Deadly 30

Deadly 30 is a bit of a conundrum for me, I like the game a lot, but I don't know if my likes outweigh the problems I have with it. On the positive side, it's fun, it's got a neat concept, and it's definitely cheap; on the down side, it's a major resource hog, it's not very long or diverse, and I don't care for the control scheme.

The game is a WWII side scrolling zombie survival shooter, you start out as an American infantryman (machine gun) but as you progress you pick up other survivors, a Russian sniper (rifle), and a German officer (shotgun). You plod through a few different zones collecting scraps to create new weapons, ammunition, and general upgrades, returning to your base each night to fend off an attack. Rinse, repeat.

Decent looking for the price.

Although the game is fun, there isn't much variety to it, only a couple of different screens, and it can get frustrating as there doesn't seem to be a very good balance to it, I would almost call the difficulty curve broken. Biggest complaint I have though is that the game is a resource hog; the graphics and action are well done in this game, but considering this is a sidescroller, I am consistently amazed by how it bogs my laptop down. The game does warn you of this, but that does little to prepare you for the experience.

I'm going to give this a 7/10, I've gotten more enjoyment out of it than frustration and it is cheap, but this game is definitely not without its flaws. Deadly 30 gets a hesitant recommendation from me.

Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition

Not much to be said for Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition, one of the finest games of the 90's (can't say how much time I burnt playing Duke Nukem 3D), with possibly the worst sequel in the history of gaming.

If you have a nostalgia fit and need to play an old school game this one will fit the bill nicely, same old game with updated graphics and physics to match. Word of warning though, if you have no nostalgia for this title, I doubt this game will make you a believer.

8/10, I replayed the entire game several times after picking this up, but not because of anything it's adding to the genre, play this one for the memories and relive the dawn of FPS gaming. If you're approaching this as a brand new IP I'd rate it as 4/10 at most.

Gratuitous Tank Battles

Having already played Gratuitous Space Battles I was pretty sure what I'd be getting from Gratuitous Tank Battles and starting it up offered even less than I hoped for. If you like tower defence games with no character this game is made for you.

Place your turrets along a road and watch them chew up the bad guys who come marching along. There are a multitude of units that can be placed, ranging from infantry to heavy guns, and you can customize the units, but at the end of the day there is little flavour in this, it's strictly roughage to pass time with.

Pictured: A big pile of meh!

The great tower defence games I've played have offered something beyond the core gameplay, usually humour, that keeps me wanting to play. The game looks ok, but by design it doesn't have a lot of graphics going on, same as soundtrack. I'm not holding this against the game, but I am saying it didn't thrill me.

I'm going to go 6/10, the game does what it wants to, and if that's what you're looking for then this game delivers. If you're looking for more, like a story, you'd best just do the walk on by.

Back to the Future

The Back to the Future series are Telltale games, which,  honestly, should tell you everything you need to know: It's a story driven point and click adventure that you'll pay a little bit too much for, even if you find it on sale.

To be honest, I'm a fan of Telltale, they make good games and obviously put a lot of love into them, which Back to the Future is an excellent example of, even if the price is higher than I'd like. You play through different areas from the movie getting a chance to experience the it in a depth that was previously impossible.

What's not to love? Apparently, according to me anyway, the price is what's not to love, so let me explain: the price they charge is more in line with big title action games, not quite CoD money,  but more than you'd expect to pay for a casual game, which pretty much where point and clicks fall. My opinion is that Telltale pays too much for their licenses, but it could just be their decision to gouge a bit, I don't know.

If you're not a fan of the movie series this may not be for you; the game is full accessible even if you've never seen the movies, but I think it requires some of that context to fully immerse the player. I'll do 7/10 for this one, I've enjoyed it, but it's not cheap, and there is a slight accessibility/engagement issue, but if you like point and click adventures, this is an excellent example of the medium.

Samarost 2

Here's the thing with Samarost 2: I don't know WTF is going on! Is it a decent looking game? Sure. Is it a properly responding game? I think so, but I'm not really sure what to expect it to do. Is it a bad game? Hell if I know.

