Friday the 13^th… Ghosts, psychics, mystery’s…Blackwell has it all.

Wadjet Eye Games, a well known indie game development studio, just released all four installments of their Blackwell serieson Steam! A haunted Friday the 13^th is what you get when you decide to buy these games, a more than healthy dose of ‘ghost humor’ is what comes with them.

The beautiful pixel art is eyecandy for those who can appreciate it and the voice acting is a great addition to the games. The first three games are $4.99 each and the latest entry in to the series is $9.99. You can also buy them all at once in the bundle, which would bring you to a total of $19.99.

These games deserve more then just a quick peek, but if you’re not already certain you’re going to buy them, check ‘em out first, then… who knows?

The latest Blackwell game, Blackwell: Deception, has been reviewed by me here, so you should certainly go and check that out.

To purchase the Blackwell adventures on Steam, visit these links:

Blackwell Legacy: http://store.steampowered.com/app/80330
Blackwell Unbound: http://store.steampowered.com/app/80340
Blackwell Convergence: http://store.steampowered.com/app/80350
Blackwell Deception: http://store.steampowered.com/app/80360

The Bundle: http://store.steampowered.com/sub/13237/

For more information on Wadjet Eye Games and the Blackwell series, head on over to the official website.

It is difficult to talk about Minecraft in such small terms since it now encompasses so many things: a genre-making game, a fresh subculture for jaded Lego collectors, a medium for artistic expression, and more, all in a single package. Just to touch on the bare essentials, Minecraft is a procedurally-generated sandbox game that combines exploration, construction, crafting and supply management; all with the promise of creative expression as the glue holding the bricks in place.

Minecraft‘s quintessential elements are mining or otherwise acquiring materials before making whatever you like out of them. When creating a new Survival Mode world to play in, your first question will probably be “What do I do?” The answer is simple and twofold; look around you and start pressing buttons. Experimentation with the cubic terrain and flora will probably lead you to discover that you can remove and replace blocks of matter. In order to save you some time, here’s a protip: hit trees first, since wood is what you could call the root of the tech tree. Not only will you face obstinate trees, dirt, and rock that refuse to budge without some effort and specific tools, but also wildlife, both docile and hostile. Sheep, chicken, wolves, skeletons, zombies, giant spiders and more await the business end of your sword (once you make it). Before that though, it’s more important to erect a shelter of some kind, since monsters come out at night, and spawn with such frequency that you’ll need a place to hide from them.

But wait, there’s more! Not only do you have to defend yourself, but you also have to eat, both to regain health and to keep from starving to death, so find a food source. Also, be sure to watch out for patches of lava both in the open and underground, since touching lava will kill you (unless there’s water nearby) and likely destroy your gear as well. Once you’ve learned to avoid the many dangers, it’s time to mine. But what to do afterwards? Should you build a castle? Dig to bedrock and strip mine for valuable ores? Explore the oceans, swamps, mountains and tundras? Create a pumpkin-headed snowman-making machine? Slay enough monsters to enchant your sword so that it sets enemies on fire? If it isn’t already apparent, the sheer volume of content in Minecraft is brain-meltingly huge, and the possibilities for activities are as limitless as the blocky horizons. On that note, yes, the graphical quality of Minecraft is laughable, but, then again, Super Mario Bros used the same bitmap size for the Mario sprite, and we can’t pan it for that. The terrain has its own organic feel that transcends the voxels of its composition, and the algorithms forming it can produce some breathtaking vistas. The look of Minecraft does take some getting used to, as does practically every other element of the game, and if that was completely intended then more props to Mojang.

If desperately fighting to stay alive isn’t your cut of meat, then perhaps you’d prefer the softer side of Minecraft – the Creative Mode. Invention is inherent to the premise of the game, which could explain why this mode has exactly the same appeal as Garry’s Mod – that of messing around with the game’s mechanics and possibly making or discovering something cool. Here, you have unlimited access to all of the blocks, tools, and items contained in Survival Mode, plus invulnerability and the ability to fly. Given all of that, you could theoretically create a replica of the USS Enterprise, or the Twin Towers, or the Taj Mahal, or something equally as awesome of your own devising as long as you don’t mind playing catch-up.

