A little change to my blog

Well in short, I got a sixth month trial in writing for the online gaming magazine “end-gamers” where I have a slot for a column every tuesday, and maybe bits and bobs here and there.

This most likely means that my flash game reviews will stop being here but will be there instead under the pen-name “Shabah17″. If you are interested in this website and even want to contact them for work, then visit it here and you can contact them here.

Also, a quick note, they are still taking off so it is more voluntary work, but an excellent way to get your name out and join a community of people with similar interests.

Also check out the forums here.

Hopefully this will take off, and if it doesn’t then it will still be a good experience in meeting new people!

Flash game feature – Wolfenstein 3D

Yes, if you are familiar with the old Wolfenstein game produced by ID software, it has been converted into a flash version that can be played directly into your browser.

The platinum version (including all the levels of the Spear of Destiny expansion back) is also available for free for the iOS for today (Thursday, 5th May, 2012).

This game was released just one year after I was born, 1992, and it was one of the first games that my awesome father introduced me to. I remember it barely fitting on a floppy disk, and now there is a version which can fit onto an i-phone and another that can be played directly in your internet browser. Oh how far we have gone!

One of the first ever 3D first person shooters, this game pits you against a “castle” full of Nazi soldiers (among other enemies), that you have to fight your way out of and escape. Featuring fairly linear levels, with a score system and secrets to be found, it was a game that was definitely fun for its time, and as I have discovered, still fun today.

(p.s. the “secrets” are basically wall decorations that you can “move” by pressing the open key, exposing compartments full of ammo, a weapon or even treasure).

Although it was not the earliest shooter game with a first-person perspective, Wolfenstein 3D is often credited with establishing the first-person shooter genre. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am not sure about this, but I think it’s engine was upgraded to produce the game Doom, which set the bar even higher for first person shooters in 1993.

The game certainly brought back a lot of memories, and if you haven’t played it before then I hope it will create pleasant memories.

Flash games review – Disaster will strike

Disaster will strike is basically Angry Birds, but with a fairly interesting twist…

Gameplay – 7/10

Okay, so imagine angry birds. Replace the green pigs with evil looking dinosaur eggs, and replace the angry birds with…natural disasters, that’s right, natural disasters; earth quakes, wind, meteor strikes and even landslides.

In a sense, it takes away the fun element of Angry Birds in calculating the angle at which you want to launch your bird. In this game, you get a selection of disasters, each with a limited around. You click and point, so your aim is pretty much precise, it becomes more about doing things in the right order; it is more puzzle than action to an extent.

Evil egg is smug…

That said, each disaster (you can see them at the top left of this screen cap) has its own style. The earthquake makes an entire block shake and any ice with anything on top of it will shatter and break, while the landslide makes a small part of it disappear making everything above it fall through. The meteor is pretty cool, because as you click on it it comes down and patrols the sky until you click on a point for it to fly at and blow whatever up.

Yep, took care of him

This style of gameplay can sort of make things feel a bit restricted. You have to do things in a certain order which takes away the flexibility, it feels like you can’t approach things in different ways. They could have also added more disasters and levels. It does have a creative twist though, and it makes an interesting game.

Graphics/Presentation – 8/10

The animation and physics is pretty smooth. One cool part is that if an egg is being subject to disaster they have a funny worried expression before they break and release their yolk quite violently.

Bee attack!!

Overall score – 7.5/10

Credits go to:

Developer – Anton Koshechken

Music – http://www.shockwave-sound.com

Physics engine – box2d

Go and play it! 

Flash game review – Convergence

Start

Story – 9/10

Convergence is a game about life and life choices. You are an average human being who goes through three stages, within each stage the decisions you make will affect the next. It is thought provoking and a really well done piece of art. Yes the graphics are basically a bunch of pixels, but this game focuses on the realities of life rather than just giving us a good show.