All your big eared little dude needs in one place.

You play a little dude searching for his dog who was kidnapped by aliens, who can't identify with that story? The game is vaguely intriguing, but with so little context on what to do in it I have a hard time forcing myself to play it. The game is essentially a point and click adventure: click an item to interact with it in an effort to influence another, which allow you to continue to the next screen, simple enough, right? Yes, it is, however without context it doesn't feel like enough, just a series of meaningless interactions.

I'm doing 4/10 on this one: It's cheap but, while I admit I didn't give it a lot of time, it did nothing to grab me in the time I gave it.

Sleeping Dogs

I picked up Sleeping Dogs on a Steam sale with little or no idea of what I was going to be getting, fortunately this one worked out. This game appealed to me largely because its an updated version of Mafia 2 in a different setting and, as we all remember, I loved me some Mafia 2.

This 3rd person action game has you playing a cop infiltrating the Hong Kong underworld. There isn't a lot of shooting to be done, this game emphasizes the fight mechanic and driving, but it works out really well.

You actually spend a lot of time here.

I'm not too wild about some of the side game action, I could really care what my character looks like, and I found the buffs provided by them to not make enough difference to really matter, but they are an unobtrusive aspect of the game play and shouldn't be a distraction. The game is quite linear in how the story is told, but that appeals to me, I like to be kept on track.

I'm giving this one a 9/10, not perfect, but very very good. If you're looking for a new game to try out you could do much worse than this one, especially if you manage to find it on sale.

Rush

Rush is a neat little game tat doesn't try to deliver to much, and accomplishes exactly that. If you like puzzlers with decent graphics then you might want to check this game out, however it's not doing much that hasn't been done before.

The object of the game is to move a block or blocks from one point on a grid to another, using a combination of  environmental obstacles and direction changing tiles. The maps are small and you can move the screen around to get a better look at them for the 3D models. Once you have the path created start the flow of blocks and watch them disappear.

Such happy colours!

There really isn't much more to say than that. It's pretty, the physics work well, and the puzzles have some challenge to them. 6/10, there's nothing wrong with what it's doing but it's not breaking any new ground or doing anything better than has been done before.

Crayon Physics Deluxe

Well, that was quite a journey, but finally a 'Deluxe' game that isn't made by PopCap. Crayon Physics Deluxe is a neat little puzzler with top notch physics and a rather addictive hook to the gameplay.

The game is simple: using a crayon, draw objects to make a ball come into contact with a star at some point on the screen. The game does a decent job of easing you into the swing of things, but that doesn't mean it's easy.

No, not every level is simple simple or instructive.

The game actually comes off a little frustrating, as the art is so simplistic and the screens are very childlike, but the physics involved in some of the later levels make it fairly challenging.

I'm going to go 7/10 for this guy, it's well made and manages to be engaging, but I could never get over the fact I felt like I was playing a childs game.

Gratuitous Space Battles

Gratuitous Space Battles is a good looking game that doesn't quite deliver what it promises. The closest I could come to defining the genre it fits in is a tower defence, which is the root of it's problem,it doesn't quite deliver on anything it tries.

The concept and layout is pretty cool, you deploy a fleet in space, made up up whatever forces you can afford (based on an arbitrary game choice) then watch as your fleet either destroys the opposition or gets eaten alive. The game includes a number of different ship models and a really cool feature that allows you to design your own, based on current features, and earnable upgrades.

Again, a nice looking game.

The problem with the game boils down to the old adage "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy." Once you've deployed your fleet you sit helplessy watching them do their thing, you can't influence the fight. I also need to add, the "Chatter" they have playing across the top is strange and downright offputting; this may be a bit nitpicky, but it was really, really weird.

I'm going to go 4/10, despite a great look and interface, I just can't find enough in this game to truly enjoy.

Hammerwatch

I expected to hate Hammerwatch when I first started it up, low-res graphics, top down perspective, and the done to death dungeon crawler concept, but I didn't, I even found myself enjoying it. I would caution though, there doesn't appear to  be a save system, so forget between session progress and I hope you enjoy playing the starting levels over and over again.

