Klocki Review

Klocki is a minimalist puzzle game, where you move tiles around trying to fit them in the right place.

Very simple.

Crazy!

The game is very short, ranging from 30 min to 2 hours of gameplay, depending on how puzzle savvy you are. It starts very simple and builds up mechanics to make puzzles harder.

Overall the game is relaxing, offering some challenge with a very inviting price.

Final Score: 7 out of 10.

Fallout 4 Tips & Tricks

After playing over 400 hours of Fallout 4 throughout the last year, what have we learned that is worth sharing? Great question young wastelander, here is a quick and dirt 6 points breakdown:

1) Gather all meat from dead animals, they can be cooked for easy extra XP + CAPS.

2) As soon as you start setting a base, plant Tato, Mutfruit and Corn so you can produce Vegetable Starch, a good source of XP and adhesive.

Gathering saves you CAPS.

3) Pick the "Scavenger" build we provide, very early.

4) Buy every fertilizer shipment (packs of 25+) you come across. You can use it to make tons of XP + CAPS, ammunition and fireworks!

5) Gather valuable junk for minimizing expenses with traders.

6) Try not to buy ammo! Make it due with what you have.

Legendaries Weapons: These are some very strong weapons you can buy from traders. Use at your own discretion, as they might be overpowered and make the game too easy for you:

Overseer's Guardian, .45 ammo (swap for .308 ammo)

Spray n' Pray, .45 ammo

Kiloton Radium Rifle, .45 ammo (Far Harbor DLC)

Big Boy, mini nukes

Junk Collection:

TAG a material.

As you play you will find many "junk" items that can be scrapped for materials. These materials will be used for building settlement or modifying gear. An important point about materials is that every one of them can be bought from merchants across the Commonwealth for fairly high prices, with the very exception of bones that are not available as shipments. You should tag these materials as soon as possible so you can easily gather them:

Ballistic Fiber - Very rare material that you will use to fortify clothing.

Bones - Common material, useful source of XP and Oil.

Circuitry - Rare material for building/modding any kind of electronic.

Nuclear Material - Rare material for building and weapon modding.

Gold - Has limited uses, but light material.

Silver - Has limited uses, but light material. (Just don't grab silver bowls or silver plates.)

This are optional materials, either for being too heavy to efficiently gather or just cheap enough to buy from traders:

Acid - Common and cheap, used with bones to make oil. (Sold only in Bunker Hill.)

Crystal - Rare and heavy material for weapon modding.

Fiber Optics - Rare and heavy material for building/modding.

Oil - Common, used for crafting explosives (and XP), but very heavy components. It can also be crafted with acid and bones.

Screw - Common, cheap and heavy material, used often for building/modding.

The Scavenger Build:

Highlighted container.

With 70 perks to choose from, how to prioritize? How to even start? Here are 5 Perks that we consider very important to get most out of the game and we strongly recommend you should acquire them in this order, as soon as possible (which is, from level 1 to 5):

Locksmith (Perception 4) will allow you to pick most locks in the game (and there are a lot of them!).

Fortune Finder (Luck 1) allows you to find CAPS in almost every container in the game.

Scrounger (Luck 2) allows you to find ammunition in almost every container in the game.

Hacker (Intelligence 4) allows you to hack computers.

Scrapper 2 (Intelligence 5 and Lv 23) will allow you to see tagged items without opening the container window. Gold and Silver are commonly found in safes, which combos really well with this perk, highlighting those safes for you.

Therefore we recommend starting your character with 4 points in Perception, 4 points in Intelligence, and 2 points in Luck. You will still have 30 points left to personalize your character.

7) Extra: Settlement Management.

Stores + Brahmins.

Build Stores: As soon as possible you want to be building stores to provide you CAPS every day, in every settlement (capped at 50 CAPS a day, per settlement). It might sound little, but days come and go, by the time you actually reach an unfrequented settlement you will have thousands of CAPS waiting for you.

Get 3 Brahmins: You will also want to have 3 Brahmins (use cages, from Wastelander Workshop DLC) in every settlement. They will produce a constant income of fertilizer. You can have more than 3, but the productions is capped at 3 per day.

