The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Review

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Genre: RPG
Developer: Nihon Falcom
Publisher: XSEED Games, Marvelous USA, Inc.    
Release Date: Aug 2, 2017
Price: $39.99 as of August 6th, 2017
(Information gathered from STEAM)

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Aside from about 15 hours of Final Fantasy X on the PS2 and a little bit of time in Fire Emblem, I believe this is the first in-depth JRPG I've touched. It certainly was not something I was expecting to get, but I'm honestly glad I did. I view writing articles for The Gamers Lounge as a way to expand my gaming palette, and this is no exception. This game has a lot of interesting moments and engaging game play. Even so, there are a lot of eye rolling moments, if you've seen my Twitch Stream. Mainly, if you've ever seen an anime, this uses those tropes. So many stereotypes. Just.... yeesh. Presumably they understand that fact, as it is frequently lamp-shaded by the main character. To be clear, this game is a port to the PC. Originally released on the PS3 and PS Vita in 2015 (here in the US anyways), this PC version came out on just August 2nd. There have been many improvements over the original version, and is worth checking out even if you played the originals.

As an example, this release clearly had some graphical updates, and they are amazing. Everything is clear and sharp, and is vibrant enough to clearly interpret which enemies are in the distance. It genuinely felt like I was controlling an anime, and I don't mean one where they outsource the animation to be done by some cut-rate animation studio. There is subtle variation in styles between characters versus static-objects in the game, where the characters themselves tend to pop a lot more than the surrounding background.

Speaking of the background, the music was decently composed. It fills in the silence and provides a little atmosphere. It blends in with the environment as to enhance the experience, rather than detract. However, there are times when the music really enters the main stage. Bosses are a good example of this. The music gives the more important sequences a flourish that helps captivate the attention.

Those moments help transition between cutscenes and game play as well. They use the same style and rendering as the game, so the music is a minute addition that pairs well the the removal of the UI for those instances. Personally, I almost always dislike when games switch from game fidelity to some previously rendered, high-fidelity movie for those moments. This game keeps everything visually connected, so you can remain attached to the story even as you momentarily lose control.

The small configuration window

In addition to the attention given to those cinematic cutscenes, the controls themselves where given proper treatment. Every time you boot the game, you get this small settings menu. This is cool, because you can set your input scheme every time. Most of the time you just boot straight to game, but simply having the easy option to customize every time is refreshing. This same menu also lets the user set a bunch of graphical settings and language settings, so you can change to lower graphical settings to stream or record as needed, or if you have other tasks running in the background and don't have the resources.

I'm sure you want to hear about the actual mechanics now, right? Trails of Cold Steel has a lot going on, and I only have so much space, so I'm going to have to truncate a lot of the information. If you want to see more, you can watch my recording I linked in the first paragraph or view the trailer linked at the bottom of this article. However, I'll do my best.

The game play is divided into two distinct sections: Orienteering (as the game puts it) and Student Life. Orienteering is the dungeon diving and combat aspects. You kill the monsters, you fight the boss, you get the loot and experience. You can use the loot to improve your combat or improve your social life (like items used for cooking). Over the course of combat, you gain experience to gain levels which affect attribute points. Basic things like speed, attack power, defense, etc. There is also the regular inventory management from items you can loot and buy. One of the more interesting mechanics, in my opinion is the tactics screen. It lets you position your team so you can start each normal battle in a way that lets you maximize your first-turn moves, as well as shield your frail casters. It also defines Links. Links are combat synergies between two squad-mates so that they can aid each other during the action.

As I mentioned, the other half is Student Life. During the time between major combat sessions, you will be running errands for the student council, doing class assignments, and maintaining your social life as a student. This gives many different quests with varying rewards. Most just advance the story, but some give you better items or other great perks. There is also fishing, which is a minigame that, over time, allows you to trade in points earned for rewards. There’s cooking, which lets you combine ingredients to create food that has a random chance to drop rarer versions of the dish. You can use these in battle to cure status ailments, or to heal characters, or more. Finally, there is working on your relationships with the other members of Class VII. These are done through daytime tasks, or done through the single (more effective) evening event. Not every person can be interacted with, so it matters who you choose the people correctly.

Overall, I feel that this game is a great RPG. It takes a lot of smaller facets are combines them in a way that lets you invest as much, or as little, to get the story as you like. There is the ability to speed up the game as well, which makes running to areas take a lot shorter time. I genuinely enjoy this game, and will be spending a lot more time on it.

If you like RPGs, and liked the original on PS3 or Vita, then you’ll enjoy this port to the PC. According to Steam, there are more voice lines and a little more content for this, which will help give a little more depth if you return after getting it again. Either way, I highly recommend buying this game to add to your collection, or converting to digital from an old copy. 

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is now available for Windows PC on Steam, GOG, and the Humble Store by Humble Bundle! Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/538680/The_Legend_of_Heroes_Trails_of_Cold_Steel/ GOG: https://www.gog.com/game/legend_of_heroes_trails_of_cold_steel_the Humble: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/the-legend-of-heroes-trails-of-cold-steel?hmb_source=search_bar Among the nations on the Zemurian continent, the mighty Erebonian Empire has been quick to stake its claim militarily; yet politically, ugly bouts of internal conflict between the upper class and commoners struggling to rise to power have been steadily intensifying with each passing month.

Pro's:

• Self-aware humor that doesn't break the fourth-wall

• Great art style

• Clear audio with respectable voice acting

• Engaging story

• Lots of content for your dollar

Con's:

• The tutorial area is a little slow, but good for first time players

I would also like to thank XSEED for providing a code to review the game

"Disclosure(s): I only had time to play the first 10 hours of the game, but in that time I was able to sample most to all of the games many features."

Everspace Review

EVERSPACE REVIEW

By Matthew Wilt

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Genre: Action & adventure
Published by: ROCKFISH Games
Release date: Thursday, May 25, 2017
Price: $29.99USD (As of June 12, 2017)
(Information gathered from Microsoft Store)

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Everspace is a great game. It is a roguelike set in…well, space. The basic premise is that you upgrade your ship over time, until eventually you are good enough to make it to the next warp. The music is nice, the story is solid, and the controls are palatable. Eventually you'll discover the answers to some dark secrets, but you'll actually have to live long enough to do so.

Everspace is a surprisingly in-depth story. The main story line is delivered in three main ways: Boss Battles, Your ship AI, and flashbacks between zones. I said main story line, because there is also a bunch of lore included in the game in a generic compendium. It has information about the different races, factions, ships, weapons, systems, etc. For people that like to dive into the 'Why' of the game, this section is for you.

What can I say about these graphics? I say they are stunning. Seriously. Phenomenal. I’ve always been a sucker for some good space vistas, and this takes the cake. Even the tutorial area looks beautiful. One of the more impressive views is stumbling upon a giant field of wreckage around a mine field, with a giant storm brewing in the center. Most locations seem completely unique and almost painted into the game.