Everything I just said in one, easy to use, graphic.

There isn't a lot to this game, you wander through the levels killing enemies and picking up treasure, which can be used to buy upgrades from vendors hanging around here and there. It's actually meant to be a co-op game, allowing what appears to be 4 people to play at the same time (who are these weirdo's looking for other people online to hang out with?) Very little to be said past that.

There is little to actually recommend this game, but there is much less going against it so, all in all, if you manage to get this on sale, it's worth a few bucks. 7/10 just because I got a a few hours out of it and I doubt I paid much for it.

Organ Trail

It's been a while since I've seen a game that I loved, let alone liked, but Organ Trail sure fixed that up. As a rule I detest old school graphics and sound, but in this case it not only works, it just feels right, even if I do hate the shooting mechanics.

If you've ever played Oregon Trail, you've played Organ Trail, only difference is zombies instead of pioneers; if you've never played Oregon Trail I don't know how to talk to you so you should maybe go away now. You set up your party, supply your station wagon, and start travelling across the country, trading, scavenging, and fighting your way through the hordes in your way. The updates to the game include a lot of humour, but the game does a great job of not only tying it into the genre, but also making it feel authentic to the original title.

If I need to explain this screencap to you you should go away forever.

I do admit to hating a few things: the shooting mechanic is horrible, but it's in-line with the original; the music is irritating if you pay attention to it, but its not important for gameplay so it can be turned off; finally, if you hate text based gameplay this won't work for you. I find those to be smaller issues when take into scope of the overall experience but they could add up to a game killer for someone else.

I'm going to give this guy a full 10/10, which actually surprises me. It's a heavily dated game with antique mechanics that utilizes an overplayed genre, but it works perfectly, and it doesn't hurt that it's cheap.

Bit.Trip Runner

Ah yes, Bit.Trip Runner, where do I start? There is so much to hate here, graphics, music, platforming, it's like someone said "What is the perfect game to make this random internet dude want to shoot himself in the face with a bazooka?" and got the answer.Think deus ex machina in reverse

This screenshot is almost pure hatred!

The game plays as a quick time platforming event, you are run along the screen needing to avoid obstacles and grab items as you go, while listening to Atari era music, which is fully justified by the graphics. I will say the game has good physics and, if you get your timing right, the game will deliver an experience for you.

1/10, I hated this game, I'm angry I installed it, and I'm disappointed in myself for even sampling it.

Cave Story+

Let's just cut to the chase here: Cave Story+ is an 8 bit platformer! What is with the flood of retro style games these days? I will admit, gaming has lost something in the last few years, but it's not like we used to play 8 and 16 bit graphic games because it was cool, we did it because it was the only option we had.

Cave story pits you against a series of caves, you need to jump and run and avoid obstacles to get through each system of caves. There appears to be a story involved here as well, but I only played 10 minutes of the game, long enough to verify there was too much platforming.

They did get the look and feel of an NES game right.

It's possible I may have found out why the title has a '+' in it, but I don't care enough to find out.This is not my idea of a game, the graphics are blocky, the soundtrack is painful, and the humour is half-assed at best. 2/10 because if you're going to put your ass into something. you should put your whole ass in! 

Steel Storm: Burning Retribution

Steel Storm: Burning Retribution is a 1941 style top down arcade shooter which, while not a bad game, does very little to add to the medium.

There it is

 Its only real contribution seems to be that it puts you inside a maze like setting of levels that require you to dodge around obstacles; I'm not saying that's a good thing, personally I think it's as helpful as a cat with 2 asses, but there it is.

I'm on the fence with this one but the obstacle course/maze thing pissed me off a bit so 4/10: nothing really wrong that I can see but nothing to set it apart from any other games of this style.

Mirror's Edge

Mirror's Edge is essentially a parkour simulator that wants you to know how much time and effort was put into its graphics. The game also appears to make an effort to do some puzzling, and throws in some FPS elements, but it also requires more patience than you'd expect.

The plot revolves around some manner of police state where these parkour couriers are the only means of disseminating information, apparently (there seems to be a bit of effort put into the story, just not enough to make me care( you play a courier jumping, leaping, and generally climbing across the cityscape.

