By Kieron Gillen on March 9th, 2010 at 9:18 am.
Caster, the game which Jim went all out on the hyperbole and claimed the jumping was quite good, has returned with a new episode. Which is splendid news for previous fans of jumping and/or spellcasting – I too am a fan of Caster’s devotion to the jump – mainly because if you bought the last episode, this episode (and all further ones) will be free. Crikey. So if you throw down your $5 now, you get two games instead of one. Certainly motivation to try the first game’s demo. Footage follows…
09/03/2010 at 09:48 Jim Rossignol says:
It’s probably worth pointing out that the jumping is quite good. Other stuff, less so.
09/03/2010 at 11:41 Bhazor says:
But just how good is the jumping?
09/03/2010 at 12:20 Clovis says:
My much younger brother (14) is a gamer in the sense that he plays XBox 360 all day. However, that’s mostly MW2. So, when I tried to show him how the jumping in New Super Mario Bros was “quite good” it didn’t go over very well. I somehow thought that platforming was something that people just naturally understood.
I believe his final opinion of Mario, and platformers generally, was that they are “gay”.
09/03/2010 at 13:16 SquareWheel says:
@Clovis: Your brother’s gay.
09/03/2010 at 13:29 Okami says:
@Clovis: Have you tried beating him with a strap? I’ve hear that helps..
09/03/2010 at 13:34 Clovis says:
Ah, come one, give him a break. He plays MW2 on XBox Live all day, what do you expect? I’m just glad he doesn’t constantly t-bag the cat.
09/03/2010 at 13:53 Okami says:
As is the cat, I’d guess…
09/03/2010 at 16:02 Bhazor says:
UR brother is MR GAY.
09/03/2010 at 09:57 Vague-rant says:
I remember playing the demo ages ago and it was awesome arcadey fun. I didn’t buy it though for some reason or another but now that episode 2 has been released I think I will (although I’ll wait for the eidos week to run its course before committing)…
1 thing though, I seem to recall being able to level your abilities fairly quickly in the demo (presumably the whole episode saw you max out everything fully); so does this just add levels, or more abilities too?
09/03/2010 at 13:14 ZamFear says:
@Vague-rant
Just more levels, but the maxed-out abilities were taken into account when designing them, so there’s still some challenge.
09/03/2010 at 18:42 Vague-rant says:
Thanks, its good to know.
To all the people who said it’s boring, try the demo out. It might change your mind once you get access to the various weapons.
09/03/2010 at 10:41 Plagiarism says:
I also enjoyed the demo, the jumping and the ability to sprint up vertical surfaces.
I remember that you could raise/lower the lanscape with some weapons could drop the trundling woodlice-things into the lava by shooting at the ground and then standing on the other side of the resulting hole. They were very single-minded.
09/03/2010 at 10:54 Bonedwarf says:
God that looks boring.
09/03/2010 at 11:49 Dan says:
Yeah, it looks a bit dull. I’m enjoying the early-PS2-quality graphics though, in a nostalgic way.
09/03/2010 at 12:17 Clovis says:
This reminds me of Minecraft’s Beta offer. You get to play the game as it develops through beta, get the full version, and get all future expansions to it.
09/03/2010 at 12:40 RogB says:
looks more fun speeded up (0:46 onwards)
09/03/2010 at 12:42 hydra9 says:
Bonedwarf and Dan: You could always check out the demo. In my opinion, Caster is a hell of a lot of fun to play, and well worth the $5.
09/03/2010 at 14:28 Tei says:
The demo has some Magic Carpet air to it…
09/03/2010 at 17:05 Blather Blob says:
Yay! I’m being lazy and waiting for Steam to start offering the update, but I understand that those less patient can just download the update from the site and install it over top of Steam copies.
The thing I like most about the promises of Caster’s Episode 2 is that it adds support for mods. There have been a surprising number of new levels and even new enemies/characters released for Caster, but they were a bit of a pain to use (you had to replace the original data files). So hopefully this will lead to even more mods and levels, and make them more easily installed.
09/03/2010 at 17:21 l1ddl3monkey says:
The jumping in this is nowhere near as good as the jumping in Lugaru. That had jumping like I’ve never seen before or since.
09/03/2010 at 17:48 MadTinkerer says:
You want to try being a programmer and a 3D artist? THIS IS AN INDIE GAME
09/03/2010 at 17:49 MadTinkerer says:
And the reply function fails again.
09/03/2010 at 23:58 Blather Blob says:
@MadTinkerer: He’s so indie that even his day job is working for Hidden Path, the makers of Defense Grid.
09/03/2010 at 17:54 MadTinkerer says:
Anyway, as someone who beta tested the update, I can say that the update is pretty good. Now I’m just waiting for Steam to update so I can play the final-tweaked version.
The new levels include a bunch of tougher creatures (which shouldn’t be too much trouble if you put enough points into your favorite attack powers) and a few new mechanics, such as a very interesting take on the standard escort mission and nega-orbs which mess with your powers.
And once again, it’s $5 or FREE if you already bought it.
09/03/2010 at 18:11 Bhazor says:
I have to say that it is a pretty fun arcade game, well worth the £3.52ish they’re asking.
09/03/2010 at 20:43 Zeus says:
Another day, another indie game you guys have convinced me to buy.
09/03/2010 at 22:46 PaulMorel says:
Any word on whether or not this will work for STEAM purchasers?
I like this game a lot. Thank god you can mute the soundtrack.
09/03/2010 at 23:54 Blather Blob says:
@PaulMorel: The update isn’t live on steam yet, but it will be. In the meantime you can download the update patch and stick it over a steam copy manually. The author very much supports the Steam version, though — he’s switched to using the Steam Forums as his game’s official forums, and said again yesterday that the steam update is coming. He also says he’s looking forward to trying to get the mac version into the new Mac Steam.
10/03/2010 at 02:10 Krikey! says:
I actually quite liked the game up until the point when terraforming was introduced. I just didn’t like the way terrain raised and lowered – It was too cumbersome. Granted, blowing huge gaping holes in the ground never gets old, but raising terrain is another story altogether.
However, the game is only $5, so if you can overlook that, I highly recommend this. It’s really just old school platforming fun.