Remember, we like money, we like looting and we are active settlement builders. But we also want to be efficient without using exploits or spending too much time micro-managing our inventory. This are our suggestions based on this play style, take what works for you and have fun!

Fallout 4 Nuka-World DLC Review

Fallout 4 Nuka-World is the last DLC for the game in which a new location, an amusement Nuka-Cola thematic park, as the starting point of what can be an evil take over of the Commonwealth!

New Nuka-Cola flavors.

With the DLC comes a lot of new armors, some super cool hair dyes and a variety of facial paints. What really stands out though is that now you have a plethora of Nuka-Cola recipes that will take this loved drink to the next level.

You will also find three new raider factions fighting for control over the park. Once you settle who is the boss and who gets what, you can expand your raider control through the Commonwealth. Beware though: Conquering even one Commonwealth Settlement as a raider will make you an enemy of the Minutemen!

Loot chest.

Transforming a settlement in a raider location gives you new structures related to raiders, but unfortunately you get locked out of all the previous settlement building structures. Which is a serious downside considering the diversity of structures. A raider settlement work similarly to a regular one, but there are many differences to be considered that goes beyond the scope of this review. One of the main points though, is that Raider Settlements deposit CAPS directly into your Nuka-World chest, which is a convenient way to have a constant income if you have not invested much energy into settlement building.

Overall Nuka-World is focused on giving you the possibility of going back and being truly evil. The park is a great new location with plenty to explore, "new" creatures to kill and even more gear to play wardrobe. As a big fan of Nuka-Cola, it was a pleasure to end this long journey in such a happy and joyful place.

Here is a Developer Walkthrough of the DLC:

Pro Tip: You can play without worries until you complete the quest "The Grand Tour", after which you have to decide the fate of the Commonwealth, again.

Fallout 4 Vault-Tec Workshop DLC Review

Fallout 4 Vault-Tec DLC is a major update to settlement building, allowing you to build your own vault in a new underground location by completing a very short questline.

Vault 88 entrance.

You are required to first complete a short quest before having access to most objects and structures available. Unfortunately the structure pieces are very finicky and don't really snap to structures outside vault-tec theme. However many furniture objects received clean versions that can be used just fine anywhere.

Special mention to the Vault-Tec Population Management System, a great addition to anyone spending their time with settlements, making finding and assigning settlers fast and very easy. Unfortunately dweller experiments are limited to the quest line, so you are not really allowed to run experiments with your dwellers, despite the trailer making it very credible. Another downside is that the new Vault 88 area is considered an indoor location, therefore you can not build cages from Wasteland workshop.

Despite this limitations we believe this DLC is a good addition to anyone that enjoy building settlements. For an overview of the additions, check this showcase by FluffyNinjaLlama:

And this Developer Walkthrough of the DLC:

Important note: Whichever option you choose for the experiment prototypes during the quest is the ONLY choice you will have after the quest is complete. Console commands can change that, but because they all share the same global variables, each machine type will share the chosen option, does not matter how many of them you build.

Fallout 4 Contraptions Workshop DLC Review

Fallout 4 Contraptions DLC is the second upgrade to settlements. The content is heavily focused on displays, with added structures based on warehouses, manufacturing and some other miscellaneous, like fireworks!

Display racks are provided for weapons, armors and power armors! Posters and signs that light up to make your settlement even more shiny, and fireworks to light up the night! Conduits are a nice addition for those that dredge hanging cables and wires all around. But what takes the gold in this upgrade is the manufacturing machines and logic gates.

Simple manufacturing system.

Logic gates are these little contraptions that transmit power based on inputs, so now you can configure your own circuits for anything you can imagine. Do I hear anyone saying "lights show with background music and fireworks"?? We are still putting ours together... Unfortunately the manufacturing part of the DLC is lacking a bit: Component Sorter only sorts Junk, not weapons or apparel, the Item Sorter is incapable of differentiating a basic pistol from a fully modded pistol, and the Ammo Builder can not craft half of the ammunition types in the game. But thanks to how Bethesda support the modding community, you can find multiple mods that build on this DLC to provide a very robust manufacturing experience.