Pictured: Actual gameplay screencap.

This is a good looking game with excellent physics if you care to learn the control scheme; I did not. There is nothing really wrong with it, the 'puzzling' part of figuring out the route to get you across the level appeals to me, and there is some shooting and fighting to be done, but I didn't really feel any love for my experience in the game.

6/10 for Mirror's Edge, the game seems to be doing what it sets out to accomplish, I'm just not a fan of the heights it's doing it at.

Peggle

If you don't know Peggle than I can only assume you are a "Serious" gamer or just too important for the human race in general. My library included both Peggle Deluxe and Peggle Nights and, although I enjoy these games, one is pretty much the same as another.

A video version of Plinko, the goal is simple, fire a ball through the pegs and hit all the orange ones before you run out of balls. There are power up pegs and a few other minor details, but that's enough to let you know what's going on.

If not Peggle, then, what?

I don't know why this game is so enthralling, but I've never once started it without playing at least an hour of it, it just seems to hit the addiction triggers. I'll go 7/10 because, although I don't know why I like it so much, I know I do.

Super Meat Boy

There is so much to hate in Super Meat Boy so I won't waste time or words: It's a platformer where you need to propel your Meat Boy from one end of the screen to the other to save his girlfriend. I played with a keyboard, which they advise against, but I believe I could have played it with Jesus H Christ himself and found no more enjoyment.

Yeah, that's like level 3 or something, I just don't care.

I don't want to hear the 1990's NES soundtrack, I don't want to see the 1980's style graphics, and, most of all, I don't want to platform. 2/10 for this one, not recommended even on sale.

Frozen Synapse

I don't know about Frozen Synapse, just isn't appealing to me. It's pretty much a puzzler, with some shooting involved, and a fair bit of strategy. While that should appeal to me, it doesn't.

Thats as much as I got done.

I'm not sure if it's the pacing, or the low res graphics, but I couldn't even get through the tutorial on this one. I believe the game is delivering what it's intending, just not in a way I like

3/10, it's got really positive reviews on Steam, but I won't be starting it up again.

Risen

I haven't played as much of Risen as I expected, it started out not too bad, but lost my interest. Although the game is 5 years old I would have put the graphics at about 10 years old, this is not high res within the least, however my real complaint is how chatty this game can get, I am not a fan of video game conversations, I find them lengthy and off-putting and this game is polluted with them.

Despite how little I've actually played I know an amazing amount about the story. The game play is a fairly standard RPG experience, quests are given in a manner that would be considered organic to the narration, and it is good to play an Action RPG, I've seen a number of turn based RPG's lately and I'm pretty well burnt out on those.

While not a bad looking game, there isn't a lot selling it either.

Fights are a bit tricky to get used to, but that's more a symptom of the age of the game, timing the controls is the real issue. I also found I couldn't get it to run on Windows 8.1 natively, I needed to enable compatibility for Windows 7 in order to get the game to even start up, but that's a quick fix.

I'm going to give Risen a 6/10, imminently playable, but nothing to set it apart and make it truly recommendable. It also lost points for the chatty interface, there are much better ways to communicate info than force me into chat dialogue tree's.

Fitness Dash

Fitness Dash is one of those quick time event style casual games, pointing and clicking your way to success, this time in the form of running a gym. Place people on equipment, wait for them to ask for something, like a towel or water, then supply it for them, and, finally clean up everything when they are finished. All actions are simple click on the item deals, the faster you click the better the experience, the better the money, which allows you to put more people through, make more money, and upgrade your equipment/facilities.

You're the perky redhead to the right.

This style of game is not hardcore or complex, but I can get into them when the mood strikes me. Having said that, this one didn't do much for me, I don't know if it was the soundtrack, the gym setting, or my mood was just wrong, but I wasn't feeling anylove.

6/10, it seems to deliver what it set out to and I can't find a fault with it beyond my own preferences, but I still can't truly recommend it.