These views are only accentuated by the music. There are a few times where the music’s escalation helps feed the thrill of the hectic combat. The are other times where the music helps give you that sense of awe when entering a visually impressive zone. There was never a time where I thought the music distracted from gameplay.

Even the cinematics only added to the game. They seemed to be rock solid. They are stylized and provide good contrast to the game. The length of them provide enough insight to the struggle of the main character’s never-ending plight while not become tedious to sit through. The cinematics only appear when you enter the primary warp at the end of every section, so you also do not get inundated with them.

The only thing I thought might have detracted from the game were the default controls. However, I do not attribute that to the creators. You have free reign of the 3D space. That’s a difficult task to manage while also managing to control acceleration in the forward/backward directions. Combine that with the limited number of inputs on a controller, and there is only so many things you can do. However, even saying that, they still did a solid job.

Combat

Difficulty Settings, Expanded

Difficulty Settings

Ship Customization

Ship Upgrades

Even with my not-really-gripes about the controls, the gameplay is still top notch. If you have played FTL, you will find it familiar. Basically, there are three distinct sections: The death screen, the map, and the node. The game starts by dropping you into a tutorial node where you learn the controls and basic combat. It is like most aerial combat games, where you fly around locking on to enemy ships and blowing them to pieces with your guns. However, since you are in space, you get a few differences. Sometimes enemies drop upgrades or materials where they will float in space until you pick them up. You also get the opportunity to turn on a dime, so you’ll need to take that into consideration as you are dogfighting and avoid drone combat. Assuming you die, and you will (a lot), then you’ll drop into a between-lives screen. It is here you can upgrade your ship, customize your appearance, or swap ships altogether to help fit your playstyle. Once you drop back in, you see the last section: The map. You see each upcoming node. Once you get enough upgrades for your ship, you can even get more in-depth information about each node like the danger or elemental hazards present.

Basically, I really enjoy this game. However, there is one complaint for the Xbox. The loading times. You will spend a fair amount of time sitting in loading screens, and some of them are just blank screens.  I recommend having a book nearby or keeping your phone charged. You will need it.

Even with the long load times, this is still an amazing game. So, should you buy this game or give it a bye? Definitely buy. The game also is on the PC and seems to have VR (according to their site), so there is no excuse. This game has gotten great reviews, so it will be a game to get and talk about, or scooping it up on sale several months from now.

DISCLAIMERS:

This game is reviewed on an Xbox One console, using a 1080p Vizio TV.
This is an Impression, meaning the game is not finished. That means I cannot give insight into the ending of the story or endgame balance or difficulty. That said, I have put in at least 10 hours of time, and have gotten a reasonable grasp of the game.
I would also like to thank ROCKFISH GAMES for the code in order to do the review.

• PRO:
  • Beautiful
  • Actual feel of progression
  • Interesting upgrades
  • SPACE
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• CON:
  • Takes a bit to adjust to the controls
  • Load screens are long and often don't provide visual feedback

FORTS Review

Like Angry Birds, but with guns!

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Genre: Action, Strategy
Developer: EarthWork Games 
Publisher: EarthWork Games
Release Date: Apr 19, 2017
Price: $14.99 (As of Release)
(Information from Steam)

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FORTS! PATRIOTISM! REFERENCES! MORE FORTS! This game has them all! But seriously, this entry into the RTS Genre is both light and complex. EarthWork Games has done a solid job in this entry. It places you in control of building multiple forts across the world. Why are you building forts across the world? Well, I suggest watching their trailer. It is funny and gives you good insight into the game.

Forts, the physics-based RTS where foes build custom bases, arm them to the teeth and blast their opponent's creations to rubble, is out now! Steam Store - http://store.steampowered.com/app/410900 Humble Store - https://www.humblebundle.com/store/forts Build an armoured fort in real-time and arm it to the teeth.

So how accurate IS the trailer? Well, pretty good. It demonstrates the "pop" that these games tend to end on. It also shows some of the offbeat humor that pokes at current political events and fervent nationalism.

So, what is the set up for the campaign? Well, if you didn't watch that video I linked for some crazy reason, I'll reiterate it for you. Sometime in the future, all the oil and metal in the world is scarce. In fact, oil has been depleted to the point where there is only one rumored source left, and the three world powers left (proxies for the United States, Russia, and China) are fighting over it. As the campaign starts, it is very simple, but it quickly ramps up until the point where it took me the better part of 20 minutes to figure out how to overcome campaigns. This is great, because it actually helps improve your game play for when you decide to tackle multiplayer. By the way, you should totally dip your toes in multiplayer, if only to experience the chaos.

However, I spent most of my time in single player, because that's how I roll. I gotta say, I loved it. It has the small simple levels that reminded me of games like Angry Birds. Even the mechanic of "Shoot to the right and destroy things" carries over. However, this is where the similarities end. The whole game revolves around building a base, stocking it with weapons, then using them to destroy the enemy base and prevent them from doing likewise. This becomes a game of balancing your objectives (which unlock more levels) and building to the powerful weapons so you can quickly destroy your enemy.

POP! POP!

To build that, it is a fairly simple interface. You have 3 types at the bottom: Materials, Devices, and Weapons. Materials determine with what you build your base, such as the bracing and doors. Devices are for non-weapon sub-buildings, such as mines and the factory. Finally, weapons are the items you point at the enemy team to make them go away. You start the game with a reactor you have to protect. If it goes nuclear and explodes, you lose. You can either manually add to existing joints, or drag sections to automatically let the game handle connecting things for you.

As you build, you run into increasingly convoluted situations you have to build around, like a maze of tunnels you have to build in while avoiding the walls. Since physics are a factor, your building starts to sag and might randomly explode if joints or connectors have too much pressure on them. So, no biggie to build a reasonable base.

Overall, I would say this is a great game. It is quick to learn, and it is challenging to overcome the game scenarios the further you progress. However, there are some issues where the difficulty of missions fluctuates and you will ace some while needing to spend several attempts to finish others. 

PROS:

1.  Tight gun-play
2. Super rewarding to get the final volley off and finish a match
3. Interesting maps keep the race to the laser different.

CONS:

1. Each match seems to finish with with the Canons or Lasers
2. Difficulty isn't as smooth as an upward trend as it could be, leading to some frustrating moments
3. Finding an online match can be spotty, but it is definitely there.

Thanks to EarthWork Games for providing us the Steam codes to use for this review!

PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness Review

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Genre: Adventure
Developer: MAGES. Inc. , 5pb.
Publisher: NIS America, Inc.
Release Date: Apr 24, 2017

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PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness is a Visual Novel published by NIS America, Inc. (At least here in the US). If you are like me, I honestly didn't know visual novels were a thing until I got a chance to play this game. To boil it down, it is an interactive story that is more complex than a simple Choose Your Own Adventure, and is more interactive to boot. It allows more branching plot lines, hidden scenes, and things like that. This is one of the big reasons video games are great, and I'm glad I had the good fortune to expand my gaming horizon.

