Posts Tagged ‘online game’
Forumwarz Game Review–A Game Possibly Unlike Anything You’ve Ever Played
Today marks one of those days that I’m really, really glad I’m a functioning video game reviewer–I’m going to review a game that I’m absolutely convinced you need to be told about. Chances are very good that you haven’t actually heard of it, which is why I get the opportunity to use my good offices to fill you in. It’s called Forumwarz, and it may easily be the most unique game I’ve ever played.
You’ll play as a young forum-goer, like so many other internet users out there, who’s just starting out in the world. You’re out to make a name for yourself in the world, and as such, you go out and attempt to “pwn” internet forums, a name for causing such disruption that you make a forum uninhabitable. Along the way, you’ll meet a series of other internet users with a series of different goals and interests who want to employ your skills to advance those goals and interests. You’ll run into everybody from conservative talk show hosts with bizarre proclivities to furries to indie rock figures and beyond. But what’s lying beyond all these disparate interests? Who are you really working for? You’ll find out in a tale of surprising depth and intrigue.
In fact, you start out so new that your opening rank is actually “Jimmy the Re-Re”. Please don’t bother with flames—that’s a quote. In fact, they’ve devoted such detail to this rank that your two attacks as Jimmy are “bash keyboard with helmet” and “drool on keyboard”. After a little time spent as Jimmy, you’ll be allowed to select a new class of character, each with different kinds of attacks and defenses—you can be a hacker, a troll, an emo kid, a camwhore or a permanoob. You can even play through the whole game as Jimmy if you’re so inclined, but this is discouraged for all but the most extreme player.
The gameplay itself is unusual, as you select an attack, resolve the result, let the forum get in ITS attack (they’ll try to flame you with varying degrees of success) and then the process repeats until either you or the forum is down in flames. The closest analogue is a collectible card game. Every day, you’re permitted four “forum visits” to wreak your havoc, and the number resets at a set time each day. This may sound somewhat restrictive, but I haven’t told you the best part yet—the game is free to play.
That’s right, the entire first chapter of Forumwarz is free to play. The second chapter, however, you’ll have to pay to play, and the cost is minimal at best—just ten dollars. You’d pay more for a Xbox Live title, and instead, you get a game that’s fantastically fun to play, and you can play for days in small installments. I like to start my day with a round of Forumwarz, and frankly, I think you will too.
Oh, sure…Forumwarz doesn’t have the action and the explosions of some first person shooters and suchlike, but what it does have is clever gameplay and plenty of laughs. . It’s almost nice to be able to play a game that I can only play for about a half-hour or so a day instead of taking a few hours at a crack, because the trade-off for that is that I can play it for weeks and still get a great experience with something new every day. Forumwarz is great fun, and in the end, that’s what counts most in a game.
JCE Launches First MMO Basketball Game
North Americans are going to love this new MMO basketball game called “Freestyle”. Known to be one of the world’s popular sports today, JC Entertainment Corp. (JCE), an online game developer from South Korea, announced the launch of the MMO basketball game “Freestyle” in the North American market.
“Freestyle” is an online basketball game with streetball gameplay against other online gamers, and is one of the most popular online games in Asia since 2005. “Freestyle” was previously serviced through Sierra Online of Vivendi Games in North America market and already has more than 80 million users around the world, but JCE now provides the game service directly through its own global game portal “www.gamekiss.com”.
“Freestyle” combines hip-hop and street basketball through unique characters and gameplay. Each character has unique ability according to their basketball position, and the players can play 3 on 3 half court or 5 on 5 full court basketball game. “Freestyle” users can maximize their fun by creating multiple basketball moves through simple game interface with just A, S, D, and W key and arrowkeys on the keyboard.
In order to enjoy “Freestyle”, users can download Freestyle at www.gamekiss.com for free game client and learn more about the game in the “Freestyle” webpage.
(Source) Press
Guild Wars Hits 6 Million Units Sold
Guild Wars is an online game that has been around for some years now. Something that has gotten the whole world addicted to it, NCsoft reports that Guild Wars has exceeded six million units sold. Guild Wars is the award-winning and genre-defining series that is one of the most popular and successful online role-playing games in the industry.