Game play – 7/10

The three stages mentioned are of your life as a baby, adolescent life and then adult life. The most fun of all was playing as a baby, where you had to race against a rather evil sibling (who locks you in the attic by the way) to collect all the toys. The other two stages are just walking around and hitting the action key which can get a little boring.

Make your choice...

With that said, each stage is not too long and fairly simple so that you are encouraged to go through the multiple possible routes. While the first stage was the most fun game play wise, the second stage I found very thought provoking.

I have always had a personal fear of becoming an over worked office drone, and the faceless characters, each sitting at their desks, really made me think about that. The music in the background was ambient and suited the middle stage very well. The bar at the bottom shows how much you care about work or love, and the initial starting point on the meter is determined by your choice in the first stage…I will leave that to find out for yourself.

The third stage is just a conclusive stage with not much going on, it just shows you where your choices got you in the end. I guess the reason that the life story of this character is so “average” is because the “average person” will be playing such a game, but I think a lot more could have been done in terms of the story itself and the endings (although one ending was quite saddening). But it is thought provoking in the end and it carries out what the developers intended it to carry out.

Achievement room!

Graphics/presentation – 9/10

The monotony and simplicity of the game’s graphics help us to focus more on how the game affects us emotionally. The music is great, especially in the second stage as I have mentioned before, and it also has a similar simplicity. Funnily enough, I just couldn’t imagine a game like this with “better” graphics.

Overall score – 8.3/10

Go and play this game now! – I am going to look for more thought provoking stuff!

Credits go to:

Streetlight Studios - Ray Chan, Mike Hadley Sean Li

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Flash game review – Awesome Tanks

AWESOME TANKS was a game made by the guy who made AWESOME PLANES.

I like tanks so I thought I should check it out. Now, just like most flash games it is more about time-killing fun than telling a story. Then again, the simplicity of flash games usually go with that.

Game play – 9/10

I don’t think I had any major gripe with the game. A top down shooter, it has a familiar structure to Awesome Planes; there are 15 levels in the single player game, and after you finish you unlock a new game play mode, which in this case is a level editor:

Say hello to the map editor: HELLO!

I like the map editor because it is very easy to get the hang of and endless fun could be had. Although I have the feeling that it could have worked better with a survival mode in an arena or something. Nevertheless, it is refreshing to see a map editing option in something as simple as a flash game.

Now of course there has to be an upgrades menu. It was a bit difficult (or I am just crap at the game) at first to collect enough money for weapons so it has a nice learning curve. The key is to never stop moving and be tactical about it, it is not a run and gun game. Health power ups are not so common, but you can upgrade things like armour, movement speed and turret speed.

One of my favourite weapons was the rocket because you could control its course with the mouse. That means that you can carry out tactical strikes or hit a tank or turret that is around the corner.

Lasers! PEW PEW!

There is a laser in the game, and yes it is powerful. I was afraid that it was going to be an overpowered weapon and I admit, it can take out tanks and some turrets quickly. But there are also boss tanks in the game, some of which aren’t affected much by it. Also, all the weapons except the minigun (which you start with), have limited ammo. You can refill them by buying more at the end of the level or through power ups.

I guess the only problem was the lack of a survival/arena mode, but the idea of a level editor kind of balances that out.

Graphics/presentation – 10/10

One thing that immediately caught my eye was the changing weapons animation. I really liked how one turret pops out then another pops up in a very cartoon-y way. The movement and aiming is smooth, and the explosions are done just right with the added *oomph* of the screen shaking slightly. I can’t say I saw any major visual bugs while playing.

Overall – 9.5/10

Credits go to:

Programmer – Alexander Gette (also programmer of Awesome Planes)
Artist – Jurij Krivonos
Music – Christian M. Krogsvold

Flash game review – Awesome Planes

I like the name, so I am going to type it again…AWESOME PLANES (also link to it).

I will not really include a story rating because there isn’t one, and not all flash games need any semblance of stories, besides, it is all about having fun!

