So, I own two laptops, a tablet and two portables. I like to have the latest toys, will probably never be out of debt because of this but really its just the way I roll. That said, I'm always curious as to whether my toys are the latest and greatest or if I'm falling behind the game so I did some surfing tonight and here's what I found.
My Laptop(s)
Asus g750 (2014 model year)
. core i7 2.4 clockable to 4.2ghz
. geforce 880m graphics
. 32gig ddr3 ram
. 512 solid state, 1gig 720rpm hd's
. not going to detail my second laptop, its a x551m, cost just over 200 bucks. I own it for the light weight of it, long battery life, for quick blogging, surfing and movie watching. no gaming.
I took a glance at the surface pro 3. Powerful tablet....laptop... thingie. Its always on my radar, never know when tablets will finally surpass laptops/desktops performance wise and the surface is definitely the closest its gotten to date. But, all hardware specs fall short of the g750 except convienence of portability and the price is actually higher than mine. Oh and all games I've seen running on it have been a excessively low settings and still had framerate issues. Meh. Also took a glance at the razer blade pro and edge pro. The Edge pro is a year behind across the board and the blade pro is behind on all specs though damn is it gorgeous to look at. Super slim, amazing really. My laptop beats everything I glanced at performance wise... and weight.... heh.
I don't really search for upgrades to my tablet. I prefer a ipad, period. And that means I know exactly where my potential upgrade will be when it arrives, apple.com and in september. Probably won't buy the air 2 or whatever they call it. My air is amazingly slim, really powerful and I hear rumors that this years model will be a simple processor upgrade and not much else.
The Vita slim is out. All performance related spects are unchanged except for the screen which is actually a psp1 quality. The bad? Obviously lower quality visuals. The good? Much much longer battery life and the images don't 'burn' in to the screen display when left on for too long. I like the slim, better looking controls everywhere, smaller rear touch pad means I won't hit it as often, screen i could deal with but... well I have a hard enough time actually paying attention to my vita. Not about to drop 200+ on a vita slim just so I can ignore it.
Nintendo, 3ds xl. No changes. still same device.
Thank god I don't need upgrades, still paying for two of my current toys :P
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Traps 'n Gemstones
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id887421672?mt=8
2.99usd, universal, 17mb download, gamecenter enabled.
New Metroidvania genre game hit thursday, I would of missed it if it werent for my co-worker and toucharcade declaring it their favorites of the week. For those not in the know, the term metroidvania describes both the snes metroid era games and the same era of castlevania titles. The entire game is side view, its a solid action platformer, full of puzzles and lots of things to collect. Also a staple of the genre, the game has a large amount of exploration and plenty of ways to get you lost.
This game feels like your playing out an indiana jones adventure, someone stole abunch of relics in a pyramid and the local.. enhabitants who are normally quite inert are now running around trying to kill anyone including you. Equipped with a whip and an assortment of tools that you find as you explore, your job is to free the explorers tied up in the place and recover the relics.
There is a score system which is pretty much 'how far can you go before you die'. Its tied to gamecenter, achievements, leaderboards, friends list. The score is your 'personal best', not an accumulation of all your play sessions. Leaving the game does reset this score however re-entering the pyramid restocks the thing with everything you looted so if your determined to beat a friends score, have at it.
So far, one hit from an enemy kills you. Graphics are simple, and good. Sound is fine. Controls are straight forward. Left bottom screen has your left/right movement arrows. Bottom right has a jump button, a roll button and your attack button. When ever you are near something that you can use a tool to interact with, a button will appear on the interactable object.. Top right corner opens your backpack which shows map, inventory, etc. Top left pauses to return you to the menus.
This game is on sale for july only, august it goes up to normal price, 40% increase. So... I'd expect 5 bucks next month if you don't pick it up right quick.
Two thumbs up, get it.
o7
Friday, July 25, 2014
Weekly Release Roundup
Been a quiet start to the week, nothing of any real interest had me till last night when the iOS got their weekly update finally. Lets start off with the big dog of the list, I picked up three games total.
Modern Combat 5
https://itunes.apple.com/app/modern-combat-5-blackout/id656176278?mt=8
6.99usd, universal, 708mb download, gamecenter enabled.
Hello latest installment of the primer first person shooter franchise on the iOS. Ever played call of duty? Modern Combat so closely follows CoD that its considered to be a touch screen clone and... well yea it definitely is. Plays just like any CoD game ever, especially if you opt to plug a controller in to your devices blu tooth.