Guild Wars is one of the most successful PC gaming franchises of all time. Since its release in 2005, it has received numerous awards for its innovative design, world-class art direction and robust content streaming engine. ArenaNet continues to support the game’s thriving community with regular in-game events, updates, and community activities.
The Guild Wars universe contains three campaigns and an expansion pack: Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall, and Guild Wars: Eye of the North. Last fall, NCsoft released Guild Wars Trilogy that combines all three campaigns with additional bonus items.
(Source) Press
Family Game Night Game Review–A Backhanded Value
So Hasbro has put forth the most backhanded value game on the face of the earth with its Family Game Night collection on Xbox Live Arcade.
While you’ll shell out eight hundred Microsoft points for the full version, and you’ll get a pretty nice array of games with it including Battleship, Scrabble and Connect Four, you’ll also have to shell out further points for the FULL versions of the individual games. Unless I’m totally missing this concept, the initial eight hundred gets you the normal games described. If you want to try the FULL versions of each individual game, with new options and gameplay modes attached, then you’ll have to shell out eight hundred Microsoft points PER GAME.
I know, that sounds a bit confusing, so here’s a fast summary as best I can understand it:
The demo is free. With that, you get timed versions of the games currently available: Scrabble, Connect Four, Yahtzee, and Battleship. The “full game” is eight hundred points and takes the timers off and such. But then, you can pay out ANOTHER eight hundred per game to try things like Super Weapons Battleship and Wild Dice in Yahtzee.
See what I mean? Backhanded value. Sure, it’s great to pay ten bucks and get a host of games. It’s NOT great, however, to pay on TOP of that to get the full games. So while I’m enthused about having a host of casual classic board games available to play, I’m not so enthused to have most of their features locked up unless I pay massive ransom. So while I can recommend the good half of the deal, it’s not without a serious finger wag to EA and Hasbro for the bit of gouging.
Monopoly Game Review–You Can’t Always Get What You Want
You might think that writing a review of Monopoly would easily be regarded as a total waste of time. It’s not like everybody reading this hasn’t played it in one format or another for the better than fifty years that it’s been in existence, right? Well, maybe not EVERYBODY reading this—there’s always those one or two folks who’ll surprise you that haven’t gotten around to Monopoly yet.
But this review isn’t JUST for them. Because the recent release of Monopoly on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, among others, has new and interesting features that bear discussing. First, you may well be amazed to learn that there have been over a DOZEN different releases of Monopoly to home game systems. The game features multiple boards, including futuristic properties, the original classic, a board devoted entirely to sugary treats and another exclusively comprised of types of cheese. You’d never believe that you could build a hotel on Roquefort and charge a hundred bucks to take possession of it. I guess that’s just the kind of thing Monopoly’s always been—whether you were out to buy Baltic Avenue, Times Square, or the Death Star, it was always about the possibilities. Certain “house rules” variants are also in play, allowing you to somewhat tailor your Monopoly experience.
Oh, and even more interesting, this version of Monopoly includes a version called The Richest. The Richest is actually a fairly complex game played without cash. Instead, players engage in a series of minigames that allows them to determine how many of their tokens are placed on the Monopoly board. If the property you land on is unclaimed, you take possession. If the property is owned, you must hand over one of your properties in exchange, or possibly more if the property is part of a monopoly or if it’s been developed. The winner is the person with the highest value land portfolio at the end of a set number of rounds.
Monopoly is always fun for a few minutes, and the addition of this new mode adds to the replay value. This is probably even more fun as a party game, but it’s not without its flaws. Yes, it’s just Monopoly. That’s it. New versions aside, you’re not going to get much in the way of innovation here. And worse yet, unless I missed it, there aren’t any online capabilities with this game. How on earth can you NOT be able to play Monopoly online? Isn’t that part of why we invented the Internet in the first place? So we can play obscure board games with people in other lands?
Someone get Al Gore on the phone!
