Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Shattered Horizon, the zero-G astronaut deathmatch game from Futuremark Games Studio, didn’t have enough levels. That’s been remedied today with a free expansion, Moonrise, that delivers another four maps to the game. I have to say that while the game doesn’t seem to have captured people’s imaginations generally, this kind of space-porn level design is just the kind of thing I’d like to see more of. It’s kind of a shame it’s purely multiplayer, but perhaps if Futuremark can make a success of this they can look at something using the same tech in the future. Anyway, the full game is $15 on Steam, and there’s a video of the new levels looking all moody below.
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Crazy-lookin’ Russian MMO Allods Online is in open beta for Europe. It’s noteworthy for having ship vs ship battles in the astral plane, as well as having a character race called “Gibberlings”. Here’s a beautiful quote from Gala networks CEO, Hyun Hur: “After a long time of Closed Beta testing and polishing the game in cooperation with the developer Astrum Nival, we’re glad to open the game to all players today, for our Open Beta. Players can now enjoy the variety of classes, quests, monsters and combat. PvE, PvP or even Ship vs. Ship battles on land and in the Astral space make Allods Online one of the most expected games in 2010.” It really is.

Go take a look.

Ian Bogost’s A Slow Year is “A chapbook of game poems for Atari VCS, PC, and Mac”. As in, it’s primarily developed for the VCS – being released in a limited edition cartridge – with the other two system being ports. It’s picked up a nomination for the IGF Nuovo Award. It will inevitably drive some people mad by its mere existence. Good. Some people exist to be annoyed. Your annoyance is a barometer of whether culture is progressing or not. It’s available later this year. Until then, we talk to its creator about A Slow Year…
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I was playing Bioshock 2 last night and thinking that the game actually feels like a prequel, or even a better take for the original concept. I mean I know that the story of the big daddies and all the jazz makes more sense if you’ve played the previous game, but somehow Bioshock 2 feels more like what I expected the original game to feel like. It’s hard to qualify with any real clarity, and that’s probably because I’m not getting enough sleep. The other stuff I’ve been playing includes Monaco, which we talked about here, and will talk about again, because it’s just fantastic. I’ve also been slugging my way through Fallen Earth. I’ve been commissioned to write about it for another famed gaming journal, so I’ll link to it when I can, but for a quick skip-to-the-end thought: it’s surprisingly good. There are lots of traditional MMO annoyances in there, but also much that made me smile, especially making a horse. It’s definitely worth hitting the ten day trial for some free nosing. An indie MMO with real promise.

Anyway, what are you lot playing? And why? Speak your brains!

We don’t have Oscars in the UK. Instead, all the major film directors gather on a hillside in Gloucestershire, and roll enormous wheels of cheese towards the fields below. The director who concusses the most cows (or sheep, but they’re only worth half a point) with his cheese wins a BAFTA. Who can forget the scandal in 2006, when Martin Scorsese knocked out an unprecedented 13 bullocks, but was later disqualified when judges discovered he’d rubbed a particularly drowsy brand of cough medicine into the rind of his Red Leicester? The relatively new game-centric BAFTA competition, however, uses a far less conventional form of judging known as ‘voting.’ How curious. The nominations are in, and they’re a surprising, thrilling roster of snnndszzzzzn. Grummfwhut? Oh, sorry, I fell asleep there.
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The mind, body and soul of Savygamer tells me that, after recently mentioning it would become Freeware, the Spirit Engine 2 has been released in the format. It’s a bit of a shame, in some ways – it’s a critically celebrated indie-game which never managed to find a proper audience, for a number of reasons. On the other hand, it’s a bit of a brilliant thing – it’s a splendid, novel take on the RPG with a whole lot of charm, which I wrote about here. You can get it here or see a boss-fight below…
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Whoops, we missed this last week – frenziedly frenetic footage of the upcoming L4D2-meets-L4D1 DLC The Passing. Alas, team L4D don’t show up in these videos, Valve’s Chet Faliszek claiming they still want to keep a lid on exactly how that’s going to work, but at least it’s a chance to eyeball some of the new uncommon Common Infected (including one that tries to run away but drops health packs when you kill it – sounds like Golden Axe’s imp thingies) and the shape and mood of one of the levels. The finale of the second video looks appropriately claustrophobic and OH GOD GET IT OFF ME, so no doubt L4D2 believers will not be left unhappy on the obscene violence front. What of the non-believers, still licking their wounds about the sequel-too-soon outrage? Well, right at the end of the second video, Chet lets slip that we’re due a comic that explains the current fate of the first game’s survivors, and, and! new DLC for L4D1. Too little too late, some will cry, but hey- it’s still something, sometime.
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Strimko is an interesting take on a Sudoku-like puzzle. You fill in grids with the numbers 1 to 4 (at the start, at least) not having the same number repeat in a row or column, nor in a “chain” of four numbers linked by white lines. It sounds oddly simple, but is in fact immediately a lot more tricksy than an easy sudoku, for instance. And there’s a demo of it you can try.
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If there’s one guaranteed way to make young people learn about the importance of safe sex, it’s to make them answer an awful lot of questions about STDs, while a man with giant penises for hands bombards them with similarly giant sperm, which also bears the face of a shark. Canadian public information game Sex Squad is absolutely NSFW, but it is a) the best thing ever and b) the worst thing ever. Oh, internet – never grow up.
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Terry Brown mailed with news of a new version of his previously-blogged-about My Pet Protector. What’s it got to attract us other than an extra colon and a 2 slapped on the end? Well, more focus on the dungeons, some origins-malarkies and a whole aspect where you upgrade the town you’re in. Aside from music which has made the delightful girlfriend just raise a bewildered eyebrow, it’s fine Princess-Maker-derived stuff. And I fully admit, there’s something about Princess Maker that gets under my skin. Go play here, or watch the tutorial video below…
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How beautiful, how wonderful can you make a sliding puzzle game? With a steam-punk flourish, Lazy 8 Studios’ Cogs shows exactly how far the genre can be pushed. Comrade Walker – our official master of puzzles – totally adored it upon its release. Now that it’s picked up a nomination for Excellence in Design, we thought it time to talk to their Rob Jagnow about all things indie-games. Footage and chattage follows…
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