Game play – 7/10

Upside down towers and lasers: PEW! PEW!

So you control a plane with your mouse inside a futuristic city area fighting aircraft, tanks, towers and upside down towers too (the wonders of the future, eh?). There are also random stationary buildings you have to destroy like radars…and buildings. The first thing I noticed was something that kind of annoyed me at first. You don’t have the option between firing your main weapon (minigun, rockets, plasma or laser beam) or dropping bombs. When you click both of  the weapons fire at the same time, end of story, deal with it.

Controlling the plane with the mouse is a bit hard, but I really like it. As you panic and do twists and turns it really becomes chaotic and colourful (by “colourful” I mean explosions), which really suits the pumped up music of the game.

Did I mention upgrades?

Weapons, armour, afterburners (boost thingy) and cluster bombs are all upgradeable by collecting money from destroying enemies. There are also achievements at the bottom, but not many of them and they don’t tell you what they mean. That said, it is quite easy to collect enough money for all the upgrades you need. At first, I found the laser to be quite over powered but when playing survival mode it can be very useful, and oh yeah…

There are only 15 levels in the game but when you complete them, you can play that survival mode after that (think of it as a training course). Survival is basically fighting wave after wave of infinite enemies until you are defeated. The levels don’t vary, you just destroy things, but this is what this game is about. This is the kind of game where you unwind while blowing things up and flying around. I like the gradually increasing difficulty and the survival option after completing the levels.

Graphics/presentation – 9/10 

If a game has explosions, there is one thing that I look out for; the screen shaking ever so subtly when it happens. It just adds that nice level of detail which gives the explosions extra power and it can easily win me over. The rest of the game is smooth, colourful and the music is very suitable.

Overall score – 8/10

Here is the link once again (so you don’t have to scroll up).

Credits for the game go to…

Programming - Alexander Gette 

Art - Jurij Krivonos

Awesome music - Christian M. Krogsvold

Gaming and how I came to read H.P. Lovecraft

Video games aren’t always held in the best of attitudes when it comes to the media. Every time someone does something stupid or horrendous, such as murdering people, and people find out they used to play games like World of Warcraft or Call of Duty, they make great and unfounded assumptions.

If you had clicked the link, then you would know that I am referring to the very tragic and horrific 77 killings in Norway carried out by Anders Breivik.

Now in my own opinion, it is simply silly to believe that you can use a game like Call of Duty to find out how to operate a gun, get used to the weight and recoil and train in accuracy. But I don’t want to dwell on that as I know that a lot of fellow Gamers agree with me, instead I want to talk about how video games have been a positive force in my life.

I was once playing the role playing game, the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, exploring my world happily and innocently, content that this was the best £20 I had spent so far. I played through one quest where I had to go to a mysterious village that was unkind to strangers, and try to find a girl who had disappeared there. It was a challenging one, and the village had a particularly interesting character to it, so I opened up the elder scrolls wiki and read about it.

The trivia section that concerns the village and the related quest to it says this:
“This quest is a homage to the H.P.Lovecraft short story ‘The Shadow Over Innsmouth’, featuring a very similar plot”

The only reason I read, nay, even  heard about an author such as H.P. Lovecraft was thanks to the makers of the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

Hackdirt - credit: The elder scrolls wiki

What I had just witnessed and experienced was how Art (in this case, literature) inspired game developers, and how they incorporated this inspiration into the game. In turn, I was pointed to an amazing and inspiring author who I read (and hope to actually review later!). Such are the potential of games.

Aren’t artists always inspired by works of art and experiences themselves? I like to believe that, at least in this particular part of the game, there was a work of art in itself. The formation of Lovecraft’s story, a shadow over innsmouth, into the world of the Elder Scrolls in a very smart way.

Imagine what can be done if game developers really do take inspiration from other forms of art, be it dance, literature, painting and drawing, and incorporating it into their own work. Imagine if they give credit, giving us a fresh new perspective and encouraging us to look at the art itself.