Lone Survivor

I honestly don't know what to make of Lone Survivor, it seems to want to be some kind of jump horror game, it sure goes out of its way to tell you that you need to have the right environment and computer settings to experience the game, but it doesn't appear to be my cup of tea.

Thats as much as I got from it.

It would also appear to be a narrative driven story, something about a world in collapse filled with monsters you need to avoid, I didn't play enough of it to find out. I think I get what the game is going for, but I'm not onboard for the ride. 3/10, it gets an extra point because I didn't give it much of a chance, but I'm not going to waste anymore time on this one.

AZMD Scorepocalypse

AZMD Scorepocalyse is almost a sequel to All Zombies Must Die; technically it is a sequel, but one that doesn't even try to grow beyond it's roots, but thats not really a bad thing. AZMD takes all the arcadey fun from it's predecessor and just runs with it, the whole, and only real, point is to score high. I'm not usually about scoring points, but when it feels right it just feels right. Jump in, start slaying zombies, and try to live as long as possible.

Who doesn't enjoy Black Friday at the mall?

It boils down to this, if you like All Zombies Must Die, which I did, you'll like this for a while (even I have to admit there is only so much of the same game that can be played at any one time). I gave the original 8/10 so I'll give this the same, 8/10; it lost some points for being the same thing rehashed, but it gained a bit for being a cheap.

Skydrift

I'll say this, Skydrift is a great looking game and seems to have great physics. Problem is, I'm not really into flying games, especially not keyboard controlled flying. It didn't help things that I had to fiddle with the exe to get it running, I had to set the compatibility mode to Windows 7 to get it running.

Essentially, this game is a racer, but with planes instead of cars. Fly through a course, picking up power ups and trying to beat the other players/AI.

oooh, pretty!

I didn't play a lot of the game, it's not my style, so, while I can't see any problems with it, it's not doing anything for me.

4/10, it's likely appealing to a certain crowds, and it seems popular on Steam, but it's not getting my seal of approval.

Edge

Edge didn't start the first time I played it and I should have left it at that experience. This is one puzzler that should have found a solution before I met it.

I think you see where this is going.

The game seems to be an elegant melding of simplicity and intrigue, you use your arrow keys to move a block around a course, grabbing coloured blocks as you go; complete a course and you get a harder one. There is no need to have complex graphics in this style of game play, but that doesn't mean I want to see a pile of giant pixels try to push me off a ledge into an abyss.

4/10, the game seems to be doing what it intended, but I'm not buying tickets for the ride.

Luxor

Luxor is a catch all for 3 different games in my library, Luxor 2, Luxor Amun Rising, and Luxor Quest for the Afterlife.

Luxor 2 wouldn't start because it needed to be run in compatibility mode for Windows 98, Amun Rising couldn't find its exe and recommended my going to Steam support, but Quest for the Afterlife started with no problems and since it doesn't look like I'm missing anything from the first 2 that's the one I played

Luxor in all its glory.

Game is simple enough, a row of balls is slowly creeping toward your pyramid, but you can't let them in. To this end you shoot similar coloured balls to make 3 or more match up, level is cleared when all the balls are gone. You get power ups and the track winds, hiding balls you want to match to make it more difficult.

This is another one my wife has played extensively but I've never tried before. I have to admit I found myself compelled to play more than I expected. I'm going 6/10 on this, the price is a bit high for what you get, but it is a great looking game, and there is definitely some challenge in it

Dustforce

Dustforce appears to be a platformer, I installed it, started, and played through the tutorial; it may be of interest to some people, but not me.

Thats defenitely the game I played.

Low res graphics and hyperactive soundtrack put a real nice layer of shit-icing on this game, not to mention the fact I have no interest in playing a janitor, regardless of whT I'm cleaning up.

Let's give it 3/10, it's got tight mechanics and an upbeat sountrack, but it's not my style within the least. Video game fail!

Cortex Command

So, what can I say about Cortex Command other than I don't like it? Nothing, thats what. It's got kind of a neat concept, you control robot bodies, if one gets destroyed you move to another one and try again, however I don't like how they control, the robot movements are way to jerky and slow, much like a real robot would be if built today; I have to believe that if we've accessed the ability to transfer our conciousness into an external repository, we'd have the means to make said repository better than the original.