Again, this is a well worth addition to anyone that enjoys that settlement aspect of the game. If you would like to see every item in the expansion, check out this great showcase made by FluffyNinjaLlama:

And this Developer Walkthrough:

Fallout 4 Far Harbor DLC Review

Fallout 4 Far Harbor DLC is a major update with a completely new location, dangerous new creatures, new legendary weapons/armors prefixes, a new questline for you to tackle and a minor settlement update.

Far Harbor morning fog.

The beautiful island of Far Harbor is a location of size similar to a major zone of the Commonwealth, but extra packed with stuff and enemies. Home to Vim, a strong competitor of Nuka Cola, a dangerous fog and three distinct factions fighting for survival you will have no shortage of people to help and places to explore.

Any decision you made regarding the fate of the Commonwealth in the base game can have little effect in this island, if you choose so. Which allows you to enjoy this content at any opportune moment (you do have to complete the early quest Getting a Clue). The settlement update is limited to a few new structures themed after barns.

Hermit Crabs!!

Maybe due to the scope of this map compared to the base game, this update shines on the consequences of your choices and how your behavior influences the outcome, and the future, of the island. You also get four new settlement locations, one new companion and some of the best sarcastic lines of the game!

Pro Tip 1: Bring Nick Valentine.

Pro Tip 2: You can safely complete all side quests from all factions without having to pick a side. That will come at the end of the quest Best Left Forgotten, after which some quests might not be available.

PS: Bethesda did not produce a Developer Walkthrough for this DLC.

Fallout 4 Wasteland Workshop DLC Review

Fallout 4 Wasteland Workshop DLC is an upgrade to settlements in the game. Most additions comes from structures concrete themed, but there are several useful additions and new mechanics worth mentioning:

Indoor robot farm!

Garden Plot: A small piece of dirt that allows you to expand and customize farmable land with up to four plant spots, allowing you to move crops into specific areas or even plant where it was not possible before. This goes very, very handy for anyone experienced with farming!

Cages: This new structure allows to capture wild NPC's, both creatures and humans alike! This makes for very interesting possibilities, and even the creation of personalized dungeons!

Arena Contestant: The arena platform ties directly with the cage mechanic in order to create death matches. Once you ring the starting bell contestants in red/blue team will start fighting! Make sure you build sits for everyone, because things will get juicy.

Neon: To make shiny welcoming (or not...) sentences.

Water Pump: Remember that area that had no water for a purifier system? Worry no more, with this equipment you can use electricity to pump water from underground! No more dozens of manual water pumps all around.
Decontamination Arc: Stop spending endless money with those radaway and doctor appointments! Build one of this beauties and you will have free, on demand, radiation treatment.

We believe this DLC to be well worth for anyone that enjoy settlements. The garden plots, lettering and cages are by far our most used structures in every settlement. If you would like to see every item in the expansion, check out this great showcase made by FluffyNinjaLlama:

And this Developer Walkthrough of the DLC:

Fallout 4 Automatron DLC Review

Fallout 4 Automatron DLC is a minor update that adds a short quest line to deal with a new threat to the Commonwealth as well as a new mechanic to build your own robots.

Our 2 first robot settlers.

Building robots is straight forward, you create the Robot Workbench in one of your settlements and from there you will have six options to customize a new robot. You will pick between head, torso, arms (both right and left), legs, voice and paint. After building a robot you can assign it as your new companion or send it to one of your settlements, where it will work as any settler, except it does not need a bed, food or water. And since they are robots you can build an infinite amount of them as long as you have the resources (mostly aluminum, adhesive, ceramic, circuitry, steel and rubber). That also means that you can go over the settler limit of 10 + Charisma anytime, as building a new robot in the settlement do not depend on charisma. They are robots after all!

At this point (game version 1.8.7.0) they can be assigned to stores and will generate CAPS, but you will not be able to buy or sell items from them, as they will not give you the proper dialog option.


Here is a Developer Walkthrough of the DLC:

Fallout 4 Survival Guide Book Review

Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide is a hard cover compilation of a lot of information from the game. It provides little details into the mechanics of the game, but the maps make this whole thing worthy.

The first part of the book is just an overview with minor details of how the game works. Every quest is listed and most have additional information regarding consequences or alternative resolutions. Nothing exceptional and, honestly, you can find better information in the wikia.