Now, this game is a bit of a special case for me. The PS4 version came out almost a year ago AND we did a review on it. In fact, it was written by our own Ryan Johnson, and you should go read it now. I'll even link it for you. It's okay. Go ahead and read it. This can wait.

Great, now that you have read that, I'm not going to discuss the story. Why? Well, two reasons. Ryan did a great job already going over several key points. The second is that I recently learned (due to the Persona 5 steaming policy), that story-driven games like this shouldn't have its plot spoiled and should definitely be experienced. That said, I'm going to talk about how this game functions on the PC.

This is a pretty standard dialogue screen. As you can see, there are a bunch of controls along the bottom with key bindings.

Great, now forget them. Everything in the game (aside from something I'll mention later) can be done through the mouse. Honestly, I had a much better time with this than the controls. All of the little buttons you can just click, and since this game is not based on quick timing or anything like that, you can focus on the story more. Even a right-click brings up the menu screen. Basically, they did a great job on the controls. They are super simple, which lets you focus on making the choices which almost always seems to lead to 2 bad endings then finally a good one.

There is one caveat to this, and that's the mini game included in the "extras" option in the main menu. This one you should definitely get out the arrow keys. Why? Well, take a look at the screenshot below and tell me if it reminds you of anything.

That's right, it is 2048! Like Ryan mentioned, it is used to unlock all sorts of cool extras. It is the best of both worlds: a time sink minigame AND a way to easily get unlocks.

Overall, this game is a great PC adaptation. The controls make sense. Really, pick up this game. I'm going to give this a slightly higher rating than Ryan.

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This game was reviewed on the PC, but there is also a PS4 version.

Pro's
+Easy Controls
+Clear Story
+Very well translated captions
+Great Visuals

Con's
-Sometimes the background noise overpowers the audio
-The phone conversation subtitles don't pair well with the audio being subtitled

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Thank you NIS America for providing us with this code!

The Inner World Review

About 3 weeks ago, I received a copy of The Inner World. Unfortunately, I was busy when I first got it and put off reviewing it until last week. What a mistake that was! This game is delightfully charming and was a pleasure to play. It made me think in ways I don’t normally, and when I couldn’t find the answer, had a well-planned hint system that gives you only what you need to find your spark. The controls were simple, but I had one major gripe. I also had one bug I saw that wasn't really a big deal. Basically, save your self some time and get the time.

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You can see the trinket around the Wind Monk's neck.

The story starts off with you, Robert, an Asposian with a deformity, chasing after a pigeon that stole a trinket from your bitter guardian. This is the first chance Robert had to get away from the monastery where he was raised, so he quickly leaps into action.  Along the way, he meets a lot of interesting characters, like Laura. In Robert’s efforts to procure the trinket, he becomes infatuated with her, and she quickly becomes integral in solving the mystery that begins to unfold. Robert quickly uncovers his true origins, and why his deformity is actually very important.

Overall, I would say the story is pretty transparent. It quickly becomes apparent that the main character has a case of “The Chosen One”. They pretty well lampshade this in the opening scenes of the game. The story is also pretty short. HOWEVER, the characters are all so darn lovable and unique that they more than counteract the short-lived story. I actually found myself pursuing more dialog just to see how they interact with each other. Seriously. The swamp was probably the best part of the game. You’ll know what I mean when you get there.

This game has surprisingly pretty graphics. I thought the game was going to be another game that just has an odd style for the sake of it, but the crisp outlines and sharp colors really add to the atmosphere and help drive home the idea of this alien environment. I also found the more limited color palette to lend to that as well. It almost gives it a… Adventure Time meets Tim Burton feel.

The music is also delightfully simple. It is slightly above elevator music, but since most of the time you will be racking your mind trying to piece together the riddles, it will help soothe you. It sure helped me.

The cinematics were sparse but purposeful. Early in the game, the usage seems to lean more towards helping draw attention to specific parts of the environment. This helps to deliver hints about with which objects you would need interact. As you get used to the game, this is incredibly useful. However, I felt there is a definite shift towards then end of the game. As the story becomes delivered less in sporadic dialogs and more in the cinematics, the quality really increases.

However, the controls were the first complaint I had with the game. It was often hard to navigate the areas, and then the objects you can actually interact with only have their icon if you are close to them, which is hard to do because the areas are hard to navigate. See the cycle? That often leads to an issue where you don’t see a vital clue even if you turn on the object interaction mode. Having said that, the controls are pretty simple and easy to learn. On the XBox One, one have one control stick to move around the environment. As you move around, you can press a button to let you interact with objects, then select one. This brings up a contextual menu where you can combine it with other items, use it, or just inspect it. That is pretty much it. The game is really simple to control, which works out in its favor.

Other than that, this game is solid. The puzzles can be a bit contrived, but often each thing is done for a reason. If they bother to add something into the game, you can be almost certain you will need it to solve a riddle. The biggest example I can think of is this group of moths that molt and change color based on what is behind them. If you aren’t paying super close attention, you will miss it. Not only that, but you will also fail to realize it is key to a later riddle, and that kind of thing drives me mad. It is fair game in puzzlers like this. But man, it is hard for me to pick up on that.

The only real bug I had in this was that the background music would sometime turnoff. But that is sometimes refreshing. The silence clears your mind and enables you to focus on piecing all the small parts together.

Overall, if you like puzzle games, this is a buy when it comes to the Xbox One. It is a solid game with a unique art style. Plus, there is a sequel coming out soon that if you snag this in time, you shouldn’t have to wait too long to pick up. 

Final Score 4 out of 5

I played this game on the Xbox One, but the game is also available for PC and Mac per the website. If you want to know the exact specs, you can check the Steam page before purchasing. It doesn’t take much to run this game, so you’ll probably be safe even on a laptop. I also wanted to take the time to thank the developers, Studio Fizbin, for providing us this copy.

Trulon: The Shadow Engine Review

Trulon: The Shadow Engine

An okay experience suffering from "Poor Port to Console"-itis

The game has pretty beautiful visuals.... assuming you don't get a glitch you spoil things a little

When I first read the description of Trulon: The Shadow Engine, I was intrigued. I’ve tried a card game RPG before and it was a fun, but not riveting, experience. I was worried I wouldn't have fun. As I started playing on my Xbox One, I was starting to get into the flow and enjoy myself. I started to learn the character types, and was really starting to bring out their potential in the various card types. Unfortunately, I started finding more and more bugs until, finally, I hit a bug so game breaking that I simply couldn’t continue. This was at the 8 hour mark, which should be close to the end of the game (but isn’t).