Good game, LOTS to do. character, weapons, upgrades, tech trees, single player campaign, single player missions, mutliplayer, etc, etc. Only thing folks are complaining about is the always online requirement. Can't complain too much in my opinion. The always online mode prevents theft and with theft deterred Gameloft rewarded us with zero iap ingame. A good trade in my opinion.
Dream Revenant
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dream-revenant/id869315916
1.99usd, universal, 372mb download, no gamecenter.
Fantastic sequel to Dream:scape! Explore, collect stuff, experience an awesome story, deal with big unpleasant critters heh. Headphones or a turned up speaker a must. Full 3d explorable enviroments.
There was a third game but its iphone only and in protest I deleted it. Whats with that? In this day and age, non universal games? Pfft.
Modern Combat 5
https://itunes.apple.com/app/modern-combat-5-blackout/id656176278?mt=8
6.99usd, universal, 708mb download, gamecenter enabled.
Hello latest installment of the primer first person shooter franchise on the iOS. Ever played call of duty? Modern Combat so closely follows CoD that its considered to be a touch screen clone and... well yea it definitely is. Plays just like any CoD game ever, especially if you opt to plug a controller in to your devices blu tooth.
Good game, LOTS to do. character, weapons, upgrades, tech trees, single player campaign, single player missions, mutliplayer, etc, etc. Only thing folks are complaining about is the always online requirement. Can't complain too much in my opinion. The always online mode prevents theft and with theft deterred Gameloft rewarded us with zero iap ingame. A good trade in my opinion.
Dream Revenant
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dream-revenant/id869315916
1.99usd, universal, 372mb download, no gamecenter.
Fantastic sequel to Dream:scape! Explore, collect stuff, experience an awesome story, deal with big unpleasant critters heh. Headphones or a turned up speaker a must. Full 3d explorable enviroments.
There was a third game but its iphone only and in protest I deleted it. Whats with that? In this day and age, non universal games? Pfft.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Week Release Roundup
Decent week for games. Yes, I'm definitely occupied all round between kerbal, warlords beta, and whatnot but I did still pick up several games for the iOS and here they are. Didn't get anything new for the vita and its been months since my 3ds interested me so, this round up is strictly iOS.
Zombie Commando
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zombie-commando/id879470635?mt=8
1.99usd, 30mb download, gamecenter enabled.
You have a team of survivors all equipped with a variety of weapons. You control this team with a simple joystick mechanic and your goal is to keep the little buggars alive. Entertaining little game, collect coin from your kills, spend coin on additional team mates and leveling up the folks you already have. A whole lot of stages, all reward stars based on speed and accuracy of your run throughs. Only minor annoyance I have? Your people will not shoot while running. Infact they'll let stray zombies chew the hell out of them if your running across a stage and one happens to be within biting range.
That said, it is an entertaining game, worth looking in to. Zero iap.
Guardians of the Galaxy : The Universal Weapon
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id834485417?mt=8
4.99usd, 71.6mb download (liars!), universal, gamecenter enabled.
First things first. This game is NOT 71mb in size. Once you launch the game it begins the actual games downloading, at almost a gig in size. Do not buy this game on your lte or 4g connections. That said, this is a very nice take on the battleheart genre playstyle. You have your main characters, tap drag to attack enemies, special abilities to heal, do damage, etc. Loot comes from mission rewards and a market, equip your people, improve them, etc. Leveling up the guardians improves all their stats, unlocks stuff as you progress. All stages are repeatable for increasingly better rewards. All the humor of the comic is in this game, slap stick, banter, you name it. There are alot of stages to complete, plenty to keep us occupied. Zero iap, no internet connection requirement. Two thumbs up so far!
Mad Bullets
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mad-bullets/id770839469?mt=8
Free, 68mb download, univseral, gamecenter enabled.
Endless Rail shooter. Very good one too, charming graphics, a whole lot of action, im enjoying myself so far. Essentially you tap to shoot. Shot anything glowing yellow, those are crates and barrels and have loot in them. Shoot red hostiles before the shoot at you. If they shoot at you ,shoot the bullet before i reaches you. Do not shoot the green civilians, though you can shoot the chains to free them or the beer mugs to get them to pay attention. Everything shot earns cash, cash is spent on buff improvement in all aspects of the game play. Periodically you rank up improving things even more, carry more ammo etc.