The second part is where the real loot is. Maps upon maps of every location in the game! Each primary point (places that get marked in game as a fast-travel location) have detailed maps with loot locations. This, right here, is what is going to allow you to explore and enjoy every single cranny of Fallout 4 world. And you will not find this information anywhere else, much less with equal quality.

You also get a digital version through Prima Games website, unfortunately there is minimal update regarding DLC's. Very unfortunate as those detailed maps would be a great addition for exploring Far Harbor and Nuka-World maps.

One huge problem with this book is how thin its paper is. Through regular handling you will be ripping pages and corners. There are also some minor mistakes here and there, like a loot crate amiss. Overall the book is very well written, sharply printed, with the addition of typical Fallout sense of humor whenever possible. We wish the paper quality would be superior, but it is well worth its price. You can always buy a "safe" copy for your vault.

Fallout 4 Review

Fallout 4 is an open world first person shooter (or third) RPG game in a post nuclear apocalyptic wasteland in which your goal is to find your kidnapped son. That is a lot to digest, let's go through it again: In order to find your son, you will shoot a lot of things from a first/third person perspective while role-playing your way through a land ravaged by nuclear war, and with no physical barriers to stop you from moving around the virtual world as you please.

Power Armor.

Fat Man mini-nuke explosion.

You will be shooting, a lot, during this game. Shooting itself is nothing new, but the VATS System is a signature of the game. This system allows you to target and cripple specific areas of the body in a limited slow motion way. Cripple your enemies legs and he will not run after you. In order for you to achieve this insane amount of damage, access to a wide array of weapons and gear is provided, like the Fallout signatures Fat Man and Power Armor. A "bazuca" that shoots mini nuclear warheads and a full body armored suit that will make you an almost invincible soldier, respectively. On top of that you will have access to a wide list of modifications for every single piece of gear, even rare legendary effects that only the strongest of enemies will carry. Found a pistol but wanted a sniper rifle? No problem, just add a scope! Don't have the appropriate bullet type? Why not just change the barrel of your gun then. Adaptation is key to survival! Speaking of survival, all this "surviving" will quickly make you an experienced wanderer and with your new acquired knowledge comes new powers.

Intimidated raider.

The progression system is simple but effective, each new level gives a point that you can use to further customize your character build. Sneaky type? Melee oriented? Guns blazing all the way? Or maybe you rather talk your way out of a pinch? Vault-Tec got you covered! This is where you will strengthen your role and character. Unfortunately there are just a couple of perks that are more than status bonuses and open new mechanics, like placing live grenades into peoples pants or using charisma to intimidate creatures to surrender. Most gameplay changes will come from unlocking a pre-requisite in order to build a weapon, gear or structural modification.

Assigning NPC's to settlement farming.

Which brings us to our next point, the Settlement System. You will be able to scavenge resources from the wasteland for their materials, mostly junk/trash items, but weapons and gear can also be scavenged with the appropriate perk. With such materials you will build a gigantic array of structures where you can have NPC's (non-playable character) come, live and work for you. Basically you can build your own town/HQ/base/city/village/castle/you name it! It is only limited by your imagination and how much your computer can handle. You will have to provide your slav.... citizens with food, water and protection. Because with all those goodies laying around, you are sure to get some unwanted visitors looking for a violent appropriation of goods.

Wasteland trading.

And to chain everything together in a tight loop, we have the currency system. Every weapon, armor, junk or material has a value measured in CAPS (the currency of the wasteland). With money you can buy more ammo, better gear or even materials to improve settlements and gear. One way or another you will be using that money for your survival, and surviving the wasteland most likely means surviving its dangers, which means getting more experience. The more experience you get, the higher your level, more loot you drop, more money you make and so on. The world might have ended, but the grind... The grind never changes.

One great aspect  that really makes this world feel real are the companion NPC's. Each companion that travels with you have unique lines and interaction possibilities that still surprise us every time! Check a spoiler free sample of it here. All this happening in a gigantic world, full of danger, adventure, opportunities, unexpected plot twists and some bugs. But to shave those bugs off (and we don't mean the radioactive kind of bugs) you will have a vast, and we mean a vast option of fan made modifications that you can browse, download and install straight from the game launcher. The potential is infinite, the only limit is time to enjoy it all.