Anyway…it’s true. This is Monopoly in all its glory. New versions add to the fun, but the original is still the best. There’s absolutely no reason why you wouldn’t enjoy five or ten minutes with this virtually any time you loaded it into your system of choice. Chances are this won’t keep you up all night or playing for hours or desperate for another Red Bull to keep you sufficiently jacked up to play, but still—there’s plenty of fun to be had here. Sure, it would’ve been better if I could’ve made it a party game any time I wanted by hooking up the broadband…but you can’t have everything, I guess.
Water Rocket Game Review–A Blend of Puzzle and Action
Water Rocket, one of the newest games at Newgrounds, poses an interesting problem–how to maneuver a small rocket through a collection of obstacle traps in search of water.
That’s also the entire plot of the game–your home is running out of water at a catastrophic rate, therefore you’re off to collect it in your rocket ship, which you’ll be able to upgrade to improve shield dynamics and fuel consumption of your lateral thrusters, as well as your rate of fall when the thrusters are cut. You’ll also be able to repair any damage you’ve taken, but at the cost of not being able to upgrade rocket components, so there’s a real premium on avoiding damage.
It’s a strange mix of action and puzzle as you figure out how to negotiate levels of progressively greater difficulty , and this highly unusual combination adds up to plenty of fun for anyone willing to give it a try.
Colourshift Game Review–A Colorful Puzzler That’ll Make You Scream
There are puzzle games, and then there are puzzle games that make you want to scream and throw things at your monitor. Colourshift is one such game, now available to play on Kongregate.
The concept is simple enough–move tiles around to complete circuits of color. And in the beginning, it’s as simple as it sounds. But where it gets downright difficult is when you’ll be required, around level 4, to do color blends. It’s not enough to just link up blue and yellow, no sir–you’ll have to do a GREEN linkage, running circuits of yellow AND blue simultaneously. And when that particular complication is introduced into the mix, the game goes from relatively easy puzzler to total mindbender.
Colourshift will either make you hate puzzle games entirely or make you feel proud enough of yourself to burst as you beat a level. If you’re a sense of accomplishment junkie, then Colourshift is your new drug of choice.
Patapon 2: The Art of War Game Review–It WILL Stick In Your Head
If you’ve ever played Patapon, you’ll be happy to know there’s a free to play version of Patapon 2: The Art of War out there, and you’ll be happy to know that it’s available on Newgrounds. Not in fact stolen, but rather created as a public service for Sony to use to promote Patapon 2.
In Patapon 2: The Art of War, you’ll take command of a legion of tiny little creatures and send them marching off to battle. You’ll have essentially two commands, executed by a drum rhythm–march forward with pata pata pata pon (left left left right on your keypad) and attack with pon pon pata pon (right right left right on the keypad). You’ll gather an army, take out a tower and kill a dragon in your three-stage sample quests.
Simple, clever and catchy beyond all reason or common sense, this short game should get somebody a job with Sony, because it’s pretty sweet. It’s got ME interested, and music games are not normally my speed.
One caveat, however–the title is NOT just hyperbole in headline form. The tune WILL lodge in your head. Good luck getting it out; took me nearly two days to forget pata pata pata pon…oh great. Now it’s BACK.
How I Buy Petrol? Game Review–A New And Interesting Take on Stupidity
Sometimes, games aren’t good because their gameplay is amazing, but rather because of the story they present. And perhaps one of the greatest stories is strictly related to Newgrounds itself, in the game How I Buy Petrol?
Anyway, How I Buy Petrol? is described as an “interactive epic poem” about one of the Newgrounds forum dwellers, named Sirkom93. One day, he hatched an ingenious plot to get unspecified revenge on his schoolyard chums, which he announced to the Newgrounds forum. This nefarious plot was then relayed to police by a valiant whistleblower named DeckHeadTottie, and Sirkom93 was arrested.
But before Sirkom93 can get his unspecified revenge…you’ll have to help him answer one question: How I Buy Petrol?