The author's humble abode

Catching up is something of a must, since Minecraft has technically been available to play and test since May of 2009. Markus “Notch” Persson and his crack coding team have been adding more and more content since the first experimental alpha build, and more is to come. The 1.0.0 version that was warmly celebrated at the MineCon release party is by no means the final one. This is likely the most noteworthy point to be made at the moment about Minecraft: it is a work in progress. Despite the recent inclusion of more monsters, item enchanting, potion brewing, the Nether and End areas to explore and conquer, and a final boss fight; Minecraft is still unfinished. More features are in the works, a list of which would be tedious to go through.

As if all of this isn’t enough, both Survival and Creative modes can be played with friends. Multiplayer servers exist for every game type, and a number of games have been invented within Minecraft, allowing players to compete with others and to test their knowledge of the game. To further enhance the experience there is also a significant pool of mods. The selection is already quite broad, and there are plenty worth trying. Even more so once Mojang finishes its planned mod API, allowing for easier integration.

Credit to GreasyLazor on the Reddit Creative Server

At this point I realize that I have only just began to touch on what Minecraft truly contains. The rabbit-hole runs deep indeed, or rather, the mineshaft. Even if you don’t see a reason to try it on the PC, fear not. Ports are on the tracks and scheduled for arrival within the year — an Xbox Live version is promised, while iOS and Android versions are in early release. Minecraft is without a doubt worth the purchase, and even if you don’t immediately see the appeal and decide to go do something else, Minecraft will still be around in the future, with more goodies in its already gargantuan backpack.

More information on Minecraft can be found at the official website, and purchases can be made at the official store.

Atom Zombie Smasher by Blendo Games is the most fun I have had on my PC in quite some time. The game is insanely addictive and very challenging. Who knew that bombarding pink dots with artillery shells could be so much fun?

Unlike most zombie games, Atom Zombie Smasher takes you far away from the action. Everything is shown from a top-down perspective over different sectors of the city where you will issue commands, order evacuation helicopters and reign down orbital barrages to thwart the Zombie menace. The game is very dynamic, but each mission starts with you selecting a territory. You are then presented with a planning phase where you can place your evac helicopter and other mercenaries on the city map. Once you’re ready, the zombie hordes start flooding into the city. During this action phase, you can move your mercenaries around, fire artillery and trigger TNT explosions. The baseline goal is to save the prescribed number of civilians, but if you want to stand a chance you’ll need to eradicate the zombies before nightfall and capture the territory. All of this carnage boils down to a simple scoring system; the first side to reach the set number of victory points wins the game.

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Avadon is the latest RPG that has come out of Spiderweb Software Inc., the home of Jeff Vogel. He is the creator of the long running series Avernum and Geneforge. Avadon, however, is not part of any series that he is doing. It is a standalone game that excels in the places where most RPGs fail and ignores what most RPGs spend all their time on.

I am a RPG fanatic at heart, and it truly pains me seeing how poorly a lot of indie RPG titles are done. They concentrate so hard on the graphics and the combat that the story is laughable at best. The characters in these games are negligable, and the enemies are lame and predictable. To be perfectly honest, I had almost given up on indie RPG titles all together.

That was until I played Avadon. The graphics are adequate but with plenty of room to expand if the team were properly outfited. The combat is easy to control, and moves nicely along without moving too quick. The story truly keeps you moving along, if for nothing else, than to see what happens next. It is well written with plenty of dialog between characters to avoid bland storyboards to tell you what is going on. The is no voice acting for the dialog, but given some of the voice acting that I have heard from small studios before, I am not going to list this as lacking from the game. The world that Avadon takes place in has enough back story to it that you really do care what happens to it in the end. The game is also layed out in such a way that the choices you make during the game will adjust the world to suit. This is a major point that is even lacking in several AAA RPG titles.

No game that I have played up to this point has been perfect, and Avadon is no exception. The game is very linear, greatly limiting the number of locations in the world that you can visit. This is done in such a way, however, that this game seems perfectly fitted to a beginner in the RPG genre. The characters are also sticking to the beginner feel of the game. Given my experiences with the RPG genre (PC, Console, and paper varieties) I found this to be slightly aggravating at times.

All in all, I would have to recommend this game to people who are beginners to the RPG genre or have never had the pleasure of playing a title from Jeff Vogel. For hardcore RPG fans who are already familiar with Jeff’s work though, I would have to say this game is most likely too linear and user friendly. Now I need your help. I am looking for more indie RPG titles that are worth checking out. Have a good one to share?  Let me know in the forums!