Yeah, fuck this game!

I'm giving this 2/10 as it is a neat concept and not bad looking, but it's not fun and, at full price, it's expensive.

Insaniquarium Deluxe

Insaniquarium Deluxe is a great little game, and it doesn't hurt that it's cheap either. You run a fish tank, populating it with fish (duh) and collecting money that they crap out. Bigger fish give better money, but require smaller fish to eat, and you battle of random alien invaders Hell bent on eating your beloved fish, because why the Hell not?

What I just said!

For some reason I thoroughly enjoy this game, I get into the rhythm of keeping the fish fed and grabbing the cash they drop before it dissapears and time just flies away. Don't get me wrong, this is absolutely a casual game, there is nothing hardcore here, but, probably for that reason, I thoroughly enjoy it.

8/10, top marks for anything casual.

Torchlight

I'd tried Torchlight in the past but it didn't really grab me; it grabbed me so little that I forgot I had tried it until I got it started and found a save game already present. I'm glad I gave it that second chance though, it's a good game, not without its flaws, but still very good.

Easiest way to term this would be a Blizzard influenced dungeon crawler; you get your choice of class to play, then push your way through dungeons on quests assigned to you as the game progresses. Along the way you get numerous gear and money drops, keeping what you want and selling the rest. General RPG goodness ensue's, it's just a matter if you want to play a melee or caster class.

A good looking game too.

I really liked was the pet, a dog that fought along side you, utilizing spells of his own, plus, when your bags were full, he could travel back to town for you and vendor the junk. In both look and feel this game is similar to Warcraft, a game I've spent way too many hours on, so I have some authority on the matter. On the downside, I'm not a fan of the mouse 'left click' movement system; it works well enough in this game, but having both target selection and movement mapped to one button never feels precise to me. Having said that, the movement system does keep your left hand free to run through your shortcut menus for all your spells and items, so that's cool.

8/10, I don't know if I can give this highest recommendations as it doesn't have a great deal of variation to the play, and the movement control issue, but it is a very good game all the same. If you get it on sale it'd be well worth the purchase.

Sanctum

I vaguely remember buying Sanctum on sale because I'd heard good things about it, but knew nothing beyond that when I first started it up. I found running it on Windows 8.1 required me to set the compatibility mode to Windows 7, but once that was done the game ran smoothly and cleanly.

Sanctum is a pretty good example of a tower defence game: a sci-fi backdrop, that I paid little attention to, pits you against waves of aliens trying to get through to a power source, leaving you to stop them via defences you build in their way. The towers you build can be equipped with any number of weapons, which are upgradeable using points collected during fights with the aliens, possible after each round when you get a chance to add or upgrade defenses,

Add yor guns, start the level, and watch the bodies pile up, aw yeah!

The graphics are not amazing (the game uses the Unreal engine, and it feels a lot like playing Unreal Tournament 2004), but they do the job required just fine and the mechanics are pretty solid, weapons and defences given seem to be adequate for the job. This is not an easy game to master, but fortunately it's not difficult to play, even if you skipped the tutorial you'd be able to muddle your way through.

I'm going to go 9/10 with this, my first hour in the game slipped past me very quickly (the sign of a good game is unaccounted time, just like being drunk) and, although this does nothing to redefine the genre, it certainly gives a nice addition to it. If you find it cheap, this is definitely worth checking out, if for no other reason than it's the only FPS tower defence I've ever played. Highly recommended.

Steam World Dig

I don't like platformers, but I do like exploration games, so I didn't mind Steam World Dig. Game is like this: you're a robot who inherits his uncles mine (how that works is beyond me, but...) and, now that it's yours, you need to dig for the ore hidden below.

A digging fool!

Thats pretty much the whole game, dig through the ground, avoid animals that will hurt you, try not to fall too far, and come backup to sell your ore. The more ore you sell, the higher your level gets and the better equipment you can buy to dig with. There is a very slight puzzling aspect, given you often need to approach items from the right way in order to get to them, but actually terming this game a "puzzler" would be a large leap.