Final Score: 10 out of 10.

Enhanced Review Intro

This month is going to be exceptional!

We will be doing our regular game review, but given the size, depth of content and how much we like the franchise, we decided to do some extra posts. Each one of the six Downloadable Content (DLC) will get their own review, as they add something new that is worth mentioning. Then we will dedicate a whole post with some tricks and tips we scrapped together while playing the game. This will help you reduce, if not completely eliminate, the time you spend micro-managing inventory, storage and other things.

In addition to that we will also make our first physical product review! Because we believe this one item in particular really helps that explorer in you.

It will be a long month, full of juicy stuff, so stay tuned to our Steam Community to not miss it all! (Or just subscribe to our blog.)

Planet Diver Review

Planet Diver is a "bottom" scroller game in which you have to dodge and evade obstacles as long as you can, while diving in space at super speed and collecting precious starstuff (in-game currency). Not as easy as it sounds, but not as hard either.

The gameplay is very simple, you are at constant dive (moving down through the screen) and you can move to the left and right to avoid obstacles. You can also "go up" to evade and slow down, or boost down and go even faster! The game has four diving speeds, this allows the player to determine risk/reward ratio based on their own skill. Be ready for a challenge, as the higher speeds will demand ninja reflexes to keep up!

Tropical dive with rainbows, do we get unicorns?

Power Modifications.

Progression happens in two ways. The first is going through the 75 chapters of the story and facing different kinds of challenges, from plain survival to very specific challenges, like not killing a bat during your dive. The second method of progression attaches directly to the currency system. As you play the game you collect starstuff, the currency of this intergalactic universe. With it you can buy modifications to your powers, new suits and extra music. This will allow you to further customize your character to different play styles.

We had a little trouble reading some stuff, as the font size is kind of small in some interfaces, but nothing major. If this game sounds a lot like an arcade, do not be surprised to find an infinite customizable Arcade Mode in it! Compete for digital fame and prestige with your friends or even globally with the official leaderboards! On top of it we have great soundtrack, some very cheesy but adorable dialog and a super badass mode for the hard to get through spots!

Final Score: 8 out of 10.

PS: The default Steam Controller was kind of clumsy, so we published our own customized setup under Planet Diver (MekEye 1.0v). This setup uses the controller grippers to move left/right, and triggers for up/down, making full use of your natural reflexes! Try it out.

PS2: There is a bug with the Loki boss (game version 1.1) where he goes out of the screen and never shows up again. If it happens to you, just restart the stage and make sure you do not reach the top of the screen while facing him.

Crypt of the NecroDancer Review

Crypt of the NecroDancer is a roguelike game in which your goal is to find the answers to your family mysteries. This game is all about music, rhythm and is sure to make you shake your bones while playing!

Just like the theme, the gameplay is all about movement. You can move in four directions, and that is it! But do not let this simplicity prevent you from seeing further, you have to move and fight your enemies at the beat of the music. So, despite being simple, which is great for newcomers, it offers a lot of challenge! Actually, gets to a point that is so challenging that we could not finish the game with the last character... Too hard for us. T_T 

The progression is straight forward, as you complete each zone you get to know more about the mystery surrounding Cadence's family. You also get diamonds as you play the game, this diamonds can be used to buy temporary and permanent upgrades, as well as to increase the loot tables on chests you find during your adventures.

Crypt of the NecroDancer is a unique game, with a very creative setup, that masterly uses the whole music theme to make an experience that is so captivating that is sure get the party started, literally! On top of the great soundtrack you have wonderful 8-bit characters, a well done voice-over and procedurally generated dungeons, for that extra replayability!

Final Score: 10 out of 10.

Magicka 2 Review

Magicka 2 is an adventure game where you have to find and protect the chosen child from imminent danger. With a unique conjure and cast spell combination system, you will strike fear at anyone in your way, even if they are your friends...

Casting magic.

Conjuring magic.