The game drops you into the boots of a monster hunter named Gladia. She starts out as a jack of all trades character, and you quickly start dispatching enemies. You soon discover that the monsters and disease in the area are related, and pick up your first additional party member: a caster named Ferra. S/he (honestly, I can’t tell. I probably missed a pronoun somewhere) becomes an asset to the team, while you discover the source comes from a neighboring kingdom. There is more story, but honestly, it is such a short and transparent story, I’ve already covered around a quarter of it. There aren’t really any surprises, as even the big twist is spoiled by the character design from when you first meet them. The game telegraphs who your future partners will be, so there isn’t any wow factor their either. Each person you pick up fills a typical RPG roll (tank/crowd control, DPS, Buff/Healing, and Debuff).

Lots of health and aggro managing cards? I think he is a healer.

There might be another character, but I don’t know. Why? Because when I was close to finishing, I hit a bug that prevented me from fighting a boss that blocks the path. I’ve tried restarting my console and I’ve tried restarting the game. I would reinstall, but on the chance that this would delete my game and set me back 8 hours, I decided to give up. However, I feel confident that this will probably happen to most players until they patch it. The sad thing is, I ignored the warning signs until that point. I had frequent lighting issues, rubber-banding, sound issues, issues with title cards, and many more. Why did I keep playing? Well, I wanted to be able to thoroughly review the game. BUT ASIDE FROM THAT, it was genuinely fun when it worked. Figuring out how to overcome each battle was fun, but sometimes suffered from a case of “you just have bad luck”. You also struggle a lot until you get into your groove with your decks. Once I got good cards to pull off combos and proper control, the game got a lot easier (but still presented its challenges). This is one of the standard RPG progressions. You are weak until you start to master your skills and more powerful abilities. Then, you start to become a threat. Then, the game starts to get easy because you outclass everything and you keep getting rewarded with even more strength.

What does this mean for you? Well, if you like RPGs that last under 10 hours, with an okay story and mildly bland characters, this might be worth a pickup if you find it on sale. But, for everyone else, I would sadly say to avoid this port until you can confirm the bugs are worked out. I give this game a 3/5. What does that mean? Take it or leave it. You'll likely have some fun, but won't regret passing it up.

Thank you Kyy games for the review code!

Alwa's Awakening: A 60 Second Review

Check Matt's first ever 60 second video review. this is for Alwa's Awakening on PC. Available now! 

BLADE ARCUS from Shining: Battle Arena Review

http://saizensen.degicagames.com/

Blade Arcus is a fairly standard fighting game. The controls are solid. The battles are quick, but the key bindings (for keyboard) leave something to be desired. I recommend waiting for a sale to get this one, unless you are a fan of the series and already are into the story, as you will get nothing from this otherwise. Also, get a controller or an arcade stick. Don't be me and play on the keyboard. You can watch my review below if you want to get some game-play shots.

Watch Matthew finish his Blade Arcus broadcast, talk about his thoughts on the game as a pretty bad noob to the genre, and talk about that one time in high school.... -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/thegamerslounge

The Dwarves Review

I’ve always enjoyed pen and paper roll playing games, and I wish I had more opportunities to play. Whenever I play one, I try to choose a dwarf or dwarf-like race. There is something about stubborn-headed Orc-slaying and having an affinity for beard growing that I find respectable. This craving is certainly filled with this game, even with its many glaring flaws. It helps that the game is based off a book of the same name, so the narrative is already defined for the developers to adapt.

The game starts out by dropping into an active battle. This is a little disorientating, which will probably lead to at least one failure due to not understanding either the controls, which units are supposed to be killed, or the pacing of the game. As a better grasp of the mechanics is garnered, the game introduces the story in awkward little cut-scenes. Some of them are fully fleshed out, but with bad shading and lip-syncing that is slightly off that makes for some illusion breaking moments, and some are done in the moment with the help of subtitles. After what is essentially the tutorial mission is over, the game progresses a small period into the future, and grants control over the primary character, Tundil.

This is where the game starts to open and the core of the game revealed. Half the game is choosing how to move from objective to objective in the map, and that is where this game shines. Each move could send you into a fight with a band of orcs, a chance to grow relationships with other characters, or even more varied incidents. This is the fun of a roleplaying game. Lots of games have situations where you can learn the pattern of what happens and then you can take advantage of that. Each map marker could contain a different happenstance. In the early stages of the game, I had gone forward and cleared a map marker. When I came back, I had an event where I was sitting and eating dwarf cheese around a campfire. This gives the game the flavor of a solo roleplaying campaign where the game moderator is the game. I know that is how the genre literally works, but this really pushes for that feeling of being in a good old fashioned tabletop game, enhanced by modern technology.

This game does have some drawbacks. The load times are significant. Every time you enter an event. Every time you leave. Every time you switch rooms. Just, everything. And it is the same control scheme layout every time. There is also frequent light glitching in the game, so sometimes scenes don’t render correctly, including the flat black loading screen. The cut scenes also suffer from drop-in and stuttering. Luckily the audio keeps playing and I never remember having a problem with it.

Overall, if Fantasy RPGs are what you enjoy, I would recommend this game. The combination of world map with random events, as well as combat driven scenarios, makes for a game that varies enough to avoid getting stale. The story differs enough from traditional fantasy epics to be fresh, but sticks to traditional dwarven themes to really empower them and help dive into nuances of their race. This game is held back by its heavy loading and frequent graphical hiccups, but the gameplay itself makes up for it.

ObliteRacers Review

Close your eyes and imagine the racing games of yesteryear. Most people probably think of Mario Kart 64, Crash Team Racing, or some other third thing. If you loved those games and wished you had a new game that played like those classics, this might be a decent fit. I’m not going to say it is exactly the same, but it is definitely something that popped into my mind when I entered the first race. It gives a fresh spin to the game, however, and I would say it adds to the experience. However, there are a couple issues that prevent this game from being a “must own”.

As I said, this game evokes some parallels with some classics like Mario Kart and Crash Team Racing. I say that, because I feel that if you compare it to modern racing games it would be woefully outclassed. Also, the art style really feels like a remastered game, which I feel is a good thing. Too many games fall into the trap of trying to look old and falling short, which makes the game look gangly. I don’t know if this vibe was intentional, but it definitely pays off. The music is unobtrusive, but if you don’t like it or the other sound effects, the game comes with some pretty solid controls for different volumes. That is an oddity in console games (from my experience), so hopefully it catches on.

This game has some fairly standard deviations from the standard racing formulas. The game doesn’t count laps, but instead count the number of fatalities or survivals. I would say a decent combination would be Crash Team Racing, Twisted Metal, and Speed Runner. The goal is to stay alive while eliminating the other racers. There is a plethora of weapons, but in my opinion the best ones are a static discharge orb that turns your car into a battering-ram, and a seeking missile that almost always finds its target.