Iap is present in the form of coin packs, coin doubler and a ad remover. Personally, I think any purchase what so ever should remove the ads but thats just me. Good game here, worth the free asking price :P
Two other games I picked up didn't hold my interest, one near put me to sleep so here you go. My new releases o7
Zombie Commando
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zombie-commando/id879470635?mt=8
1.99usd, 30mb download, gamecenter enabled.
You have a team of survivors all equipped with a variety of weapons. You control this team with a simple joystick mechanic and your goal is to keep the little buggars alive. Entertaining little game, collect coin from your kills, spend coin on additional team mates and leveling up the folks you already have. A whole lot of stages, all reward stars based on speed and accuracy of your run throughs. Only minor annoyance I have? Your people will not shoot while running. Infact they'll let stray zombies chew the hell out of them if your running across a stage and one happens to be within biting range.
That said, it is an entertaining game, worth looking in to. Zero iap.
Guardians of the Galaxy : The Universal Weapon
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id834485417?mt=8
4.99usd, 71.6mb download (liars!), universal, gamecenter enabled.
First things first. This game is NOT 71mb in size. Once you launch the game it begins the actual games downloading, at almost a gig in size. Do not buy this game on your lte or 4g connections. That said, this is a very nice take on the battleheart genre playstyle. You have your main characters, tap drag to attack enemies, special abilities to heal, do damage, etc. Loot comes from mission rewards and a market, equip your people, improve them, etc. Leveling up the guardians improves all their stats, unlocks stuff as you progress. All stages are repeatable for increasingly better rewards. All the humor of the comic is in this game, slap stick, banter, you name it. There are alot of stages to complete, plenty to keep us occupied. Zero iap, no internet connection requirement. Two thumbs up so far!
Mad Bullets
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mad-bullets/id770839469?mt=8
Free, 68mb download, univseral, gamecenter enabled.
Endless Rail shooter. Very good one too, charming graphics, a whole lot of action, im enjoying myself so far. Essentially you tap to shoot. Shot anything glowing yellow, those are crates and barrels and have loot in them. Shoot red hostiles before the shoot at you. If they shoot at you ,shoot the bullet before i reaches you. Do not shoot the green civilians, though you can shoot the chains to free them or the beer mugs to get them to pay attention. Everything shot earns cash, cash is spent on buff improvement in all aspects of the game play. Periodically you rank up improving things even more, carry more ammo etc.
Iap is present in the form of coin packs, coin doubler and a ad remover. Personally, I think any purchase what so ever should remove the ads but thats just me. Good game here, worth the free asking price :P
Two other games I picked up didn't hold my interest, one near put me to sleep so here you go. My new releases o7
Friday, July 18, 2014
Kerbal Space Program
The .24 "First Contract" update is live!
-runs around in circles, goes and plays career mode-
(too excited to wax poetic about the update atm, will do a proper blog entry later with pictures and stuff :) )
-runs around in circles, goes and plays career mode-
(too excited to wax poetic about the update atm, will do a proper blog entry later with pictures and stuff :) )
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Warlords of Draenor
Checked my email last night, my invite's apparently been waiting for me for about half a week! Things to know about the beta :
Level 92 is the current cap.
The game isnt optimized for computers so your either 60 fps and winning or like me and struggling to find 25.
Alot of cutscenes arent in game yet.
Several character models entirely arent in game yet.
The story follows the break. Spoilers follow.
Level 92 is the current cap.
The game isnt optimized for computers so your either 60 fps and winning or like me and struggling to find 25.
Alot of cutscenes arent in game yet.
Several character models entirely arent in game yet.
The story follows the break. Spoilers follow.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Minecraft
Final day of weekend duty... final day of seven day stretch.... can... make... it.
Mojang now offers a server subscription service and since all my mmo's are currently cancelled I figure what the heck. A persistant world for me and some friends, the service allows up to 10 people online at a time, up to 20 folks on the allowed list. Its a vanilla server, this service does not support any mods. When they get the mobile pocket edition of the service up and running I hear pocket players will be able to run around on the same servers as pc users so win win. I set up a survival server, large biomes.
-loads up world, logs in-
-runs around looking for trees to beat with his fist-
-gets up to take care of counter at work-
-comes back, dead from zombie-
-releases, zombie is nearby, chases him up a mountain-
-two skeletons up there, zombie coming from below-
-disconnects, changes server to peaceful, logs back in-
Christ. So anyways, low lands, nearby water, near by huge mountains, spotted caves, plentiful resources. Its promising.
