MAC

Oil Rush – Gameplay Video

Oil Rush puts the gamer in a Water World type setting with its unique tower defense strategy gameplay. The precious commodity appears to be oil (nothing new right?). Judging from the factories in the trailer below you have to capture them to get the oil in order to build up units. From what i understand you can spawn jets, helicopters and various types of sea vehicles which seems cool.

Some of the reviews i read and seen seems to cast the game as mediocre at best. Even so its not too boring to look at in video form. Oil Rush is a tower defense strategy game developed by Unigen Corp Russia and published by _No Company for the PC, MAC and UNIX systems. The game released January 25, 2012. Thanks Gamespot.

Mecho Wars – Review

Published By: Creat Studios, Developed By: Oyaji Games, Genre: Strategy, Release Date: Jan 10, 2012, Rating: NA, Systems: PC, Iphone, Playstation Portable, Playstation 3 (Minis), Mac, Wii.

Presentation: For reference pertaining to this particular Gamer Blog article i played Mecho Wars via the Playstation 3 as a Minis download. In essence Mecho Wars is a turn-based strategy game between two warring factions known as the Winged Crusade and Landians. When looking at Mecho Wars entire presentation it holds up surprisingly strong for a Minis. The gameplay is deep and rewarding. The visuals were good along with the sound design. There is content in the form of multiplayer and various unique gamemodes. During my playtime with Mecho Wars i noticed no glitches or technical issues. The game performed practically flawless as a Minis title.

The menus were all navigable and seamless included: Single Player, Multiplayer, Challenge, Options and Extras. When i started Act 1: Rising at first i was alittle confused. Mecho Wars doesn’t tell you literally that there is a tutorial for this strategy game. You just sorta dive in. Since i don’t play many turn based strategy games i was confused at first as to what my goals were. That all changed once the second mission started. The story campaign was good when it was all said and done. Not only do you play practically everytype of gamemode but there is some story elements featuring cutscenes.

Story: The story was a simple one. The story is basically about the Winged Crusade rising up against the Landians. The Winged Crusade are sick of being repressed and decided to take the land for themselves. Gameplay mirrors the story in that you’re creating an army, collecting gold and building bases to fight the Landians (according to the single player story campaign),

Visuals: Creat Studios’s Prime Engine delivered a goodlooking little strategy game. Mecho Wars’s visuals shine most when you’re fighting in turn based battles. The Landians and Winged Crusade troops are nicely rendered with imaginative art designs and good texture texture work. The game doesn’t use many advanced effects but the explosions were always fun to look at. This game uses many light/soft colors which ultimately gives it a relaxed atmosphere which in turn lets you focus clearly when engaged in battle.

Sound Design: The music was good. So was the game’s sound effects. The main menu music was catching enough. Some of the orchestra tunes presented throughout gameplay were conducive in creating a good vibe. The sound design of the explosions while engaging in battle were memorable.

Gameplay: Mecho Wars is a strategy game at its core. You collect gold, buy troops, collect material to build bases and fight turn based battles. Its deeper than that and does take some strategy on the more difficult maps. As i played through the single player i learned strategies and techniques that i then used on the Challenges and Multiplayer sections of Mecho Wars. Gameplay becomes addicting as you build up armies and engage in turn-based battles. Eating cactus is one way of improving your HP gauge after battles. You acquire Gold by capturing structures. Personally i play very little strategy turned based games so this experience was sorta fresh in my mind.

As far as gamemodes go there are plenty when you access the Challenges menu of Mecho Wars. You have Conquer: Capture HQ structures to defeat the enemy.  Golddigger: Accumulate a certain amount of gold in the shortest amount of time. Assassination: target a member of the opposing team and protect your leader. Annililation: Exterminate the enemy and capture structures. Playing through the single player is a great place to learn all of the basics before jumping into a Challenge match. Even still Challenges are diverse, fun and got quite addicting on a few occasions.

Replayability: Online Multiplayer as well Challenge gamemodes lets you play on a few maps including: Mount Isle, Beach Front, Mountain Base, Choke Point, Narrow Pass, Patches, Warfare Isles and Battle Isles. There are many different gamemodes to choose from after you playthrough the story campaign. You can put many hours in this Minis game no problem.

Final Verdict: Mecho Wars is a really good strategy game wrapped in a smaller yet just as enjoyable package as bigger strategy games. Gameplay was fun, addictive and rewarding. The various gamemodes and maps for Multiplayer and Challenge modes adds good replay value.

8/10

Trine 2 – Demo Impressions

The Trine series is another one of those series of games that i never got around to playing the full retail copy of. Trine 2 is a 2D action platformer that sports gorgeous visuals and fun co-op gameplay featuring a Wizard, Thief and Knight. Trine 2 was developed by Frozenbyte, Inc and published by Atlus Co. You can download Trine 2 for your PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, MAC and UNIX systems. It released December 7, 2011. For this particular article i played the demo of Trine 2 on my Playstation 3.

Trine 2′s main menu featured Start Demo, Multiplayer, Extras, Help & Options and Unlock Full Game. Controls via the Duel Shock 3: RS/D-pad-move, L1/R1-switch character, O-open/use, L2-magic, R2-magic, Square-destroy conjured item, X-jump, RS-draw/levitate objects, Select-skills menu, Start-pause. The controls are good. Switching between characters and using their special abilities to solve puzzles was seamless. Fighting with Pontius’s sword and shield was fun. Using Zoya’s grappling hook was difficult at times.