However, this is where the game comes up short. The vehicles handle like race tires on ice. Every turn is a fight to stay on the track, and the camera tends to not help you on that front. Get too far in the lead, and the camera is a hindrance. It gets worse. There is an admittedly useful weapon that drops an oil slick on the road, that coats the vehicle’s tracks/tires/whatever and makes it neigh impossible to steer. That makes sense, but since the steering is already pretty loose, it only serves to further aggravate. Add in 15 more racers, and the game can become a bumbling mess of discovering which character you are, only to careen off the edge due to the slick controls.

Overall, a solid 4/5 game, but could use some high level polish. Maybe a future patch will tweak the handling so the cars feel more in control, but it isn’t strictly necessary. The game gives a good throw-back to the classics as-is, and is worth it if you want a Mario-Kart-ish experience on your XBox One Console.

Full Mojo Rampage Review

Full Mojo Rampage

I was fortunate enough to snag a copy of this fun little game. It is a top down arcade style game, where you run around and destroy various nasty beings using your magic powered by your Loa, or Voodoo deity. The music and art style are fun, and the randomly generated levels mean you have to focus on skill rather than map memorization. You also get some fun items to use and equip, and wacky wands to use.

My experience with FMR was on the shorter side, but enough to where I knew the game was rock solid. The developers clearly knew what they were doing. When I first started the game, I was expected to be spammed either with a long chain of logos, or to be dropped into a bland menu. Neither happened. Instead, a witty little cinematic comes on that accomplishes two things. First, it sets the tone of the game. The art style and tone is clear. The music is fun, yet creepy. Second, the cinematic serves as a sort of tutorial. Where it never explicitly tells you how to play the game in the intro, it shows you what to expect. You see big and small enemies in a hoard chasing you. You run around, find and use an item by destroying a mausoleum, and then turn the tables from the power-up. From that, you see you can destroy some environment pieces, what to expect from enemies (weak and strong types, and mobs), and that there will be some items to give interesting perks. Getting into the game, I played several rounds, and then died. I was expecting to return to the mission select screen, but found myself on the main menu. When I tried to reenter, I found a new game with new levels, but my same character progression. I don't know if that was something they meant to do or if I botched/missed something, but still a great touch. Don't die, or you die-die.

Overall, great game. Go out, pick it up, and play it. It is a fun game you can spend a fair amount of time playing.

Score a  4 out of 5

Full Mojo Rampage is is available  now on Xbox One and Steam. thanks to the publisher from supplying a code for review.

Party Hard Review

Score: 4 out of 5

Party Hard is a pretty great game. It has tight controls, an interesting style, and a story line that will amuse (if you have the same sense of humor as myself). The whole premise is that the player is insane, and wants to “party hard” by killing everyone at parties without getting caught. This is communicated through cut scenes you unlock by completing the levels. Overall, I would give this game 4 out of 5. Good job Pinokl Games.

As I said, the game has tight controls. You can move, interact with traps and shortcuts, and stab people. Some people even have special moves you can get. You move at a decent speed, but if you need a quick boost you can sprint. This means you have to plan your moves out, because the enemies can often move faster than you. You can also interact with certain elements in the environment to produce lethal effects, like rigging a gas oven to explode. There are also trap downs to travel through to evade police (that get boarded up if they see you using it) and windows to hop through to give you exits. All of this lends to level designs that are fun to explore and varied enough to keep you engaged through the different stages.

Like the level designs, the art style itself is also pretty good. It is pixelated, so it gives you enough colors to clearly see what everything is, but not enough detail to make you think it is one of those games that didn’t hire an artist and only went with the default Unity assets. The music makes the game feel like a classic arcade game, and so does the stage select screen… and the fact it has stages. In between those stages are cut-scenes that deliver the story.

I was confused about the story delivery. It is right on that line where I couldn’t tell if it is serious or parody. Going with the tone and the rest of the game, however, I’m airing on the side of parody. It is the story of a cop that really wants to catch the bad guy, and has a bad case of “I’m a loose cannon. Fear me”! This adds to the campiness of the game, which makes it even better.

If you like a simple game you can pick up for 20 minutes or for hours that has an arcade feel to it that you can also compete against your friends (pass the controller, fastest time!), then get this game. If you want to play the original demo, you can go to their website and try it (http://tinybuild.com/partyhard, bottom of the page). The full game is more polished, but it will get you an idea. The game is available on PC, Xbox One (where I played it), and on the PS4.

Kôna: Day One (Early Access/ Closed Beta)

(Click to be taken to website)

Kôna: Day One is the first part of a series of games created by the studio Parabole. It takes place in the northern expanse of Quebec, Canada. You are trying to solve a mystery, and things slowly reveal to be more than they seem. While the game is still in beta, it is stunning so far (Watch the video below to see what I mean). It has a style that gives it a slightly haunting vibe, and it meshes extraordinarily well with the feeling the game gives you. I'm also impressed with the interface. A lot of smaller indie game have a problem with creating an intuitive interface, and this game does just that. Maybe it has something to do with having to design it with two languages in mind (Oh Canada!)? Like I said, even at this stage the game has a lot of polish.

Right now, since it is still in early access, I don't want to go too in depth. However, I 100% recommend giving the single-player game a shot. I only see this game getting better as they flesh out the last small portions of the game. You can pick the game up over at GoG right now for just shy of $10. Oh, and bring your axe.

http://www.gog.com/game/kona_day_one Kôna: Day One is the first act of a narrative-driven interactive tale of mystery, exploration and survival, set amid a powerful and ominous snowstorm in a northern village in the 1970s. You play as Carl Faubert, a war veteran now private detective who must travel to Atamipek Lake in Northern Canada to solve a simple, yet lucrative case.

What’s wrong with… Dinocide?

What’s wrong with… is a segment I’m trying to start where I try to help developers by being critical of their product, and not blindly exclaiming the game to be perfection incarnate. I take the game, play it for a while, and give my honest criticisms on how to make the game better.

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According to the website, Dinocide is an homage to vintage games, with dinosaurs and some modern mechanics. They have a lot of interesting features they bring to the table, and the art is pretty good. That being said, there is a lot of room for balance and fixes in this game. The controls feel a little unpolished, you essentially have 11 resources to manage, and a fickle health/timer system.

First, let’s talk about my biggest issue with the game. The health/timer mechanic. On paper, this sounds like a great idea. Tying together the amount of time you have to finish a level with your health makes each hit you receive all the more dangerous. This mechanic quickly becomes more of a nuisance though, as you become frustrated with every tiny hit taking away almost half of the time bar. You also don’t know when that next piece of random fruit will appear (like a banana in the middle of a cave full of lava), which is the only way to replenish that constantly depleting time bar. This creates an artificial sense of urgency in the game, as you frantically hop along as fast as you can to complete the section. There could be multiple solutions to fix this. To keep with the general vibe of the game, I would actually add food as another resource you have to manually take. However, I would increase the amount of time you have total, make the food completely fill the bar, and then make food just slightly rarer. This would allow the user to have more control over their impending doom, rather than leaving it 100% up to some random bat that is guarding the platform while you only have 50% time. This is a very promising mechanic that just needs a little more love to make it truly shine.