Mojang now offers a server subscription service and since all my mmo's are currently cancelled I figure what the heck. A persistant world for me and some friends, the service allows up to 10 people online at a time, up to 20 folks on the allowed list. Its a vanilla server, this service does not support any mods. When they get the mobile pocket edition of the service up and running I hear pocket players will be able to run around on the same servers as pc users so win win. I set up a survival server, large biomes.
-loads up world, logs in-
-runs around looking for trees to beat with his fist-
-gets up to take care of counter at work-
-comes back, dead from zombie-
-releases, zombie is nearby, chases him up a mountain-
-two skeletons up there, zombie coming from below-
-disconnects, changes server to peaceful, logs back in-
Christ. So anyways, low lands, nearby water, near by huge mountains, spotted caves, plentiful resources. Its promising.
Followup Supernauts
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/supernauts/id504504940?mt=8
Free, 82mb download, gamecenter enabled.
Supernauts continues to keep me entertained after more than a week since its launch. I've been steadily completing the robots quests, expanding as told, just unlocked a new turf, the desert looking one. I had originally decided that my main turf was going to be a temple of sorts but last night while staring at it, it occured to me that the game is literally a creative mode minecraft with iap and timers.
With that in mind I decided I would build a supernaut version of something i had built in minecraft, see how it turned out. My first plan was going to build one of those super tall tower keep things with huge arms spanning out from the center pillar that always seems to end up being my home but after fiddling with it briefly I changed my mind. One of my early designs on a multiplayer minecraft server was a airship. And well this game has most of the tiles I like using in the design so a simpler version of my airship it will be.
Several mechanics to the game require certain things be observed when designing. First, you can not place completely free floating blocks, they must always have a connection to a solid surface. Was funny, the first complete outline I did for the ship, when I deleted the connecting blocks to the mainland, the entire ship frame fell to the bottom of the playable area. Embarassment followed as a friend happened to be watching when it happened. Ahh well. Second rule, you have to be within 4 or 5 tiles of earth tile when building. out in to open area. I had originally completely tore out all the ground around the ship frame before even starting the frame and had to completely replace a layer of earth in order to do any building at all.
So yea, frame installed, started working on the belly and the main deck in the above photos.
I got tired of waiting for the deck materials to finish being built at the bots so started spitting out stone that is used here for the air blimp portion of the airship. Added plaster for the blue stripes and the rigging connecting the ship to the blimp is actually sand heh!. Also made some outline progress on the main island. With the ship finished I was able to fully remove the earth from around the ship and even went down there and persued the chests that you dig up when excavating.
Now that the ship is finished I'm working on the main island full force, gutting out all the rock and lower layer of dirt beneath the island. I'll be squaring the entire thing off and am already doing some creative design work so that it dosent look like one big solid square. Definitely having fun with this game :) The crew I'm in is from mojo-farm, we particpate in all the events and tend to pull decent winnings for out efforts.
Events are pretty cool. What happens is an event starts and that blue little boat next to my aiship accepts resources. When you tap on the ship you see a series of materials that the contest wants along with quantities. When you fill all the current crates you receive the reward listed and advance one square across the progress bar. Completing the progress bar is completely optional but the rewards to get increasingly better the further you make it.
The other reason for progressing as best you can is that all the resources you send of actually are delivered to one centeral spot where you will build with your crew mates something based on the theme of the event. We built a stable and some other things cowboy themed for the western event and several crew mates as I post this are working on eiffel tower for the current event.
Cool stuff, good rewards. Good game, get it.
o7
Free, 82mb download, gamecenter enabled.
Supernauts continues to keep me entertained after more than a week since its launch. I've been steadily completing the robots quests, expanding as told, just unlocked a new turf, the desert looking one. I had originally decided that my main turf was going to be a temple of sorts but last night while staring at it, it occured to me that the game is literally a creative mode minecraft with iap and timers.
With that in mind I decided I would build a supernaut version of something i had built in minecraft, see how it turned out. My first plan was going to build one of those super tall tower keep things with huge arms spanning out from the center pillar that always seems to end up being my home but after fiddling with it briefly I changed my mind. One of my early designs on a multiplayer minecraft server was a airship. And well this game has most of the tiles I like using in the design so a simpler version of my airship it will be.