Gameplay is very "simple", you have eight magic elements to conjure: water, life, shield, ice, thunder, death, earth and fire. You can conjure them in any order to a maximum of five, and then your choice of four different ways to cast it: on yourself, in area around you, in front of you or in your sword. After you make your choice, disintegrate your enemies promptly. That is all... Oh, one more thing, depending on the combination of elements, you will get different effects, and this is where the "" of our "simple" comes from. To help a bit you can also have up to four  fast  access Magickas, which are pre-determined combinations that have special powerful effects. You can totally throw them on your own if you remember their conjuring sequence, but some are quite a handful when you are running for your life. Worry not though, as this confusion will only add to the chaotic, fast paced fun that this game is! And that would be the key word about the gameplay of this game, entertainingly chaotic.

Artifacts.

The progression is very straight forward, you go through the short story defeating the challenges and earning new weapons, robes and artifacts. Some are hidden, so the game tells you if you missed something. Weapons and robes will both change your appearance and how strong/weak an element is. While most artifacts have similar effects (by strengthening or weakening an element), there are some that will do subtle changes, like transforming your game into a comedy show. They are only usable by making a custom game, which took us a while to figure out, so remember this if you get an interesting artifact after a chapter. Although it is a cheap trick to increase replayability, bare in mind that they can help you get through a difficult spot if you boost some elements, or make the game extra, extra challenging if you so desire.

The game is definitely best played in local "co-op", as the fast paced action is great for a couch session with friends, but the game is perfectly enjoyable as a single-player experience. If you play online with friends make sure to use voice chat all the way, you want to hear those screams! The whole game is designed around a chaotic satirical feeling, making fun of many popular references beyond games. Topped with some hilarious voice over, simple but polished graphics, and amazing spell effects, this game has its flaws, but it will entertain anyone with a sense of humor. Damn, killing your friends over and over is pretty much already entertaining enough! MUAHUAHUAHUA...

Final Score: 10 out of 10.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Blacklist Review

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Blacklist is a third person stealth and shooter game in which your goal is to stop the attacks of an organization called The Engineers. The night vision sonar googles, pipes to hang from and Mark and Execute power are signatures for this game and will sure make you feel like a true special trained agent.

Sneaky routes are always an option.

Sonar + Thermal Goggles.

The gameplay is very characteristic of most stealth games, you have to use cover, shadows and other obstacles for camouflage or subterfuge while keeping an eye on your enemies field of view. After all, your goal is to reaming unseen. You can shoot lights to make new dark paths, attract enemies to specific locations, climb walls, windows and pipes. But when the sneaky arts fails you, and firepower is needed, you will count with an arsenal of different weapons and gadgets to your survival, all very characteristic of any shooter game. What makes Splinter Cell Blacklist very distinct is a very special ability that gives you a capital "S" for special agent, an ability called Mark and Execute. Whenever your "power bar" is filled you can mark three different targets and skilfully put them down with whatever weapon you are current using. All in a very special slow motion cinematographic sequence.

How much was that again?

The progression system is done in a very peculiar way. From the very start you can see all weapons and upgrades available, but in order to use them you have to buy such equipment. Each mission you complete will give you cash based on your mission score, which is based on your performance. We like to think of it as government funding for a well done operation. Although generous six figures amounts are common (and they could have most certainly used digit group separators) you will quickly realize that you will finish the game before even getting a full high-end gear set. Unless you keep repeating missions, in which case you are fine, as every mission can be repeated endlessly and will always give you more cash.

Where are the real challenges?

The tutorial and user interface could also have used some more iteration, as everything is accessible from the start, it is overwhelmingly confusing what everything means. The manual pages were incomplete and far from much help, we ended up just figuring out as we played. It is not that hard after all, just confusing, so we recommend that you access everything through your start menu, instead of going around speaking with NPC's. The challenges are badly balanced and rewarded, as a stealth game expecting you to kill 500 enemies with a pistol and award you 30.000 moneys that barely buys you anything is more of a chore than a challenge, and it also does not provide any incentives to try different play styles or strategies. There is also a bug with the cover system that sometimes you are in cover but when you aim your character will just aim at the cover/wall, not really a top agent skill, but nothing that standing up and breaking your stealth will not solve.

Now that's more like Special Agent Skills!