It is just food for thought and a defence of gaming.

Also on this note, please comment with other examples of where you found Games that were inspired by a particular work of art!

Flash game review – Reimagine: the game

First of all, I would like to thank Kristi for suggesting this game to me (check out her blog!).

Story - 9/10

Some games are made to entertain, others to make us think, others to tell a story, but Reimagine: the game, is an amalgamation of popular culture that will make us smile with amusement. From the film Inception, to internet memes and social networks, to political movements such as the tea party and events such the infamous BP oil spill or the Libyan revolution, it takes you on a wild ride of platform adventure with a wacky soundtrack to boot. The style of it is quite unique and, needless to say, I am very impressed.

The level select screen, how many characters do you recognize?

Gameplay – 10/10

As I mentioned before, it is a platformer, but almost each level has its own game mechanics. Inception has a constantly spinning level that you have to adjust to, there is a Lost stage (named after the series) where you transform from a Lost character to the black cloud thing depending on what barriers you need to cross, there is also a very intelligent cross over between Super Meat Boy and Lady Gaga (because of her infamous meat dress). But one of the things that really amused me was the Justin Bieber part…

You get to switch between him and the Twilight vampire later...

Upon pressing space, Bieber emits the “Bieber call” which is basically a fast-forward chipmunk version of one of his songs called “Baby”(I think its called that). The female closest to him tries to get as close as possible, pressing otherwise unreachable buttons to progress the level. You can switch between him and Edward Cullen, the vampire in the Twilight Series who sparkles instead of sings like a chipmunk and they both have to work together to achieve there aim…and that is to get Bieber to Miley Cyrus…I don’t know why.

Ah the BP oil spill kind of shocked me. You basically wipe the pelicans on the oil until they become saturated with the stuff, then you put them in the red flame bucket things so that they “power” them (burn *ahem* burn). Then you can use the red bucket things as boosters to progress in the level.

Did I mention there was a part about Wikileaks? Basically there is so much squeezed into short and sweet levels one after the other. Some parts are a little hard, others dead easy, but it is an amazing adventure nonetheless.  Try it now!

Graphics/Presentation – 9/10

It is very simply animated and the characters have little to no facial detail, but their clothing and hair styles is mainly used to depict them. Now the author of the game did say they made it because they were “bored”, and with such a broad range of subjects and areas  I think that a simple graphic style really suited the game.

A cross over between comic book movies and memes...

It really was a blast to play. So the average total goes to….

9.3

Go on, go play it! Thanks to the fact its using the newgrounds website, you can comment and thank the author of the game just below the game window, please take the time to do so!

Flash game review – Stealth Hunter 2

Just a note, I have not completely finished this game due to studying commitments, but here I have played a good deal of it, and here is a general review! And here is the link to it:

Stealth Hunter 2

Background/story

You are a secret agent, using the arts of stealth to find out what a shipment of uranium is being used for. It is not what you think…dun dun dunnnnnnn! It does spark one’s curiosity and it is quite interesting how there is a point and click element where you discover bits of information bit by bit. Not bad for a flash game at all!

9/10

Game play

This game is an isometric, tactical espionage style, and as soon as I started playing I realized that it bore an uncanny familiarity to another certain game…

Guards can be seen on a radar with their field of vision, and you can tap them to distract them...hmmmm

If you haven’t guessed it, then I will say it. The game bears a striking resemblance to Metal Gear Solid. Now I am not saying it is a bad thing, nay, it is a good thing! Because they don’t mimic the story too much. Yes, it is a military complex with soldiers and scientists, also genetically engineered soldiers…and there is one more thing:

Run, run, run, run, run!

If you are seen, an alarm does go off and soldiers chase you. If you are hidden then the alarm goes down and all is clear. The AI is a little bit dumb which can make the game easy, but it still isn’t too bad for a flash game. Now, onto the game play elements that are awesome!

You just press keys as fast as you can...