Several mechanics to the game require certain things be observed when designing. First, you can not place completely free floating blocks, they must always have a connection to a solid surface. Was funny, the first complete outline I did for the ship, when I deleted the connecting blocks to the mainland, the entire ship frame fell to the bottom of the playable area. Embarassment followed as a friend happened to be watching when it happened. Ahh well. Second rule, you have to be within 4 or 5 tiles of earth tile when building. out in to open area. I had originally completely tore out all the ground around the ship frame before even starting the frame and had to completely replace a layer of earth in order to do any building at all.
So yea, frame installed, started working on the belly and the main deck in the above photos.
I got tired of waiting for the deck materials to finish being built at the bots so started spitting out stone that is used here for the air blimp portion of the airship. Added plaster for the blue stripes and the rigging connecting the ship to the blimp is actually sand heh!. Also made some outline progress on the main island. With the ship finished I was able to fully remove the earth from around the ship and even went down there and persued the chests that you dig up when excavating.
Now that the ship is finished I'm working on the main island full force, gutting out all the rock and lower layer of dirt beneath the island. I'll be squaring the entire thing off and am already doing some creative design work so that it dosent look like one big solid square. Definitely having fun with this game :) The crew I'm in is from mojo-farm, we particpate in all the events and tend to pull decent winnings for out efforts.
Events are pretty cool. What happens is an event starts and that blue little boat next to my aiship accepts resources. When you tap on the ship you see a series of materials that the contest wants along with quantities. When you fill all the current crates you receive the reward listed and advance one square across the progress bar. Completing the progress bar is completely optional but the rewards to get increasingly better the further you make it.
The other reason for progressing as best you can is that all the resources you send of actually are delivered to one centeral spot where you will build with your crew mates something based on the theme of the event. We built a stable and some other things cowboy themed for the western event and several crew mates as I post this are working on eiffel tower for the current event.
Cool stuff, good rewards. Good game, get it.
o7
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Game updates and articles
Viscera Cleanup Detail
http://www.runestorm.com/viscera
I've mentioned this title before, fantastic game with a really unique approach. You are the janitor. You know, the guy who goes through the stages cleaning up after the hero once he's finished ransacking, shooting and looting everything on the entire stage. Its your job to clean up the blood, bodies, ammuniton casings, refill medical kits, even place wet floor signs out. And... oddly its a whole lot of fun heh! Full co-op, large and varied stages and the ability to mod and add your own custom stages are in the plans. And this games just in early access atm. Epic.
Today saw a new upate for the game and the patch notes are lengthy and glorious. Here they are :
. Fixed pickup highlighting on bucket water surface
. Fixed pickup highlighting when not using hands
. Turned the 'GRAPHICS TO WASTE' knob down from 11 to 3 on the incinerator fire effects
. Also optimized the fire effect for burning objects
. Added extra fire effects for open incinerator doors
. Moved non-common classes and references to sub-package to prepare for mod support
. Added new Dig-Site map
. Added the Sandtrap actor
. Added new tool: The Shovel
. Added new sand mechanics
. Spare tools now show on back of janitor
. Implemented janitor gibs
. Increased mop and bucket saturation limits (yay!)
. Decreased bucket and bin machine jam rates (yay!)
. Movable dig site light actors
. New crates
. Bloody worker body textures
. Removed slippery areas from Evil Science...for now.
. Fixed med-pack lids behaving oddly after loading.
. Improved Trophy system to store anything you personally put in there.
. Improved janitor trunk to carry over skeletal viscera properly.
. Removed unused 'Use' Key from input bindings.
. Improved punchout system to punish you more accurately. (Doesn't apply to old saves)
. Implemented some extra optional/bonus janitorial tasks [Stacking Areas]
. Fixed fires causing scorch marks underwater.
Definitely enjoying the new stage and the increased usability of mops, buckets and reduction in jam frequency of the bucket/bin generators. This game may be in early access but it dosent feel it at all. Highly recommended! Buy it from their website or from steam for 8 bucks.
http://steamcommunity.com/games/246900/announcements/detail/294174670468716583
Kerbal Space Program
https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/
Not quite an update to the game yet but there's the video that shows how the contract system works and there's also a blog with run down on what first contract (the next updates name) will consist of :
. Contract system. Mission control will over you actual jobs with specific goals. Meet those goals and earn cash and reputation.
. Funds and Reputation. Funds are required to launch vessels (all parts have price tags on them) and reputation is required for accessing larger, more complex, more rewarding contracts.
