By Alec Meer on February 5th, 2013.
Remember McDroid? A super-cheerful action-strategy, tower defencey thing which seems to exist purely so people can have a good time. It’s been available to buy as fairly content-rich beta for a little while now (full release happens this Spring), and is also doing the Steam Greenlight community lapdance at the moment, so if you’re undecided about taking action on either of those, you should probably play the demo.
Read the rest of this entry »
By Adam Smith on January 24th, 2013.
Omerta’s demo is odd. I’ve been hoping that the game will deliver on its turn-based gangster shenanigans ever since it was announced, but I expected mild disappointment as none of the pre-release media had entirely convinced me. A demo seems like the perfect solution, providing a playable sample and helping my wayward mind to form some basic conclusions. That hasn’t happened. Instead, I’m still left with a strong interest in playing the game that Omerta might be, while at the same time half-convinced that Omerta isn’t going to be that game. You can download the demo for yourself or read on for more meandering opinions and details.
By John Walker on January 18th, 2013.
Playing the Medal Wars demo is a lot like being trapped inside a British seaside postcard. It’s an isometric sort-of shooter, in which you play an Green Army recruit seemingly single-handedly completing missions against the enemy Black Army. But with hilarious japes and comedy references throughout! Trousers fall down! There are farty noises! And ladies have boobies!
By Adam Smith on January 8th, 2013.
It is said that games nominated in the IGF competition immediately become ghosts, haunting the memories of journalists and the creaky attics of Twitter, but without any true corporeal form. This year’s list is less spooky than most because many of the nominees are available right now and others are just around the corner. Enter 7 Grand Steps, the new game from Mousechief, of Dangerous High School Girls fame. The game received a nomination in the Nuovo category and, having spent a few December nights absorbed in it, I reckon it richly deserves its place. A demo is now available, so you can download that and then agree with me. It’s a game about family, legends and traversing history. Video below.
Simulation & wargame news
By Tim Stone on December 28th, 2012.
The walls of the FP office are plastered with pictures of iconic war machines. When I yaw left I see the elegant elliptical wings of a Supermarine Spitball, the slab prow of a Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiepin, the yawning bomb-bay of an Avro Lankystreakofpiss. When I yaw right I see swarms of side-slipping Sopwith Camelots, HMS Hoodie steaming at full speed towards the Denholmelliot Strait, a sharkmouthed McDonnell Dougal F-4 Phantompregnancy splashing napalm onto a bunker-riddled Vietnamese hellside. Read the rest of this entry »
By Jim Rossignol on December 19th, 2012.
Topware send word that there are Mac and PC demos for their game of the silly movie Iron Sky, Iron Sky: Invasion. They say: ““Iron Sky: Invasion” is a space fighter simulator, calling to mind such classics as the legendary… You-Know-Which series – further enhanced with strategy and RPG elements.” I honestly don’t know which, but a new space combat game is always welcome at the Monitor-Lit Underdark Of Rossignol Lair. Sadly though, I’ve yet to play the demo, because I am not currently in my creepy data-nexus man-cave, but instead on a crap laptop in John’s cheery dining room. But: “The players can access a tactical map of outer space to spot the positions of Nazi forces or any ongoing battles, and thus instantly know where to fly. The ultimate goal is to destroy the secret Nazi base hidden on the Dark Side of the Moon and to keep the Earth safe from the invading spacecraft.” Which sounds okay. It’s made my Reality Pump, too, who made not-terrible things in the past, if I recall correctly.
By Jim Rossignol on December 12th, 2012.
Hello, you. Hard truth: It’s time you played some side-scrolling platforming, isn’t it? I know, I know, you keep saying you will make time for it, but you just end up running errands or doing overtime. Well that has to stop. It’s time for you and side-scrolling to remember why you love each other. Spend some time gazing into each other. Perhaps then you’ll either get married or finally realise that it’s time to move on. It’s for the best.
But look, I’m no counsellor. I’m just saying that there’s a one-level demo of Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, which is just what you need to deal with your left-to-right issues. Or maybe you just need more space. I don’t know.
By Adam Smith on December 10th, 2012.
The alpha version of UDK-powered top-down kill ‘em up Recruits showed promise, so news of an improved two level demo is most welcome. There’s a superficial similarity to Cannon Fodder, particularly in relation to how easy it is to pop an enemy’s guts with a well-placed shot and the fact that your own squaddies become perma-dead if they fall in combat. The demo includes two missions, one of which caters for the stealthier soldier, although if that approach fails, it’s still possible to succeed. There’s an interesting approach to victory and failure throughout – quitting a mission abandons the soldiers who are in the field, unless they are at an evacuation point. Download at the links listed on the right.
By John Walker on December 6th, 2012.
Shadow Of The Game isn’t an MMO. It’s an RPG with an MMO in it. A single-player game in which your character takes part in an MMO which is played within the game, but it’s not actually an MMO because it’s all single-player, and and RPG, except it’s really more of a visual novel… This is the work of indies DeRailGames, and is, we’re told, about the boundaries between online identities and those of something called “real life”.
By Adam Smith on December 6th, 2012.
I barely scratched the surface of the Age of Decadence demo when it was released so when I received word from Iron Tower that a new version was available, with all kinds of additions and fixes, I thought it might be a perfect opportunity to revisit. And so I did, only to realise that even the surface is the sort of thing I’d have to scratch at until my fingers were blood-encrusted nubs of bone to form a proper opinion. I’ve played the opening sections with two different character classes and there’s a staggering variety in dialogue, choices and skills. This is shaping up to be the sort of RPG people often complain ‘they don’t make anymore’, or Kickstart with wild abandon. I urge you to try it.
By Adam Smith on November 30th, 2012.
Drox Operative, which comes from the same pedigree as Din’s Curse and Depths of Peril, is out of beta and available for purchase. Failing to find a few days to spend with the beta is probably my biggest regret of the year so I plan to remedy that by having a Droxy December. From what little I have played, I feel comfortable with the ‘Space Rangers 2 AARPG’ description I used when bringing news of the game’s demo. That demo is still available and you must play it. You must play it now. Drox Operative is $19.99 direct from Soldak. One payment provides Mac and PC versions.