The game centers around three characters and a magical artifact called the Trine. Amadeus the Wizard, Pontius the Knight and Zoya the Thief all met when they each encountered the Trine in their respective homelands. When you play Trine 2′s demo you actually do play between all three characters. You can switch between each (R1 or L1) to use there abilities and overcome obstacles. Amadeus can levitate objects and create boxes out of thin air. Pontius can fight Goblins and bust down walls with his hammer. Zoya uses bows & arrows and has a grappling hook that lets her traverse levels easily.

Trine 2 co-op shines when you use all three character’s powers together to traverse levels and conquar puzzles. Believe me you will have to use every character to make it deep into any of the demo’s levels. Each character has their own health bar. When a character dies they stay dead until they all die or you make it to a new checkpoint. There are multiple checkpoints throughout each level.You cannot beat a level with one character unless it’s their prologue level. I have not played multiplayer (the demo won’t let you). However, what i did play was really good and never became repetitive regarding level design, co-op and puzzles.

Trine 2 is a beautiful game. The striking visuals coupled with fantastic use of colors creates a fantasy world deep with imagination. For a 2D game only Rayman Origins can compete regarding visuals. Trine 2 isn’t just looks. Each character is played out by a good voice actor and all come across with totally different personalities. The music has that classic fantasy vibe that just fits in with Trine 2′s fantastic visuals. The Trine 2 demo features settings of jungles, forests and villages. All are beautifully rendered and unique in design.

Trine 2 has a good demo. Its a decent length that really lets you explore each characters strengths and weaknesses. The puzzles were all decent and combat was fun. The gorgeous visuals made me not want to put the control down. If you’re into co-op 2d games give the Trine 2 demo a try. Its free. Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays!!

Burn Zombie Burn – Review

Published By: Pinnacle, Developed By: Doublesix, Genre: Horror Shooter, Release Date: March 26, 2009, Rating: Mature, Systems: PC, Playstation 3.

Presentation – Burn Zombie Burn is downloadable arcade style top down zombie shooter that features a unique risk/reward style of gameplay. Burning zombies is the name of the game. What makes it interesting is when you do choose to burn zombies not only do they move faster but your multiplier score decreases. Not is all lost since you do get better item drops when you burn them. Burn Zombie Burn’s atmosphere is decent enough. It definitely gave me a zombie vibe from its music score and decent artstyle. No glitches, bugs or anything of that nature to report. Then again the game is a few years old and probably been patched to hell by now. For this particular article i played Burn Zombie Burn on my Playstation 3.

Story – Bruce is the star of Burn Zombie Burn. He likes to comb his hair and wear his cool flames shirt when he dishes out death to zombies. If i can be serious for a minute i couldn’t find a reason for Bruce to kill zombies. They didn’t eat his family. They didn’t kidnapped his GF. The story is basically non-existent. As i played and looked through the menus all i could find was Character Bios you can unlock. Otherwise no story in Burn Zombie Burn.

Visuals – The game does show clear signs of age. The textures are washed out looking. The color scheme looked pedantic. What Burn Zombie Burn graphically excels at even after a few years of age is its artstyle. Bruce along with the various hordes of zombies have a really nice look to them. The settings were varied. There are forest levels, cemetary levels, lab levels and more. Each setting looked average and only made Bruce and the zombies stand out more.

Sound Design – The music was catchy and changed along with gameplay and different levels. The sound effects of the guns as well zombies were crisp and didn’t sound distorted. The sound of the Trumpet attack made the zombies dance to disco music. The latter weapon reminded me of the Groovitron from Ratchet & Clank: Future Tools of Destruction.

Gameplay – Burn Zombie Burn at its essence is a top down zombie shooter featuring wild weapons and crazy weapon combos. Its also a wave game. Or should i say zombie wave game. As far as weapons go there are plenty. Some more outrageous than others. You have the default pistol and the ability to light zombies on fire. Weapon spawns includes a bat that you can literally knock zombies out of the screen with. Gatling gun, shotgun, SMG, Chainsaw (my favorite) and a sword. There are also wacky weapons like i alluded to above. You can use a Trumpet looking device to make zombies dance so you can kill them where they stand.

Zombies ranged from regular grunts to exploding zombies, giant brute zombies who blow flame farts and others. For the most part i would just lock-on and circle the map killing zombies. The more you play the better you will learn where all of the weapon spawns are. I typed this earliar but i want to repeat it here. The uniqueness of Burn Zombie Burn’s gameplay stems from using fire. If you choose to use it its a double edge sword of sorts. The bad is that your multiplier score will suffer from burned zombies but killing them will result in better item drops like TNT, Health and Speed-Out.

This game does get intense and chaotic. Its fun and can get addicting. Fun and addicting almost always go hand in hand. As you earn medals on levels through the story/arcade single player you can unlock more levels and multiplayer. The latter is a good system and ramps up the difficulty at a good pace so you won’t get overwhelmed by zombies. There is a Challenges section that pits you in an arena style battle. In the center is a bomb device. Enemies vary and waves get increasingly tene. Its a typical hone your skills gamemode.

Replayability – 6 story maps and 10 Challenges. Yea, that is about it. Not much content to keep me coming back. Its a fun game but fun needs a companion and that is content and replayability.

Final Verdict – Burn Zombie Burn is a good top down zombie shooter featuring a double-edge sword style of gameplay. Its also fun and addictive. The problem however is the lack of content and replayability. Thanks gameboyuk.

7/10