. Vessel Recovery. With the addition of funds, naturally you will want to try and re-coop your cash investment as much as possible. This feature will let you recover a portion of the cost of all parts you purchased for your launch.
. Overhauled in game ui.
. New engines and thrusters.
. The tech tree is being rethought out.
. The empty body parts for aircraft are being repurposed as combiination ait/fuel tank units.
. More notes to follow.
Continues to be a fantastic game, I only took a break from the game when I got my new laptop last month. I was mistaken when I thought cloud support was enabled for this early access game and I managed to lose all my save data. I'll start playing again when the new contract system arrives.
http://kerbaldevteam.tumblr.com/post/91293680184/harvesters-first-contract-update-update-3
o7
http://www.runestorm.com/viscera
I've mentioned this title before, fantastic game with a really unique approach. You are the janitor. You know, the guy who goes through the stages cleaning up after the hero once he's finished ransacking, shooting and looting everything on the entire stage. Its your job to clean up the blood, bodies, ammuniton casings, refill medical kits, even place wet floor signs out. And... oddly its a whole lot of fun heh! Full co-op, large and varied stages and the ability to mod and add your own custom stages are in the plans. And this games just in early access atm. Epic.
Today saw a new upate for the game and the patch notes are lengthy and glorious. Here they are :
. Fixed pickup highlighting on bucket water surface
. Fixed pickup highlighting when not using hands
. Turned the 'GRAPHICS TO WASTE' knob down from 11 to 3 on the incinerator fire effects
. Also optimized the fire effect for burning objects
. Added extra fire effects for open incinerator doors
. Moved non-common classes and references to sub-package to prepare for mod support
. Added new Dig-Site map
. Added the Sandtrap actor
. Added new tool: The Shovel
. Added new sand mechanics
. Spare tools now show on back of janitor
. Implemented janitor gibs
. Increased mop and bucket saturation limits (yay!)
. Decreased bucket and bin machine jam rates (yay!)
. Movable dig site light actors
. New crates
. Bloody worker body textures
. Removed slippery areas from Evil Science...for now.
. Fixed med-pack lids behaving oddly after loading.
. Improved Trophy system to store anything you personally put in there.
. Improved janitor trunk to carry over skeletal viscera properly.
. Removed unused 'Use' Key from input bindings.
. Improved punchout system to punish you more accurately. (Doesn't apply to old saves)
. Implemented some extra optional/bonus janitorial tasks [Stacking Areas]
. Fixed fires causing scorch marks underwater.
Definitely enjoying the new stage and the increased usability of mops, buckets and reduction in jam frequency of the bucket/bin generators. This game may be in early access but it dosent feel it at all. Highly recommended! Buy it from their website or from steam for 8 bucks.
http://steamcommunity.com/games/246900/announcements/detail/294174670468716583
Kerbal Space Program
https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/
Not quite an update to the game yet but there's the video that shows how the contract system works and there's also a blog with run down on what first contract (the next updates name) will consist of :
. Contract system. Mission control will over you actual jobs with specific goals. Meet those goals and earn cash and reputation.
. Funds and Reputation. Funds are required to launch vessels (all parts have price tags on them) and reputation is required for accessing larger, more complex, more rewarding contracts.
. Vessel Recovery. With the addition of funds, naturally you will want to try and re-coop your cash investment as much as possible. This feature will let you recover a portion of the cost of all parts you purchased for your launch.
. Overhauled in game ui.
. New engines and thrusters.
. The tech tree is being rethought out.
. The empty body parts for aircraft are being repurposed as combiination ait/fuel tank units.
. More notes to follow.
Continues to be a fantastic game, I only took a break from the game when I got my new laptop last month. I was mistaken when I thought cloud support was enabled for this early access game and I managed to lose all my save data. I'll start playing again when the new contract system arrives.
http://kerbaldevteam.tumblr.com/post/91293680184/harvesters-first-contract-update-update-3
o7
Friday, July 11, 2014
Evil Defenders
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/evil-defenders/id880095516?mt=8
Free, Universal, 313mb download, gamecenter enabled.
Depending on your opinion of the tower defense genre, this game will either entertain you, or bore you to tears. Evil Defenders follows the tried and true tower defense design of guiding baddies from one side of the screen to the other and your only objective is to prevent them from reaching the other side. Earn coin, spend it on upgrades, replay stages on harder settings for increasing rewards, chase leaderboards via facebook and gamecenter. This game follows the linear tower defense style where enemies follow a fixed path and you can only place your towers on certain markers around the stage.