We also got very, very disappointed when we finished the last mission and the ending cinematic was locked due a UI bug, this should have not made to the final game and definitely should have been patched. If it happens do you, do not pull your hairs out, the game saves when the score comes up. Just watch the ending on youtube and go back to the shadows. Despite falling short for some aspects of game composition, the mechanics of Splinter Cell Blacklist are very well done, topped with great hand-to-hand animation and a plot that will keep you to be on your toes.

Final Score: 8 out of 10.

Half-Life 2 Review

Half-Life 2 is a First Person Shooter game in which your goal is to help the resistance fight off the controlling forces that took over the world after the events of Half-Life 1. Just like the first game, Half-Life 2 has excelled to a point where its place in history is set to stone as one of the best games ever made.

Moving can be challenging when done right!

The gameplay mechanic is very simple and no different from the first game. You control your character around the world and have to eliminate the challenges by shooting at them and solving puzzles. Nothing extraordinarily original, but just like the first game, what lies underneath is nothing short from greatness. What really makes this game shine is how every challenge is created around the use of one or more mechanic, be it a weapon, movement or just interaction with the environment. And every subsequent challenge or puzzle will gradually increase in complexity and difficulty. When you get to feel comfortable with one mechanic the game will throw something new at you. In particular the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator (also know as Gravity Gun) play a big role, but that is just because it is not your regular shooting weapon, which opens a lot of possibilities that were very well used.

Half-Life 2 takes everything that worked well in the first game and makes it better. Sound, voice over, scripted events, plot, graphics, you name it... Well, not the User Interface, that one had little improvement. Despite this minor set back Valve managed to intertwine all mechanics so well together that most games still have not figured out how to reproduce their successful formula. Although  being just a shooter game, Half-Life 2 manages to be much more than just a shooter game.

Final Score: 10 out of 10.

Crown and Council Review

Crown and Council is a turn based strategy game where your goal is to defeat all enemies in the board/world. Very casual, simple and quite relaxing, this game reminds us of table top board games.

14 Gold to spend, things are going well.

The gameplay is simple, during your turn you can attack and build. Each action requires gold, each conquered space gives +1 gold per turn by default. The more spaces you own, the stronger your turn is. You can attack adjacent or remote locations, if the target is fortified you might have to attack multiple times in order to conquer it. You can build fortification in a owned location or two kinds of resource producing buildings: Villages that will increase earnings in +1 gold per turn, or universities that will allow you to upgrade your actions to become more efficient.

Unfortunately this upgrade mechanic is a good idea but not quite balanced, as it is the most expensive building, takes many turns to pay off and the effectiveness is neglectable compared to increasing your gold per turn. As you can see in the image above, conquering 6 locations to receive +6 gold the next turn at the same time we are denying those locations of our enemies is a much more competitive strategy. There is also stuff that you can do but have to use the "secret debug mode", like accessing the local multiplayer, which makes the game feel unpolished. Check an online guide and you should be fine.

Map generation underway.

Despite this problems, everything else is in the right place. There are random events that might make you loose a building or even a location, but they won't save you from defeat or give you the victory. All maps are randomly generated so you can play as many times as you desire.

Overall is an interesting game that can be entertaining for couple hours before you start beating the AI every match. There is plenty of room for improvement, like proper menu, instructions, match customization options and even an online multiplayer would be great. But given it is a free game we would recommend trying it out as an exercise that even the simplest mechanic can be enjoyable.

Final Score: 7 out of 10.

Goat Simulator Review

Goat Simulator is a third person simulation game where your goal is to embody a goat and wreck havoc all around. It is a very simple game that comes packed with humor and references, which sets the tone for the whole experience. The launch trailer itself was a parody from the Dead Island trailer, a zombie shooter game that has absolutely nothing to do with goats.

Try licking a moving car.

The gameplay mechanic is straight forward, you can walk around, jump, headbutt/kick, scream and lick. Licking is what really glues everything together. Your goat tongue has such magical properties that anything that you lick will be instantly glued to it. Since physics play an important role in the game (after all, it is a simulator), if you lick a moving object you will remember very quickly the meaning of inertia! This also doubles as a funny factor, when you have no control what so ever of your goat and it just goes around destroying things in its path.

DJ flying by!