Second, there are a LOT of things to manage. Should I bring the axe or the arrow? What if the level has quicksand instead of lava pits? Why do rocks do almost nothing against anything except my patience? The game tries to keep a sense of scarcity, as would probably be exactly what John Q. Caveman would face on a daily basis. However, you only find a weapon per level, and you lose your weapon every time you die. Why not make the weapon last the level until I finish or give up? That would still maintain needing to balance my weapons, but not make the game almost impossible because it takes 50,000 hits from point blank using rocks. Also, Dinosaurs are a nice perk, like getting Yoshi. Maybe consider taking them out of the start screen, and just have them as a fun perk for that level?

Third, and last, thing that should be addressed is the controls. Everything seems a little off. It is hard to explain. I think that jumping is a little bit sudden. The precision this game is trying to encourage could use a little slower jump, so you could get the timing down better, and react a little faster. Like I said, this is hard to explain, but this area should definitely be looked at, as it is such an integral part of the game.

Overall, I think this is a solid game that gives you what it tells you: a modern game with a classic feel. The pixel art is well done and colorful, and there are even some surprises thrown in for those that pay attention. I feel the game is worth the price, if you enjoy retro games, and would rate it a solid B-, which is great for a smaller developer like AtomicTorch.

Score 4 out of 5

Thanks to the publisher for providing a code for review.

Halo 5: Guardians Limited Collector's Edition Unboxing and Impressions

I recently got a chance to acquire the Halo 5: Guardians Collector's Edition. I have to say, I am very impressed. However, two small things have drawn my ire. First is the stability of the statues. Second, and the most important, is the fact that the Collector's edition doesn't come with a disc, but rather a code, but more about that after in a bit.

When I first got the Collector's Edition, I was super confused. This box is massive. It was about twice the size of the box the XBox One came in, and that cost almost twice as much. The box also had a surprising amount of heft. Once I cracked it open, the first thing that greeted me was not the statue, but rather a small insert containing all the paperwork and metal statue (some assembly required). It also came with some pretty cool information leaflets about the targets (Master Chief and crew) and Locke's fireteam. There is also a small dossier with the mission briefing (in 2 languages). Overall, pretty cool. HOWEVER, this is where that second complaint from earlier comes into play. In that packet of information exists a code for the digital version of the game. Not a huge problem, unless you really like discs. I really like discs. I had a problem. However, there are clear instructions on the internet about how to exchange your code for a physical copy. Just go over to Xbox customer service and follow the instructions (http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/games/halo-5-guardians-disc-swap). Luckily, it was a fairly easy process to complete and took about 5 minutes. A quick note, I also needed my Xbox One serial number. You also have to NOT REDEEM the code before you do this, so if you have... I'm sorry, you are out of luck.

Once I got past the small insert, I finally took apart the foam sabot protecting the much anticipated statue. Upon opening, I was very pleased. This is a pretty large statue with lots of detail. Master Chief is on one side while Locke is on the other, both in some pretty action-oriented poses. I took the statue apart and separated it like I had heard, and was a little taken aback. One of the "cool" things is that the statue can be separated into two halves and used as book-ends. Well, those are going to be some pretty large books. There is about 3 inches at the bottom to hold the books together, and a small piece about a foot from the base that can help. So, if your books are between 6 and 11 inches (more-or-less), I would get a larger book for the end. I also noticed something else. The PVC-esque statues are only held on by 2 contact points. Two, small, contacts points. My point, and the first of the aforementioned complaints, is that the characters are notably loose. They aren't very sturdy on the base. However, considering they are not toys and are meant to be put on a shelf and never again touched, I don't see this as an issue affecting too many people.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with the Halo 5: Guardians Collector's Edition. While there are complaints, they are either non-issues or were addressed through a quick online chat. If you manage to come by one for a reasonable price, I would pick it up.

Destiny: The Taken King Review

XBox One's Title Screen for Destiny: The Taken King

Destiny: The Taken King

Wow. What can I say? This game does have some flaws, but it fixed a lot of the problems Destiny had. The interface had a major overhaul, the story is more fleshed out, cut-scenes are used more to help deliver story, and the items are just as varied as ever. If you were hesitant to get the game because of what you heard, or quit because you gave up on the series, now is the time to get the Taken King.

As I mentioned, the interface has had a major overhaul. When Destiny first came out, they seemed to go with a lean interface that worked well with a thumb stick. However, in doing so, they left out key information. Most of that has been fixed since the initial release. You can see all your faction reputations. You can see your currently active quest chains, you can trade in bounties on the fly. Accidentally deleting your armor is a thing of the past. They really heard the complaints on their UI and gave it a good fine-tuning.  However, there is one huge flaw they have yet to overcome, and I honestly don't think they will: The system for viewing Grimoire Cards. I want to read them, in-game, while waiting for people. Why do I need a phone app or laptop to do that? I can understand it for complexities like managing your inventory across all your banks and characters on the fly (which is amazing and also introduced mid-cycle), but to read a half-paragraph of text? Seems silly to me. They have their reasons though, I just hope they are good ones. In one of the aforementioned UI tweaks, they added a "Quests" tab. They use that tab mainly as a tool for the players to keep track of the progression in the story. Which brings me to...

 The Story. Arguably, the biggest problem of Year 1 (The term given by Bungie for Destiny, The Dark Below DLC, and The House of Wolves DLC) was the lack of tangible story. You got tidbits if you wanted, but it was hard to decipher anything below the largest of world events. Not true in The Taken King. In TTK, everything is managed in quest lines that tell you when to do what mission and where. While there is a maximum number of quest lines you can have active at a time, you will have a hard time actually hitting that. And, if you do, you can abandon some and pick them up later at the brilliant little kiosk. Also, remember Dinklebot, your sidekick voiced by Peter Dinklage? Well, Dinklebot is gone. Long live the Nolandroid! Nolan North is now your conscience, and in my opion sounds a lot like Baymax from Big Hero 6. Personally, I love it. It did take a little getting used to though. And did I mention they had North do all of the Ghost's lines? All of them. Even things from Year 1. This is great, because it was a big undertaking and adds value to the game. The most recent story revolves around the Taken King and the Dreadnaught. Actually going into the Dreadnaught though. Ugh. Fantastic. Don't even get me started on the Dreadnaught, because I'm trying to keep this more as a short read and less of a novel.

Wizard needs teleport badly...