The upgrade system is large and you can refund/redistribute your points as often as you wish for a fee. The library lets you review anything you've ever encountered. There is iap but its on the low end price wise and seems to be completely optional and unnecessary to those willing to grind the game proper like. No coin doublers present, makes iap a hard sell for me (hint hint devs...).
In this game you are the bad guy and are being harrassed by the local good folk of the kingdom who are looking to make an easy bounty off your hide. Instead, you will kill them and take their souls as your currency that is spent mid battle on new towers and upgrading them, and out of battle on permanent upgrades to your towers.
Visually the game is decent, animations of the units are pretty generic, they all die the same way and they all follow the same path line. Nothing amazing but at least your towers and units do visually improve as you upgrade them.
Controls, nothing outside the norm here. You can place towers, set rally points for towers that have actual soldiers spawn from them. You can use spells periodically, you can speed up the next wave of enemies for bonus cash. Stages reward stars based on how well you successfully do your job.
All in all, its a decent game, no real complaints so far and at free with iap thats optional, whats to complain about?
o7
Free, Universal, 313mb download, gamecenter enabled.
Depending on your opinion of the tower defense genre, this game will either entertain you, or bore you to tears. Evil Defenders follows the tried and true tower defense design of guiding baddies from one side of the screen to the other and your only objective is to prevent them from reaching the other side. Earn coin, spend it on upgrades, replay stages on harder settings for increasing rewards, chase leaderboards via facebook and gamecenter. This game follows the linear tower defense style where enemies follow a fixed path and you can only place your towers on certain markers around the stage.
The upgrade system is large and you can refund/redistribute your points as often as you wish for a fee. The library lets you review anything you've ever encountered. There is iap but its on the low end price wise and seems to be completely optional and unnecessary to those willing to grind the game proper like. No coin doublers present, makes iap a hard sell for me (hint hint devs...).
In this game you are the bad guy and are being harrassed by the local good folk of the kingdom who are looking to make an easy bounty off your hide. Instead, you will kill them and take their souls as your currency that is spent mid battle on new towers and upgrading them, and out of battle on permanent upgrades to your towers.
Visually the game is decent, animations of the units are pretty generic, they all die the same way and they all follow the same path line. Nothing amazing but at least your towers and units do visually improve as you upgrade them.
Controls, nothing outside the norm here. You can place towers, set rally points for towers that have actual soldiers spawn from them. You can use spells periodically, you can speed up the next wave of enemies for bonus cash. Stages reward stars based on how well you successfully do your job.
All in all, its a decent game, no real complaints so far and at free with iap thats optional, whats to complain about?
o7
Random Game Updates
Evening everyone, o7 I follow alot of games, my 64gig ipad is almost always full and here's some of the more significantly updated titles.
Assassin's Creed Pirates
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/assassins-creed-pirates/id692717444?mt=8
. Just went free today (tymuch lisa for the heads up), if you don't have this one yet... why the hell not?! Despite going free and having iap options, the game is still completely playable and complete able without spending a dime.
Minecraft Pocket Edition
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/minecraft-pocket-edition/id479516143?mt=8
. Infinite worlds!
. Caves!
. Loads of new blocks and items including Monster Eggs and huge mushroom blocks.
. Wolves! Tame a loyal companion.
. Loads of new flowers! So pretty.
. New mobs, including the spooky endermen and less spooky Mooshrooms.
. New biomes from the PC version, including mesas, jungles, swamps and extreme hills.
. Abandoned mineshafts, villages, and many other cool places to explore.
. A brand-new “interaction” button. Never accidentally punch a sheep again!
. New feature generation, including lakes, vines and monster rooms.
. Many bugs fixed, and possibly a few added.
. Epic update! Minecraft finally feels close to its pc/console cousins.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-amazing-spider-man-2/id779561331?mt=8
. Offline mode! No more constant internet connection (unless your playing the leaderboard competition or iap purchasing)! Woot!
. New spider-man suit.
. New larger variety of enemy types, new boss skills, etc.
. Offline mode has been a long requested feature, I suspect dwindling sales prompted them turning this mode of game play on.
Clash of Clans
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clash-of-clans/id529479190?mt=8
Lots of balancing changes. Looks like defenses defend better, attacking units are more group co-ordinated, etc. New level ups for PEKKA, jump spell, hidden tesla and bomb as well. You can now watch your clan mades attack during Clan Wars in real time. You can no re arm all traps and catapults with a simple button available when town hall is selected. etc.