Despite the platforming aspect I found myself enjoying the game and the price is definitely right at 2.75. This one get a 7/10, not much there, but it's nice looking, well built, more fun than I expected, and cheap.

Nightsky

Nightsky is interesting and I still haven't decided if I like it. A physics puzzler, you drive an orb across darkened landscapes, using the landscape to power across open gaps and triggering puzzle solutions.

It's like a sky at night!

The game has a great pace to it, looks good, for what you can see, and has excellent physics, but I don't think this is the game for me. 5/10, it seems well made and it might be right for someone else, but it's not grabbing me.

Luftrausers

I don't know what the deal with Luftrausers is, I just know I don't want to play this game. It's a kind of physics driven airplane shooter, like if you crossed asteroids with 1941, both gameplay and graphics.

A picture is worth a thousand words, which is many words than I'll be able to say about this.

I don't think I like this game, for many reasons. I dislike the techno sountrack; I despise the "flying" physics, which consist of little more than glorified jumping up and down; and I want nothing to do with the 8-bit graphics.

2/10, seems like a lot of effort was put into this, but it was largely wasted.

Aquaria

Some games are non stop action, lots of enemies, lots of guns, and lots of explosions, we'll call these "good" games, while others are introspective journeys of emotion and color, we'll call these "Not so much with the good" games; Aquaria is not one of the "good" games.

I didn't play a lot of this game, but I did spend half an hour as an underwater nymph, gaily swimming from location to location, taking instructions in an almost poetic rote, and singing the songs of underwater life. To be blunt, I was ready to shoot myself after those 30 minutes.

Underwater singing, the only thing missing from Serious Sam!

This is not an action game, it's a type of fluid platformer. You play a girl, swimming through caves and using a unique song system to interact with the world around you. The physics and controls work well, and it is an astoundingly beautifully rendered environment, but nothing I'm going to spend time in.

This may not be a bad game, but it's not one I'm willing to call good. I'm sure if I spent the time to discover the story promised by it I would appreciate that much, but the game mechanics are not to my taste. 4/10, it's good looking and well built, like a pretty girl with no personality, but, also like that girl, interaction left me with the same satisfaction I would have gotten from screaming at a sheet of paper for the same period of time.

Machinarium

Machinarium is a neat little puzzler, although, as such, tends to be a bit frustrating unless you have a lot of time to commit to it. All in all it seems to be a good game though.

You play a robot capable of interacting with on screen objects within your reach, doing so allows you to solve puzzles that help you progress through the game levels. The basic mechanic is nothing more than a point and click style, but that's not surprising for a mobile port.

The first puzzle is not really that difficult.

I enjoy these style of games and this seems to be a decent example of how to integrate puzzles into a story direction, so I'm treating this as a win. 7/10 for this guy, it's ok, and not horribly difficult, but it's not cheap and I don't find myself driven to play it.

Puzzle Quest

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Puzzle Quest until I re-installed it; essentially Bejeweled crossed with RPG elements, it delivers better than many games do, especially considering the genre lines it crosses.

There is quite a story mixed into this one but I've never actually paid that much attention to it, I've just enjoyed the game aspect. The puzzles are not actually solved so much as played until you meet your goal, that goal being to destroy an enemy: Match orbs/icons to build magic or damage and try to defend yourself from the same.

There it is in all its puzzly questy glory

Enemies are defeated by creating skulls in the grid and matching skulls up in three or more's, with the player and the AI taking turns. Gold and experience are also acquired, allowing you to buy better equipment and upgrade spells, which become very important as you go up in levels. The orbs correspond to mana types required for different spells which dramatically alter the play.

7/10 on this one, it's fun and challenging, but it won't appeal to a broad spectrum of players, a little more in depth than casual gamers want, and not enough going on for hard core games, even RPGers. Still, if the above interests you at all, I would recommend this title above any others I've tried.

Magicka

So, chugging right along through my games, I came across Magicka. All in all this seems like a decent enough game, but I'm not impressed with the control scheme. Having said that, if you manage to find it on sale and need a game to play with friends, this might not be the worst choice you could make.