Throughout your exploration and adventuring you will find peculiar objects that will "enhance" your goat skills somehow. They are called Mutators, and each one gives you some special ability. You can summon goats from thin air, you can have a powerful dragon shout, you can play music, just to mention some of our favorites. If you know where to find or how to acquire theses special powers, you can combine them however you want... Be ready for some crazy combinations!

Despite it simplicity Goat Simulator can offer hours of fun and entertainment. The whole game is made out of a parody of games themselves, but there is no need to have ever played any game to have fun with Goat Simulator. There is also a 4 player co-op option, which increases even more of the amount of silly and hilarious combinations the players can come up with. Definitely a game that you have friends over to laugh uncontrollably for no other reason than just watching a goat do stuff.

Final Score: 8 out of 10.

As an extra, we would like to leave the DLC teaser trailer, as we believe it represents a good measure of the kind of humor the game focus on:

Tom Clancy's The Division Review

The Division is a third person cover shooter game, because unlike your regular "walking Rambo shooter", if you are not under cover, you will be dead in a second. What makes this game unique is that Ubisoft tried to mix some "RPG" elements, like skill trees, character attributes, weapon bonuses and control conditions into the game. We like to see it as a mix of Gears of War, Diablo and Borderlands blended together.

Gear bonuses

As any shooter game, this one has an immense arsenal at your disposal, each weapon having their own characteristics, so we definitely recommend trying them all out. But most importantly is the bonuses they carry. As we mentioned this game is heavily weighted on loot, which means that when you get to drop/craft that one weapon you were looking for, chances of it having the matching bonuses for your build are very, very low. They do allow you to re-roll one of them, but just one. It would be really nice to be able to

Incendiary grenade

have two equal weapons and transfer a bonus from one to the other, since loot is individual and there is no way to trade items, you still would have to farm your equipment. An important additional tool of your arsenal are grenades. They are a reliable source to disable your opponent. Flashbang will blind, incendiary grenade will burn and so on, all of them stunning your opponent for a couple seconds.

White line shows cover pathfinding.

The second most important mechanic is finding cover. Enemies do an enormous amount of damage, so you will always be looking for a way to protect yourself until the right moment to come out and shoot. To make things more exciting you can even aim for a specific cover and the game will pathfind a route to it. Interesting additional mechanic is if an enemy is peaking at you through cover and you hit a bullet right in front of him (in the cover itself, like the wall or barricade), the smoke and fragments will blind him for a couple seconds, giving you just enough time to reposition yourself or close in for the kill.

Inventory and Character Attributes

Finally we have character attributes, skills, talents and perks. Character attributes are simple, you have just three: Firearms (your damage), Stamina (your health) and Electronics (your skill power). All your gear will enhance at least one of this, and you can combine them as you see fit. There are 9 skills and 3 "super powers", you can have 2 skills + 1 "super power" equipped at the same time. Each skill has 3 modifications that will change it in some way, and we recommend exploring each one at least once. Perks are simple passive buffs and talents are somewhat "active" buffs. More precisely a talent has certain conditions (like getting to cover or shooting your enemy on the head), if you meet the condition you will receive the talents buff for a short time.

Dying in the Dark Zone

Last, but not least, we have to briefly talk about the Dark Zone, the end-game area of the map where the game becomes truly multiplayer with extra hardened enemies and the best gear in the game. The Dark Zone has exclusive mechanics that we could spend a whole post writing about, so in short: The Dark Zone has it's own ranking system, currency and contaminated loot that needs to be extracted in specific locations before you can use it. That is where the player killers will hunt you and try to steal your hard earned loot. Respawning, looting and specially killing other players is something that definitely could have used some more development iteration, as there is barely enough time to come back and get your loot and revenge. Which is the best part of this whole system.


We also feel that this mix of on-line/off-line didn't quite work the best. The world doesn't really feel as multiplayer as a single-player game with friends, despite being clearly focused on multiplayer. But if you are in for the single-player only you will be missing a good portion of the end-game. Overall The Division has a well paced experience with a reasonable balanced shooting/cover system. A positive point to the great environment artists that gave life to a very realistic trashed looking New York City.

Final Score: 8 out of 10.