This is cool because it makes me feel like one of those “hacker masterminds” in Hollywood films where they break into the CIA without clicking the mouse once…the cool part is that actual code comes up on the console screen. There is no penalty for not doing it on time, you just have to try again…which is a shame. They could have made it much more heart pumping if the alarm sounded off…or if the computer exploded.

PICK THE LOCK DAMMIT!

The length of every bar in the lock corresponds to one of the movement keys (WASD). With each lock being unique, it becomes a quick memory game. There is one part where you are disguised as one of the soldiers, and if you are caught picking locks then they chase you, which makes it kind of neat. You have to remember the code and quickly do it! If there are no soldiers around then it is easy.

There is a gun and some C4 to blast weak sections of walls apart. But the ammo is kept very rare and soldiers aren’t killed from the first shot which discourages blasting your way through.

The major pet peeve of mine is the WASD keyboard set up clashed with the particular isometric set up of this game. You can use your mouse for smooth movement, but its hard to stay still while leaning against the wall, which is essential for sneaking past cameras.

7/10

Graphics/presentation

The animations are smooth and nice. Although when you snap the neck of a guard (yes you can do that), then the guard slides mysteriously towards you and drops mechanically dead.
The environment is nicely detailed for a flash game, though, from cargo containers, forklift trucks and wooden racks to toilets, filing cabinets and rubbish bins. Considering this is a flash game, I am very impressed!

8/10

Which makes the total score a very good 8/10!

Credit goes to Jason Ennis and to Jesse Ringrose of notdoppler

Here is another link to the game so you don’t have to scroll back up!

Flash game review – Tank 2012!

So I decided to start flash game reviews because I like flash games, and thanks to my rubbish laptop at university, these are the only things I can seem to run smoothly.

Oh but it is not so bad after all! For my first review I shall introduce you to:

Tank 2012!

Main menu

Graphics/presentation

It is a top-down view shooter where you control a tank (clue is in the name). You have a “story mode” where you are given missions in certain environments. When I started that, I found something that I loved…

DESTRUCTIBLE ENVIRONMENTS!

Sorry for the horrible editing...

 The animations are pretty cool, and every time an explosion happens the screen shakes subtly, which gives it an extra oomph! effect. My only qualm is with the cross-hair, which seems a bit big and ugly, maybe it could get a sleeker design? Also the menu can be a little bland and confusing, but you can get the hang of it pretty easily.

Gameplay

The controls are basic and easy to master. Asides from the story mode missions, which include destroying a certain amount of units, escort missions, destroying target buildings (radars, factories), protecting certain buildings and boss fights, it also has an “arena mode” where you try and survive wave after wave. Best tip I have is to keep moving!

I stood still for too long trying to get the screenshot organized...NOOOOOO

You have a cannon, a mini-gun and “special slot” where you get special weapons. The one you start with is a shock wave thing that deflects any projectiles, but at the end of each mission you get a wheel of fortune thing:

Rainbow missile? Fabulous!

That is quite a cool feature. You can get special weapons, normal weapons to replace your cannon or mini-gun or even “items” which give you passive effects (lock on systems, shields and the like).

Another cool feature is the ability to unlock tanks by collecting money from missions, one tank I unlocked stayed invisible when you stood still which allowed me to make cool surprise attacks.

Oh and the mini-gun I mentioned earlier is not just useful for soldiers, but also air units (yep, air units). You get attacked by helicopters, jets and even stealth bombers!

Story

There is no apparent back story to this game, just that you drive a tank and you kick ass, but it doesn’t really need one…

Conclusion

Good game, definitely a good time waster but also fun if you want some simple relaxing action. The cross-hair and menus could be improved but they aren’t that much of a hindrance, so I give this a…

9/10! - And here is the link! (again).

Credit goes to:
Music:
Kidcrisis
Shadrock
Nemesistheory
Saintedix
Bobafett87
Infinity ambience 

Development - http://www.freeworldgroup.com