Well... I'll talk a little about the Dreadnaught, but mostly about the items. There are several runes, keys, and other do-dads that you get will exploring the King's creepy flagship. My favorite is the rune system they use for the Court of Oryx, a public PvE event in the bowels of the ship (see above photo). There are three levels: Reciprocal, Stolen, and Antiquated. Those are in order of easiest to hardest. You can use them at any time, given you have them charged (and aren't on cooldown, but that's barely worth mentioning). How do you charge them? You have to complete several of the level below it. Reciprocals simply work, but Stolen need victorious tier 1 battles, and Antiquated need victorious tier 2 battles. That normally sounds like a pain, but it works well because you get into a groove with the people you are fighting with, which is SUPER important for the tier 3 Court of Oryx. Seriously. I've tried 4 times now. Only succeed once. And they only take about 5 minutes, so they are super fun to get a fireteam (or hopefully 2-3 fireteams for the highest tier) and play for 30-45 minutes at a time.
Overall, if you gave up on the series, or you just haven't gotten it yet, this is the game you want to play. This is the game that should have been released a year ago. There is a large end-game, lots of things to do until that point, and a recognizable story line that you would expect from the creators of Halo. For those of you that really enjoy ratings,

Score 4 out of 5

Good show Bungie, I can't wait for the next DLC.

DestinyQuest: Infinte Part 3 Review

Click the image to go check out the game!

DESTINYQUEST: INFINITE P3

This is the third part of a three part article series. You can see parts One and Two for my impressions of the first two acts. This iteration was a strong improvement over the previous two acts.  With that, I say that I was...

GENUINELY ENTERTAINED

This game is a choose your own adventure, first and foremost. You make a decision, you get rewarded/ punished. This is a tried and true formula that I feels the creators really managed to flesh out in this last act. They did a great job with item balance and story progression. 4.25/5. Will probably play again.

PLAYABILITY

Good job on this one. I feel they definitely have found their groove on this act. The easy missions were easy. The next tier was, to me, a difficult but approachable experience. The difficulty tier after that made me tense. However, I never felt under geared, and I always felt like the rewards were actually rewarding in a way to fit my play style. I choose the Warrior, and was given solid armor. I focused on gaining more armor. I almost always got more armor, or the same amount of armor with a decent boost in another stat. I was able to negate usually several points of damage off the damage die every time, so I could take my take and whittle down my opponents. The mechanics of the game are the same, which was already solid. Although, the longer battles can take a while. I was fighting a boss for a good 45 minutes one time. He couldn't hit me, and I was only dealing 2 damage a turn. He had 120 health. It took a while. Otherwise, the pacing is usually pretty good. Even in the longer fights, there are technically sections to give you that small "Woohoo!" moments. That boss I mentioned was actually a minion with 20 health, and a big-bad with 100 health.  You defeat the smaller minion, and you get that sense of "I've made progress".

STORY

The story for this act was the most engaged I felt of the three acts. I quickly became attached to the characters, and became genuinely concerned with the outcome. The choices I made were that much more difficult because I actually cared about NPCs, and not just choosing a few choices here and there for things I am not invested. My qualms with the first two acts were, as far as I could tell, rectified with this act. Defeat no longer means you are stuck in the story, it merely hinders your progression, and you miss on some finer details on the story. There was one missions where I had to defend a mountain top against marauding undead. Well, I was on the last wave and I was defeated. Normally, this would set me back and I would get stuck on this boss. Instead, they wrote in a defeat routine where it gracefully segued the story to the next mission with my defeat part of the story. That was legitimately entertaining. I felt that, at that point, the creators were trying to tell me a story and not just make a game.

EXECUTION

I really felt this act had the most entertainment value of the three. I would actually go so far as recommend getting this purely for act 3, then playing acts 1 and 2 as backstory. There was story there, I feel it just isn't as accessible unless you really have a good feel of what you are doing.

DestinyQuest: Infinite Part 2 Review

DestinyQuest Infinite: Part 2

This is the second part of my review of DestinyQuest Infinite. Check out Part 1 to get a grasp of what I’m talking about. I will be addressing my complaints from the first article, so context will be helpful.

Even More Moderately Entertained

Let’s say the previous game was a true 5/10. Completely average for comparison reasons. I would say this game is a solid 6.5/10. It is a good bit better than the first, but nothing ground breaking as far as game play. I will say the writers seem to be finding more of their groove with this iteration as well.

Playability

As far as this second game goes, playability seems to have remained the same. The controls are the same. Combat is the same. Even the maps function the same way. However, I feel like that they still missed some balancing issues. Miss that one opportunity to get some gear good locked in a vault? You will not be able to go back and try again. And you will need that gear to actually get past the current set of missions into the next set. In this regards, I feel like game balance is the biggest let down. It may just be my notoriously bad luck, but I couldn’t get past the second set of missions. I couldn’t. I had what I thought to be some of the best armor upgrades I could get. And I still got beat down.

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Story

I could see definite improvements here. I could tell the writer was having more fun crafting the missions. There was this one where, I don’t want to spoil to much, you can tell the story will be about vampires because of all the tropes being tossed around. And guess what? It was totally vampires! Big surprise! Seriously though, while there was a certain feeling of “this is cliché”, I still got a good amount of enjoyment from it. There were even several story elements I genuinely didn’t expect to happen.

Execution of the Goal

Overall, I would have to say that this is, sadly, a lot like in the first article. The story, from what I played, doesn’t really carry well between missions. There are a few elements that tie in (get that dwarf book and herb lore. Trust me), but mostly they are still isolated.

If you enjoyed the first game, you will really enjoy this second chapter. If you only mildly enjoyed this chapter, the first chapter can be skipped but provides the basis of why you are in the current predicament.

Score: 3.5/5

DestinyQuest: Infinite Part 1 Review

DestinyQuest Infinite : Part 1

Moderately Entertained

Now, I’m not saying the game is bad, nor am I saying the game is good. For the 7-13 hours I played, I was moderately entertained. There are three main areas that should be examined to explain my critique: Playability, or how easy to is to control the flow of the game; Story; and Execution of the Goal. Once I explain those, I think you would tend to agree with me.

Playability

As far as moderately entertaining games go, these might be some of the easiest controls for the scale of the game. Combat is simple. Click one of four buttons, most of which are disabled at any given time, and let the game handle keeping track of stats, items, enemies, etc. Fairly straight forward. However, after a certain point of being equipped incorrectly, I hit a sort of wall. With the random chance of rolling, combined with the overwhelming power of the enemies, I died. And died. And died some more. So I tried the next mission path in hopes to get stronger. And died there as well. I’ll talk more about that later though. The point I am trying to make is that they handle death fairly well. In an effort to be like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, they did what everyone did while reading those books. They bookmarked the page before the choice so when you screw up, you don’t have to read the entire book again. This makes it so it isn’t too hard to keep going when you die.

Navigating the world wasn’t that bad either. There is a simple, color-coded map that you actually get a lot of info from just by looking at it. The warmer the color means the faster you have to be in order to tackle it. Gray means it is already done. Locations are clearly labeled, and more details can be found by hovering the mouse over them.