It’s a comic riot, because apparently Sirkom93’s mental candlepower aspires to the crustacean range, and his unspecified revenge requires a lot of idiotic behavior on his part. But still–it’s the story that counts here, though you’ll have some interesting minigames to partake in in an attempt to “buy petrol”. Like I said: it’s not about the gameplay, it’s all about the story. Though I have to admit, I’ve never seen real life distilled to a game with such effectiveness and comedic glee.
And Sirkom93’s story would be a whole lot funnier if people hadn’t been in danger…albeit, a rather limited danger.
Luminara Game Review–Fast, Frantic Shooting Fun
If you happen to be looking for a frantic, fast shooter with lots of different powerups and hordes of things flying at you in desperate need of blasting, then what you need is to get over to BubbleBox and try a round of Luminara.
Basically, it’s Geometry Wars, if Geometry Wars were a heavy drug user and paranoid to boot, because everything around you in Luminara is out to get you. For what reason, we don’t know, so we can once again insert one. This time, I think your little ball with a stick gun was a rogue enforcer for the Random Shape Drug Mafia, and once they discovered he’d been skimming product, they sent every triggerman they could find to get him. Of course, being as gifted a shot as our little enforcer is, he won’t go down quietly. I made it through twenty six rounds of fighting my first time through, so you know there’s lots of things out to kill you.
It’s fun, and a great little casual game that’ll keep your attention riveted for a couple minutes at a stretch. And isn’t that the point of all casual games, in the end?
John Citizen Game Review–He Looks Just Like Everyone Else….
And sometimes, the games on Newgrounds can get kind of weird in their sheer simplicity, this is why we’ve got games like John Citizen to talk about.
Basically, the aliens have landed one of their own on the planet Earth. Charged with the duty of planting a series of Doomsday Devices all over the planet, he’s come to kill us all. He’s armed to the teeth, ready to kill, and indistiguishable from anyone else. He’s John Citizen. And we’re not going to be happy to see him.
The gameplay is pretty simple, run, jump, blast things, avoid spikes–and the worlds all look vaguely similiar with some odd differences. For instance, why do Dubai and the Netherlands look so much alike? And last I knew, Ottawa in Canada was NOT comprised entirely of a long row of spikes with a series of platforms suspended via invisible restraints directly over them. I’m baffled on that one, really.
But one thing is clear enough–John Citizen is a fairly fun and fairly quick casual game that’s worth a few plays.
Do You Fell Lucky today ???? Game Review–A Nightmare On Grammatical And Gameplay Fronts
Congratulate me, kids, because I may have found the single most pointless new game on Kongregate, a little title called Do You Fell Lucky today ????.
I swear that is a total quote.
From the sheer number of misspellings and grammatical manglings in this game I’m forced to wonder if the creator speaks English as his or her first language. But anyway, the game play is shockingly simple–first you decide whether or not you feel lucky today, and select yes or no depending. Ironically, it makes little difference, as you’ll then go into the next stage of a game, confronted with what seems to be a flipping coin with the legends “Yeah! You won” and “You loose” on either side. And yes, that “you loose” is actually how it’s spelled. If you manage to lose, which from my attempts is pretty much done by saying that you DON’T feel lucky in the beginning, you get nothing. Winning, meanwhile gives you “lucky points” which are redeemable for absolutely nothing except a general good feeling.
Just for more fun, here are some of the end messages you get after clicking that you DON’T feel lucky. Warning to all grammar nazis in the audience, stop reading these immediately and seek medical attention if your head at any time feels about to explode:
“Is any problem with you ? stop thinking that you don’t fell lucky”
“She or he don’t like you …. (Push YES and she or he will start to like)”
“I guess you rated 1/5 …. go back and push YES, this will make you change your rate and humour”
“Stop pushing NO, go to get some good vibes clicking on the YES button”
I’m sorry, but did you just tell me my bad luck is my OWN fault? Because I’m not FEELING lucky? Because I didn’t rate you sufficiently highly on an arbitrary five scale? Oh, but this is not where the poorly worded fun ends, kids–check out what happens when you actually manage to win a game, done literally every time by clicking that fabled “yes” button:
Congratulations!! You had won 10 lucky points to have an awesome day here on Kongregate, to use it you just need to say “I will use xxx lucky points now to help me do xxx” just before you do the xxx. Here are some examples: To earn that impossible badge that is taking all the time of your life. To think in something good to say to the pretty girl that just came in to the chat. To crush your kongai challenger with only intercepts. To avoid clicking in fu**** non-games of non-senses. To have a better life. To win in the lottery. To realize that this game really works, so it deserve a 5/5 And remember to use your points wisely, but when you use all, just come here an play again!! : )
If by “fu**** non-games of non-senses”, you mean this ridiculous crap you’ve wasted perfectly good bandwidth on, then man, I wish I’d had your lucky points in advance so as not to have wasted time on this. And how many lucky points does it take to send you a DICTIONARY so that you can see just how horrifying a crime against the language you’ve committed here today?
