadow Wolf Mysteries: Cursed Wedding, Veronica worries about a werewolf killing her before her wedding. This tough job of keeping Veronica alive, hunting down the big bad werewolf and ultimately saving the joyous occasion can only be accomplished by a detective of sharp wit and steel nerves. Yes, this means you.