Rodman49
Paul joined
I'm a longtime modder who has been on and off the scene for almost a decade. I started modding in 2000 starting off with Westwood Studios' Command and Conquer series. My first ever mod was a solo effort dubbed "Soviet Revenge" for Red Alert 2. Quickly after producing my first mod I met a team of the most skilled individuals I have ever worked with and lead development for a Red Alert 2 total conversion named "Warhammer 40k - Red Alert." With over 42,000 downloads this was by far the most successful and full-fledged mod I have been a part of. After the end of that mod and the decline of Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 as a modding platform I've made minor mods for other games. My most current mod was Final Fantasy Tactics: Rebirth, a modification of the PSOne game Final Fantasy Tactics.
Reviews
HOARD is an excellent, simple game that piles on both the furious action that borders on the "bullet hell" genre and the little RPG elements that makes games addicting. This game is a blast both singleplayer and multiplayer (I am a huge fan of both the co-op and versus).
You'll get a solid 5-10 hours from this little game (a good value at its retail of $10). With the only downsides being it doesn't have a single player campaign and is a surprisingly big resource hog. However given these minor downsides I would still heartily recommend this fast-paced arcade style game.
Gratuitous Space Battles – look at that name, and tell me you don’t want to purchase it. This game is very similar to the ship building and combat of Galactic Civ II. It’s a simple but great game that can easily absorb hours and hours of your time if you like customizing ships and playing around with conditions and commands. Certainly a niche game, but what a good niche game indeed.
I would consider it a steal at $5 or less, and an argument for it being worth $10 could easily be made. Its lack of RPG elements, little fleet selection, and terrible DLC system should keep you from buying it at its normal price of $20 though.
Audiosurf is a strong music/rhythm based game that features gameplay that consists of a mix of Tetris and racing. One of the strongest indie games early in the “Steam Era” it is a must for anyone who loves just plain listening to music. However the advent of games like Beat Hazard have dethroned Audiosurf as the defacto king of computer music games.
A.R.E.S. is a great looking action platformer in the vein of Metroid or Castlevania. It features excellent artwork and graphics that look great on an HD Monitor or television. The artwork is also original and the hand drawn artwork is high quality. The music industrial/techno type beats bring out the atmosphere of the game well also.
Unfortunately all the fine artwork is hampered by so-so gameplay. The main character moves around clunkily and is not very much fun to control. Also the upgrade system requires playing levels multiple times in order to get all the upgrades and secrets. This "trick" has always been a way for developers to pad their gameplay hours statistic - it's a stupid mechanic that represents laziness and lack of creativity.
If you absolutely LOVE these style games you may want to pick it up. Otherwise I would just view a trailer video and you've seen pretty much the best parts of the game.
Mount & Blade: Warband is probably the most glorious indie computer game ever made. I know, I know, that sounds like a ridiculous over-the-top statement that you have become accustomed to when dealing with me; but hear me out.
Mount & Blade: Warband features mounted combat – a strange omission from almost any action game ever, and get this – it does it so well that this simple mechanic alone makes it worth the $30 of admission. On top of this Mount & Blade adds decent graphics, a crude but effective inventory system, varied if dull NPCs, and an addictive if unrefined level up mechanic. It has a few rough points, but the downsides pale in comparison to the addictiveness of the RPG elements and the joy of combat. Also, it has multiplayer, only versus and not co-op campaign, but enough for some of my friends to churn out 100+ hours of this gem.
Minecraft has rekindled my love of video games. Innovation and freedom are the best to attributes of this sandbox game. I have played many great games - however few have had such captivating gameplay has to keep me up until 7am on the first day of purchase.
To be honest its actually hard to describe exactly what makes Minecraft so good. Maybe its just the ability to explore on an endless scale, or possibly to collaborate and share grand projects with your friends. It could even be that this game fosters your inner creativity like no other game before. Regardless I never saw myself rearranging dirt and stone blocks in buildings for hours upon hours. I built highways, farms, mines, and military compounds. I ran a kennel, cooked porkchops, and started a wildfire.
Doesn't sound like the most exciting thing in the world (well besides cooking porkchops) however it is. Trust me, you need this game. By far the best game I have played this year.