Each turn lasts a total of five seconds but players are given the opportunity to preview how scenarios may play out, and can attempt to second guess their opponents. When players feel that the perfect plan is in place, they simply commit to a turn and the outcome is played out. However, there are no second chances. Once you commit you must watch, sometimes in heartbreak, as your squad moves around the map.

The graphical style is simple but clean and efficient. Rooms are illustrated as 2D overlays with shades of blues on display. This works to perfectly outline where cover is available and how the room is arranged. Explosions are dazzling and fire fights are easily distinguishable. It is a pleasure to play such a tactical shooter when everything is readily identified. The only downfall in presentation is that the turn overlay covers the bottom of the map. This can hide some of the action or potential moves and requires players to take some care to ensure that their squad does not get caught off guard.

There is a comprehensive tutorial that demonstrates a player’s “skill with clicking”. This can be played or watched online. The tutorial is invaluable as it breaks the game down into simple steps that, when combined, see a player’s squad scramble around any map eliminating opponents with military precision.

The single player campaign acts as a proving ground for any new player. Like the tutorial, players will refine essential skills to help the squad survive and overcome the opponent. There are 55 campaign missions in all which see you command squads engaging in many different scenarios. The missions range from escorting a NPC across an area to eliminating a staff of scientists to taking down enemy squads in an area. Once a mission is completed, players are given the option to watch the action back. However, if a mission is failed, there are no second chances. Levels are randomly generated so a failed mission will not appear the same again. While the basic objective remains constant, the squad at hand, the enemies and even the layout may change.

If that wasn’t enough, players have the option to engage in instant skirmishes, which is a randomly generated scenario, or can generate a custom scenario. Every detail can be customised from map size, squad composition all the way to the overall play style of the AI. There is a seemingly endless combination of possible scenarios available to players.

While the single player provides plenty of play time but the main draw of Frozen Synapse is the multiplayer element. It is possible to make yourself available for challenges or directly challenge other players. Games can be accepted and participated in at any time. When new turns are available, a notification will appear which gives the player the option of immediately crafting a turn. However, players are free to play at their leisure. If offline, players will be notified by e-mail that a new turn is available. There are five unique game modes available and two different versions of each. A game can either be “light”, which means that enemies are always visible on the map, or “dark”, which means that enemies will only be visible when in sight and will appear as ghosts in their last known position.

The multiplayer interface is full of information ranging from the best ranked players to results of matches and new games started. Popular recent games are also highlighted with the replay available to watch and learn from. Player profiles and replays can also be searched. Frozen Synapse also makes it quick and convenient to export results to Facebook and Twitter, or replays to YouTube. There is a wealth of information available online at any given time.

Frozen Synapse is quite simply sublime. The concept and mechanics are simple but the game has plenty of depth to it. It is well executed and well presented throughout. It is amazing to think how important five seconds can be. One wrong move in a five second window can be the difference between success and failure.

Shadowgrounds is a top down, fast-paced shoot-em-up similar to that of Alien Breed. Humans have expanded their civilization to one of Jupiter’s moons and you’re one of the unfortunates. An alien invasion hits and you must stop them before they reach earth. You’re tasked with being the game’s Duke Nukem, although there aren’t many babes on this planet so you’ll find this protagonist quite reserved, unless there are aliens to kill.

The game sports a varied group of enemy types to keep things entertaining, all with different approaches to killing you. Smaller spiders will hide in the shadows and try to sneak up on you from behind, whereas the larger ones are fast and will charge you head-on if you get too close. Each level introduces a new alien type slowly so you can learn their behaviour before you encounter the next kind.

It’s the same story with your gun arsenal. All are unique and prove useful on whatever type of alien your fighting, enabling you to experiment with all your guns to find your favourites. The upgrades are what you’d expect, normally being increased damage or a bigger ammo capacity but they all however have a secondary ability to unlock. Some prove extremely useful such as the laser rifle’s constant beam or the minigun turret. You regularly find all ammo types too so you don’t feel the need to be reserved with your big guns.

The levels are kept quite fresh bearing in mind the setting. The planet is a dust-covered wasteland, so research facilities with greenhouses and underground mines with glowing crystal are a nice touch and well thought out. This doesn’t stop you seeing a lot of metal buildings but you’ll find yourself enjoy the times you do explore somewhere new.

This game does a great job of keeping things challenging as well once you’ve found some of the more powerful guns. Bigger swarms and tighter environments keep you on your toes whilst combining different enemy types makes you really think about your tools and prioritizing your kills.