You play a wizard on the way to saving the world, random encounters and general RPG fun ensue along the way. It would appear this game is designed to be played in groups, but I only judge games by what they do for me.

Pretty game!

The control scheme is mapped out in an interesting way, left clicking your mouse tells your character where to go and fighting is done by selecting magics, which are hot keyed to your standard movement keys, (QWERASDF). This system seems to work ok, but it does take some getting used to, so, if you try it, be prepared for that.

I'm going 6/10 with this guy; I only played through the first level so I don't have a broad perspective yet, and, although I do plan on going back and playing more, I'm not feeling a lot of love for it right now.

Vessel

The first thing Vessel tells you is a controller is recommended, and I couldn't agree more. A puzzle platformer the game has you running through levels sometimes using, and sometimes destroying anthropomorphic blobs of liquid.

Thank god for platforming!

The physics work well and it's a very well detialed game, however, once again, I find myself not wanting to play a platformer, regardless of a controller to help me out. 6/10, the game seems to be doing what it's going for, I just don't want to go along for the ride.

Dungeonland

It's hard to argue with free to play games and Dungeonland is a cool game, looks like it could be a lot of fun, if you have friends, and a controller wouldn't hurt either.

The premise is you're in an amusement park built for heroes, you go through the different 'levels' with a team of heroes, smashing your way through bad guys. The game is bright and colourful, and has a cheery feel to it. As always with free to play, the in game purchases will add up pretty quickly, so take the base game with a grain of salt.

Throwing knives, magicians, and sheep, this game has it all.

The game can be solo played, the game partners you with bots, but it's quite obvious that it's meant for groups of friends. I played through the first level and found myself wanting to do a bit more, but I doubt I will if I can't find anyone to play with. I should also note, I played with a keyboard and mouse, but I think it would have been a better experience with the controller, things just didn't feel right; that's not a complaint, just an observation.

I'm going to go 7/10, although that may be a bit higher than I feel for it, it appears to be a great game for friends.

Duke Nukem Forever

I picked up Duke Nukem Forever on a Steam sale about a year after it was released; I have no idea what I paid for it anymore, but, whatever it was, it was too much. I doubt this is news to anyone who cares.

Here's everything you need to know about this game: I played through the first 3 levels; at the end of the 3rd level the game crashed and my save for it was lost, my only option to continue on was to replay that entire level. I have never gone back and played that level, it is not worth my time or energy, and I have too much of both right now.

Almost didn't include a screen cap because they are all lies, the game is nowhere near as fun as that looks!

2/10, the game tries hard, gets 1 point for being a shooter, and another for nostalgia, but it's a mess of mechanics and, at the end of the day, no one cares about Duke anymore. If this had been released before 2005 it might have been a better game, but 2011 was way to long in development, this is a bad game.

Lugaru HD

So here's the thing: I'm not playing a game where I'm a giant bunny-man, even if it had HD graphics, which Lugaru HD does not.

Pictured: giant bunny man I won't play.

I literally played 5 minutes of this game so I may not be in a great position to rate it, but I am imminently qualified to say what I will play, and this is not it. 2/10, it gets 1 point for being ultra cheap and another for the fact I didn't give it a chance.

Portal

What does one say about Portal that hasn't already been said? I can't think of anything, but I'll say it anyway, if only because of my inherent eloquence.

I wouldn't call this the perfect game, as many do, but it is an excellent game, one of the better ones I've ever played. There is no character backstory to distract you, or much plot whatsoever, you're just trying to escape a computer mastermind Hell bent on seeing you die in an educational exercise. The game is exceptionally well crafted, with both aesthetics and physics and has probably the best puzzles I've ever encountered, complex in analysis, but simple in execution.

There's a Portal...Hey, I get it now!

The use of  a non destructive gun, while not something I generally advocate, is a singular achievement in gaming and masterfully done in Portal. Some people cite the length as being an issue, and true, this is not a long game, but I think it's the right length, it quits before getting boring.

10/10 for this little gem! I got it free as a gift from Steam a few years back, but it's well worth the full price of admission.