Interacting with non-player characters is easy, but a little lacking. There are some dialog choices that you can click through to get what answers or information you can, and then you leave them alone. I mean, all games do this, but for a CYOA (choose your own story), it is a little bit of a let down. I wish it was a “talk to the bar keep OR the shadowy figure in the corner” sort of deal, where you actually have more subtle branches earlier in the game. But, I can see where that might have a chance of barring the overall story if the player completely bungles things.

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Main Map Screen

Story

Speaking of bungling things, I did just that. In reading a short synopsis of what the game is supposed to be, I thought I would be able to resolve subplots the way I wanted them to resolve. Instead, I’m pretty sure I have to either be extremely lucky all the time on rolls or be a selfish jerk the entire game to get better gear. I thought I was going to be okay when the suggested speed was 3 and I had 3 speed. I was not. And I couldn’t go back and try again. So, I hit my wall, and chose to stop. I’m not going to spend another several hours getting back to where I was. How does that tie into the story? Well, for something with the possibility for lots of branches and play-styles, it is infuriatingly linear. I guess when they say interactive story, they mean you need to play over and over again until you find the “correct answer” to the story.

Execution of the Goal

What does this mean? It means, from what I can tell on their website, the creators were trying to make a story where you can add in lots of little paths that all combine into one massive story. Well, instead of lots of little threads being wound into one cohesive string of a story, I feel like there are lots of layers peeling off of the main story, and you have to get the main one. Of course, I remember the old CYOA stories being the same way, but I feel like this could have been much better than those; a way to make one big story to follow while small choices for allow for variation.

Example of Choices

With all that in mind, I have to reiterate my earlier point. This game is still moderately entertaining. You can pick it up for 5 minutes or 5 hours and still make plenty of progress to the end. It captures the core spirit of a Choose Your Own Adventure book, while allowing for the details a computer can afford. Also, for you paying attention to the titles, there is indeed a part two! This is only referring to part one of three of the series. And, while I don’t have a complete grasp of the series, they say that you can jump right into part two and be able to keep up. So, I will brave that and write another review on their improvements to that.

Score 3 out of 5

NanoBot Battle Arena Review: Othello Meets Chicken Fighting

When I first looked at NanoBot Battle Arena by Derpy Games, I genuinely had no idea what to expect. For those of you wanting a quick verdict: I say the game is one you can sit down and play a couple of rounds before getting tired. I would also recommend playing with up to 5 friends, 3 being optimum. For those of you in it for the long haul, I would say there are really 2 main things to talk about: presentation and execution.

The presentation of the game was great. When I first opened the box, the contents were very neatly packed and tightly sealed. There were 120 cardboard tokens in 8 cardboard sleeves. Each sleeve contained all 15 tokens from a single faction. The tokens had decent heft and were shaped well. The art took up the full piece on both sides: one side dark and one side light. My only complaint is the faction icon on the token. It is really small, and the faction icon is on the corresponding faction cards, which makes the icon important. The tokens and are color coded however, so the problem isn't that big of a deal. That brings me to the cards. There are, to my knowledge, 96 total. Each faction has 6 level-1 cards, 4 level-2 cards, and 2 level-3 cards. The levels determine the effectiveness of the card.

I do have some complaints about the rulebook. I personally think it isn’t very well organized. I remember trying to find what to do in the event of running out of cards in the deck, and trying to find if we should reshuffle or not. The rule was buried under some section that, while it worked, would have been more easily found under another heading. The text is also incredibly tiny, as if they didn’t want to pay for the extra sheet of color paper. The art also seemed a little less vibrant as compared to everything else, but was still useful and coordinated well with the rules they were explaining. As much as I harp on the rulebook, it explains the rules well enough, and covers a lot of weird questions you may ask. Overall, it is a good rulebook that is concise.

As I said, the rulebook does a good job explaining the rules. However, the best way to learn anything is by doing it. My first time playing the game was a little confusing. For the complexity of the rulebook, a turn consists of few steps.

1)   Play a tile.

2)   Play a card.

3)   Draw a card.

4)   End your turn.

That’s it*. That’s the game. This is both terrible and great all at the same time. It is terrible because, when it is not your turn, there is nothing to do. If you play with lots of people or with people that need to think, it can get slightly stale after a game or two. It is great because, once you get into the flow, a turn lasts several seconds. It really lets you have a fast paced game, which fits into the small narrative that Derpy Games has tried to establish. The tiles have directions, and you win by having the longest connected chain of tiles. You can place anywhere except at the end of an opponents chain, unless it is also at the end of your chain. So, how can you beat the person in the lead? That’s where the cards come in. The cards have all sorts of zany abilities, ranging from disabling opponent's cards to converting tokens to your side. Overall, the most fun card lets you take a token and teleport it to any valid space on the board. The most fun cards are surge, which lets you remove a few cards at the end of one of your chains, and a card that lets you teleport tiles. However, some cards are clearly inferior to the others.

A small group of 4 players near the end of their game.

Freeze and Growth are those inferior cards. Frost has the ability of letting you prevent another player from playing random cards for one turn. While interesting on paper, it doesn't actually do too much. Sure you mildly inconvenience an opponent, but your turn can be better spent affecting the play area instead. If you could at least see what cards they had, then it would be something worth considering just to get a feel for what that person is planning. Of course, the game is so hectic and changes so much, even that isn't very powerful. Growth is also a very interesting card… on paper. The card lets you play additional tokens based on the card’s level. Taking into account the faction advantage for playing as the Echidna faction, you can play up to 4 additional tokens on one turn. That sounds amazing. However, there is no down side for other players using it against a player with the faction advantage, unlike every card in the game. Considering that most cards can almost, if not entirely, nullify any use from those extra tokens you would have gotten by the time your next turn comes around, you essentially just wasted a turn. Of course, that’s only 2 of the 8 factions, so I just suggest ignore those exist, or make some house rules to buff those cards’ abilities. Those cards aren't a big deal, however, because games don't usually last long enough for there to be a big need for much strategy for much past the next turn. In fact, I'm not sure it is even possible, considering the board can literally be in a completely different state by your next turn.

Keeping in mind that organized chaos is part of the game, this is actually a fun game. You have to live in the moment, and choose something you feel is good based on what HAS happened, not on what you anticipate WILL happen. That is a major drag if you have lots of players, because then your moment takes too long, or if you don't have enoughplayers,  because then the chaos isn't there. This is still a nice change of pace from a lot of strategy games. Too many games in the genre are decided in the first couple of turns, and this game does a great job at sidestepping that. There really is no way of know who will win until that last tile is placed. If you are looking for a fun game to purchase, I would suggest NanoBot Battle Arena, with the caveat of holding off on getting more than one pack until you actually play the game and make your own judgement.

*This only applies to the base version of the game.

Matthew Wilt from The Gamers Lounge unboxes Derpy Games new tabletop game ManoBot Battle Arena!

If you wish to purchase the game, head on over to Derpy Games. Thanks to Derpy Games for supplying a copy for review!