The last pieces of equipment you have are your motion scanner and flashlight. The game is, for the most part very dark, making these tools fundamental in your gameplay. The scanner works well in mapping out stationary targets but isn’t much use in tracking the ones on the move. The flashlight on the other hand has a few unique uses such as scaring off smaller aliens or breaking invisibility. Turning it off altogether at times can alternatively enable you to sneak around targets, keeping your killing methods diverse.

During gameplay, with its dark environments filled with wreckage and human corpses, it makes a good effort with building atmosphere. It’s soundtrack also scores well here, with ambient orchestrated themes during the quieter moments and heavy guitar solos during exciting boss fights. Dull dialogue, some bugs and badly made cut-scenes let those good points down unfortunately. Just when I’m getting hesitant about opening the next door something bursts the bubble. Walking too close to walls caused me to get stuck and cut-scenes lacked any animation. Vehicles in particular play a key role during the string-along plot but haven’t been animated, making for wheels dragging across the floor. Characters model’s also don’t have any speech animation but I’m willing to be generous on graphics due to this game’s age.

Problems aside, there are two things I craved during my play-through that would make a big improvement as a whole; Boss fights and Checkpoints. Bosses are a rarity with swarm events being preferred, which is just more of what your already fighting regularly. Boss battles don’t only just act as a challenge but are a great way of breaking up repetition and keeps your players interested. Save points in Shadowgrounds are between each level, which can last up to 45 minutes depending on exploration and the size of the area. If you quit half-way through a level, you’ll have to start right from the beginning.

No matter the amount of faults I can think up with this game, it never put me off. Through all the sometimes boring settings and robot feel of the characters, Shadowgrounds assured excitement. Cooperative play exists in this game but doesn’t have the hectic challenging fun that Trine’s multiplayer had. The game is already hectically challenging which fades with extra players, making this game have no real replayability. Play this game on your own in a dark room and watch how late you stay up.

Fractal by the Philadelphia based Cipher Prime crew is a puzzle game. The player manipulates or “pushes” hexagon fractals to create combinations of 7 called “blooms.” When the 7 fractals come together, the bloom is complete and explodes. Various combinations can come together to produce huge clusters of blooms. In the main campaign mode of the game, the player only has a limited number of pushes to utilize, so every move counts. Under the surface, the game is complex and extremely intuitive with an organic feel.

Fractal offers the player three modes of play: Campaign, Puzzle and Arcade. Campaign is the traditional linear model with the player completing and progressing to the next level. The Puzzle and Arcade modes included hosts of irregular patterns as the name Fractal implies. The game isn’t as simple as pushing fractals to complete blooms, as you get deeper into the gameplay there are specialized fractals which allow for clearing multiple tiles, such as exploding fractals, lightening fractals and others I’m not too sure about. All the modes have scoreboards which rank the top players for each; it adds an element of competition so the player isn’t just playing themselves.

Looking at the Campaign Mode, things start off pretty basic, complete the bloom and move to the next level. Each level has a number of bloom points needed to progress and the game becomes increasing more complicated as the player moves along. There are only a few save points, so the player has to ration their pushes or risk starting over again. It can be both fun and frustrating.

Puzzle Mode offers different puzzles with objectives that need to be accomplished with limited fractal pushes. Sometimes this means clearing a whole board with one or two pushes causing a change reaction. There really are a lot of ways to play and the puzzle mode will exercise your skills for the campaign mode. It’s almost like a tutorial of different puzzle sets. The sets, once unlocked become progressively more complicated and require some strategy.

In the Arcade Mode, levels are timed and broken down by player style. Each style highlights different constraints based on Speed, Agility and Confidence. For example, Speed allows for maximum bloom explosions and one playable color, while Confidence has two colors and a higher difficulty when it comes to creating blooms. The objective is to keep the clock from timing down which will end your run. During the course of the gameplay, there are specialized fractals that pop up and add more time to the countdown. The player also doesn’t have to worry about running out of push fractals, which makes for a fast pace and sometimes chaotic time.

There is much to be said for simple clean looking graphics and the boys over at Cipher Prime really capitalize on that style. The graphics simultaneously give both the sense of elegance seen in the best mainstream games while maintaining the feel of an indie studio. The luminous color combinations bring a dramatic impact to the simplicity of the style and richly reward the player with a fan-freaking-tastic color orgy for the eyes.