I echo the sentiments left in the comments section of this. I too want those twenty seconds of my life back. Except I didn’t spend twenty seconds on this—I played the game ten times total, five times either way so I could prove the rigging. And I tell you this—I want all that time back. This game is easily the most pointless thing I’ve played in MONTHS.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Game Review–Not What I Had In Mind
I admit, that while on Kongregate, I found a game that turned out to be a whole lot different from what I expected. When you walk in on a game that calls itself Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (WTF for those of you who don’t know radio lingo), you don’t exactly know what to expect out of it. So when I got a mild Space Invaders clone, I was somewhat relieved if a bit disappointed.
In Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, the White House is under attack, and you’ll take command of what might be a tank and what might be a column to fire random blobs at threats that fall from the sky, everything from paratroopers to UFOs to bombs and all the way up to enormous cruise missiles. You’ll go up in rank for every wave you survive (I personally got as high as major), and every enemy you miss adds to your threat level, which will end the game upon reaching a certain height.
Certain things could have improved the game vastly–different weapons, various other threats besides the standard four that I’ve already listed, even a way to lower the threat level as you proceed would’ve made for a deeper gameplay experience. But no, we’re stuck with a fairly bare-bones shooter that doesn’t bring in a whole lot of fun.
It’s not exactly a bit of long term fun, but I don’t necessarily regret giving it a try. I’d likely never go back so I really can’t recommend it, but if you do feel like giving it a try, you might not be terribly disappointed.
Blackboard Squash Game Review–All The Fun You Used To Wish Chalkboards Had
I have to admit, I’ve played a lot of games on Newgrounds, and some of them are better than others. But if you’re into action games that’ll make you think like a puzzle game, then you could definitely do a lot worse than Blackboard Squash.
In Blackboard Squash, you play a tiny little chalk outline of a man on a chalkboard. Meanwhile, chalk hazards are continually drawn into life to fall onto you or attempt to crush or skewer you. You’ve got just enough fortitude to withstand five injuries, and after that, it’s game over.
You’ll be playing on different sides of the board every so often, and you’ll have to adjust your control perceptions to match. You’ll have to constantly think and dodge, so you’ll need to be fast and clever to get through this one for any length of time. It’s fast, casual fun.
Days 2 Die Game Review–Insane Zombie Blasting Fun
I’m a big fan of zombie movies, and by extension, games that act like them. And I may well have found the toughest challenge I’ve ever taken on in the form of Days 2 Die.
Newgrounds offers me up an incredible zombie apocalypse scenario–it’s just like a whole lot of others. No one really knows how it happens, or when it’ll end, but man, is it ever a brutal one. You’ll be dispatched to survive a legion of the walking dead engaged in attacking you in several different locations, and each wave will get steadily more difficult. But you’ll have a variety of weapons to choose from, and be able to place barricades to help fend off the waves of walking dead.
In early levels, you’ll be able to set up a simple KZ (kill zone) with the help of your barricades, then just stand behind them and blast away. But in the later levels (I found it started around the police station) even the best gun you have is downright insufficient to deal with the dense mobs of highly resilient zombies. Thus, the difficulty level may be just a bit too high for the casual zombie blaster, and even experienced shooter players could be in for a bit more fight than even they can handle.
But either way, you should have plenty of fun with this one, so go on out to Newgrounds and take on Days 2 Die.