And Yet It Moves

Man, do I hate me some platforming and that's all And Yet It Moves is. To be fair, it's a neat little game with a cool art concept that requires you to guide your little paper dude through a paper world, using not just jumping and running, but actually rotating the entire map to meet your ends. I'm a little torn with this one, it's well thought out and fairly unique, something Indie gaming should be rife with, but often falls short on.

Fuck you and your platforming little paper dude

Individual levels are generally not that long and you get unlimited chances to complete each level, each death jumps you back to the last checkpoint (as marked by the semi visible paper dude on the side in the screencap).

I don't think I'm the best judge for this game to be honest, I just can't deal with the jumping and running, Crash Bandicoot burnt the platform out of me in the 90's. I'm giving this a 6/10, the game seems well made and it's got a great style and concept, just not my type.

Atom Zombie Smasher

Atom Zombie Smasher appeared in my library from parts unknown; the possible reasons I bought it are Legion and, therefore, will not be discussed here. I will also say that a game that fails to launch, then requires me to go to their site for an exe download (patch) before it'll start, does not inspire confidence in the impending experience. Having said that, I think I love this game.

The game plays like a boardgame, skipping all the drudgery of setup and waiting for dice rolls. I had no trouble getting into it: you're in control of a mass evacuation during a zombie outbreak using a helicopter and assorted mercenaries. Each level starts with you placing your resources and choosing a landing site for your chopper with a set number of civilians to rescue for success.

The blend of simplicity and complexity is sublime.

Rescue civilians, gain experience, and upgrade your resources for better rescues, that's really it. There are multiple ways to accomplish your goal, and it gets harder as you go on, I'd even say the difficulty curve is pretty steep. Graphics are very light, but that's because the concept doesn't require much to make it work; you don't need slavering bloodthirsty hordes to drive the point home, that would distract from what you're trying to accomplish.

I also enjoy the 1960's art menu style, told in the fashion of a surfer movie, complete with matching, unique, soundtrack; don't ask me why that works, it just does. The vignettes that appear between screens are a bit odd, but well done, I thought they added to the overall experience and set a great tone for the game.

I'm rating this a 9/10 right now. I didn't spend a lot of time with the game before writing this so the "fun" may wear out before long, and I don't believe the strategy style is a win for all people, but it sure looks like there is a lot of replayability with this little gem.

Overlord

It appears Overlord is on sale this weekend, you can get both Overlord 1 and 2, plus the Raising Hell expansion for 4.99 (75% off) so it seems to be a topical game to cover. In short, I'm a big fan of this game. I haven't played Overlord 2 yet so I'll save that for another time, however what is said here will cover Overlord: Raising  Hell as well since it's just an expansion on Overlord.

I originally played this on the 360, but I have played it on the PC as well since then; I actually feel the controls work a little better on the 360, but there is no problem with how they work on the PC. You play an undead boss who controls a small army of demons, Minions actually, and work your way through rebuilding an empire based on controlling the countryside. Complete missions to make your power grow and rebuild your castle (which includes it's own training dungeon for honing your skills and a forge for crafting equipment); decisions throughout the game will influence your "evil index" (my term, not theirs) which decide how your power is boosted. You can join the fight anytime you want, using your own weapons and spells but most times you need to use your minions to at least open the way into a fight

Since this was a spur of the moment review I stole the screenshot from Steam rather than grabbing one of my own.

The minions never stopped entertaining me, wearing random items for armor and just generally being obedient. As you progress you get 4 different types of minions, each with their own abilities, giving the game a bit of a tower defence aspect, some can throw items, but have weak defence, some are more powerful with melee attacks, but are susceptible to thrown attacks, blah, blah, blah, you get the drift; they also have environmental abilities' and weaknesses, like most are unable to go into water, which adds a bit of puzzling to some levels.

Overall I have give this game a 9/10, it's a well balanced game, it's got a great control mechanic, and the plot/story is pretty well written. If there is anything wrong with this game I think that the minions may wear on people a bit; I never stopped loving them, but their incessant chatter and horseplay doesn't have a lot of variation.

Cook Serve Delicious

Cook, Serve, Delicious is a relatively recent addition to my library, I purchased it off the Humble Bundle Store for a very humble price (although the exact value escapes me right now). This one was actually purchased for my wife, but since I received a Steam key along with the DRM free download I activated it on my account after downloading a copy.

This one is listed simply as an Indie game on Steam, but, if I had to classify it, I'd call it a Casual game. You run a restaurant, take orders and prepare the food, it doesn't get much more complicated than that. Along the way you need to do maintenance chores, like wash dishes and take out trash, to name a couple, while keeping up with the orders. Foods have varying degrees of difficulty to prepare and everything is done with the keyboard (the mouse works for much of it as well, but it really just gets in the way)

The gameplay is well done and works efficiently, however it gets repetitive after a short time; making money allows you to buy new foods with different preparation techniques, but it ends up being the same end with different key strokes; the story is almost non-existent, your goal is to increase your restaurant rating and become the top of your field, but, beyond your own need to achieve there is nothing compelling you to play.

I'm rating this one as  6/10, the game is well made and rock solid mechanically but there is so little variety there is nothing to keep you coming back to it. Couple the lackluster gameplay with the almost 10 dollar price tag (at full price) I can't rate it much higher than that.

Alien Shooter

Alien Shooter is an old friend of mine, I first played this bad boy back in 2006, when it was already 3 years old. Today there are 2 sequels and a Zombie Shooter clone, all of which can be bought on Steam as a pack for 14.99. A Top Down Third Person Shooter with little distinction and a great deal of fun, this one comes highly recommended. Being as how there is so little difference between these 4 titles I'll treat them as one entity.

Alien Shooter Survival Mode

I had some trouble playing the first Alien Shooter on Windows 8.1, even setting the compatibility mode to Windows XP didn't help, the game loaded, but the video flashed off and on, however Alien Shooter: Revisited worked perfectly once I set the compatibility mode, and, being that Alien Shooter and Alien Shooter: Revisited are basically the same game, I wasn't worried about getting the first one working.

Zombie Shooter: As Mythbusters has taught us, everything becomes more fun when a Minigun gets added.

The games are very simplistic in story, alien invasion at a secret facility, it's up to you to stop them, blah, blah, blah (even Zombie Shooter is actually an alien shooter). The campaigns are short, you can play through the entire campaign in under an hour, and there is almost no difficulty curve; shoot more aliens, make more money to buy better weapons and ammo, and look for secret areas for extra equipment and money. What I like about the game is, despite the predictability, the game keeps being fun, thanks to an easy and well made interface and an amazing balance that keeps your guns on par with the swarming enemies.

My favorite part of the game has always been the Survival mode, just you against ever increasing waves of aliens, killing them will drop upgrades and ammo, and it keeps going until you get overwhelmed. In a rare treat Alien Shooter: Revisited actually upgraded the survival mode to include a Turret mode. If you can't be kept happy endlessly shooting wave after wave of alien life, using bigger and bigger guns, leaving nothing but greasy smears on the ground then I pity the cold sterile childhood you were subjugated to.

I'm giving this one a 7/10, the fun won't last forever, but there's lots there while it lasts.