The studio has cleverly included helpful little hand-drawn tips drawn into the level backgrounds. In the earlier levels these serve to as the tutorial. Some of these tips are as simple as “push here” or quirky like “good luck, sweetheart.” I’m a huge fan of the design of this game. The player can tell that Cipher Prime spent heaps of time paying attention to the details of the game. This detail goes right down to the “spiffy” comments that scroll across the game after particularly good combinations of blooms. I have to admit, my favorite still is: “Holy Hasselhoff.”

Like Cipher Prime’s Auditorium and forthcoming Pulse, music plays an important role. In Fractal the tempo of the music increases along with the tempo of gameplay. The music builds upon itself incrementally chord upon chord, which seems to incorporate fractal points which can be found in music theory. Ultimately the player is pushing fractals out to some serious beats.

In terms of lasting appeal, Fractal has hours of complex and satisfying puzzles. Fractals in mathematics include irregular patterns which often cannot be expressed by classical geometry; as such, Fractal the game lends itself to varying degrees of complexity and unique play each and every time. If you’re looking for a smart and sophisticated game, be sure to try Fractal.

Much like the grand theaters it shares its title with, Auditorium delivers a potent blend of light and sound. The first game from Cipher Prime is a puzzler in which you must bend the flow of light and transform it into music. Combining unique gameplay with a complimentary orchestral score ensures that Auditorium is a game that simply must be experienced to appreciate. There is a free Flash demo of the game available at www.playauditorium.com. Auditorium is also available on iPhone and the upgraded Auditorium HD is available on the Playstation Network.

Auditorium’s gameplay is innovative and unique. It is much easier to pick up and play than explain. The objective of the game is to manipulate light particles and fill audio destinations with the appropriately colored particles. Every level in Auditorium gives you a different set of controls to manipulate these particles. These controls range from the basic four directions to the more complex black hole and reflector controls. The freedom to experiment and solve every puzzle however you want is what makes the gameplay so enjoyable. Effectively, there is no right or wrong way to solve a level. This freedom makes each level feel more like a playground than a puzzle. The diversity of puzzle solutions coupled with no time limits and no failure conditions makes Auditorium a relaxing and enjoyable interactive experience.

Despite the lack of failure conditions, Auditorium’s puzzles are still challenging (especially Auditorium HD’s Modern Levels). Whereas some levels can be solved in mere seconds there are others that will have you stumped for minutes, hours, or even days. The simplicity of the gameplay and cleanliness of the user interface enable Auditorium to feel more like interactive art than a video game. Including a timer, lives, and other intrusive HUD elements would certainly have a negative impact on the experience.

Auditorium benefits from a simple design, excellent visual effects and a sublime soundtrack. The visuals of Auditorium are simple enough; colored particles fly across a black background. In motion though, these particles bend and move to create some truly mesmerizing visuals. The dynamic nature of the special effects is amusing and supports the experimentation and freedom offered in the gameplay.

As the name indicates, the real star of the show in Auditorium is the excellent music and orchestral score. What is the point of a game about turning light into sound if the sound is abysmal, right? Fortunately the developers have composed an excellent soundtrack that serves as more than just a pleasure on the ears. As you get closer to solving a level’s puzzle, the music will evolve and become richer with more instruments and musical elements being added to reward the player. Every puzzle is neatly wrapped up with an excellent snare drum roll effect and a slick visual fade.

Auditorium excels because all of the elements come together to create an enjoyable whole. However, Auditorium does have its shortcomings. The slow pacing of the game is not for everyone and apart from fulfilling any curious desire to find additional level solutions, there is not much replay value to be found here. The methodical gameplay is not meant for long play sessions and Auditorium is best experienced in short bursts. Auditorium is most effective when you boot it up to relax and experiment with the dazzling lights and sounds. Approach Auditorium as an interactive art experience and the $10 admission fee is an absolute steal.

With a unique blend of 8-bit and smooth 3D graphics, BIT.TRIP RUNNER brings a fresh take on rhythm games to the table. The greatest thing about the game is that while you are learning the dodges required to traverse the level, each move you make is assigned its own sound. Combine this with a soundtrack that builds in intensity as you progress, and you have a game that turns your keyboard into a musical instrument – each level is like learning a musical score! BIT.TRIP RUNNER is deviously simple, but utterly addictive. It’s best aspect though, is bringing a smile of satisfaction across your face with every level completed, which is accompanied by a glorious soundtrack that you helped to create. I am proud to say I played this until my fingers went numb.