Good stuff, o7
Assassin's Creed Pirates
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/assassins-creed-pirates/id692717444?mt=8
. Just went free today (tymuch lisa for the heads up), if you don't have this one yet... why the hell not?! Despite going free and having iap options, the game is still completely playable and complete able without spending a dime.
Minecraft Pocket Edition
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/minecraft-pocket-edition/id479516143?mt=8
. Infinite worlds!
. Caves!
. Loads of new blocks and items including Monster Eggs and huge mushroom blocks.
. Wolves! Tame a loyal companion.
. Loads of new flowers! So pretty.
. New mobs, including the spooky endermen and less spooky Mooshrooms.
. New biomes from the PC version, including mesas, jungles, swamps and extreme hills.
. Abandoned mineshafts, villages, and many other cool places to explore.
. A brand-new “interaction” button. Never accidentally punch a sheep again!
. New feature generation, including lakes, vines and monster rooms.
. Many bugs fixed, and possibly a few added.
. Epic update! Minecraft finally feels close to its pc/console cousins.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-amazing-spider-man-2/id779561331?mt=8
. Offline mode! No more constant internet connection (unless your playing the leaderboard competition or iap purchasing)! Woot!
. New spider-man suit.
. New larger variety of enemy types, new boss skills, etc.
. Offline mode has been a long requested feature, I suspect dwindling sales prompted them turning this mode of game play on.
Clash of Clans
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clash-of-clans/id529479190?mt=8
Lots of balancing changes. Looks like defenses defend better, attacking units are more group co-ordinated, etc. New level ups for PEKKA, jump spell, hidden tesla and bomb as well. You can now watch your clan mades attack during Clan Wars in real time. You can no re arm all traps and catapults with a simple button available when town hall is selected. etc.
Good stuff, o7
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Midweek Release Roundup
The list of games coming out each week is just getting bigger... and bigger... and yea. I'm keeping myself restrained from random and spontaneous purchases a bit these days but hey if you want to dive in here is toucharcade's release list :
With that said, here's the three I grabbed.
Macrocosm
.99usd, universal, 33mb download, no gamecenter
VVeerryy simplistic game. You are a dot that attracts a blob to you at all times. You guide the blob around seamless stages collecting more blobs to make the one following you bigger. You collect all the blobs in an area and then go to the little square that flings you off to another area of space. Hazards are plentiful in the game, most planets have gravity wells that will pull your blob in to them, all planets are death if you hit them. Shortly in to the game you start encountering white 'enemies' that shoot guided 'missiles' and lasers. They like to make walls out of their beams, sometimes they even chase you across the stage your on. Both your enemies and your blob like to talk. Your blob is rather simple minded, eagerly commenting on anything around it. Enemies likewise are simple minded, though I did like one that yelled at me to turn my iphone off. Heh. I noticed immediately there are three areas available, each with several smaller stages. Death is mostly harmless, you just respawn at the start of your current stage and continue on.
Dosen't seem to be any overwhelming story here, no leaderboards, no score system either. -shrugs-
Urban Trial Freestyle
1.99usd, universal, 119mb download, no gamecenter.
A very unforgiving take on side scrolling race games. Reminds me of a modern day excite bike. Also reminds me of the exact game I also own on my psvita and is also available on most consoles heh. Best price is here though. Every where else its 10.00usd or more. So, the story is simple. End of the world, etc. You just ride your damn bike all over just about everything while the city crumbles around you. Earn cash for stunts, stage completion, besting timers and picking up bags around the track. Spend the cash on bike upgrades, new bikes and new looks for your biker.
You can ride around on the games default tracks, ride on other players created tracks and vote for your favorites, and you can make your own. Plenty to do, zero iap.
Add this to my growing list of psvita games ported to my tablet that just all round feel better because of the screen size and no stupid touch back pad. Fun game.
Hellraid: The Escape
2.99usd, universal, 242mb download, gamecenter enabled.
Whoa! Take infinity blade's visuals, remove the combat, introduce unparalleled exploration and a narrative story. This game rocks! Brilliant use of touch gestures to open locks, break things, you name it. You don't directly engage the dungeon denziens in combat, instead you indirectly contribute to their demise. Toss a rock at a switch that drops a shelf on a skeleton breaking it to pieces, that sort of thing. Each stage has blue crystals to collect, encourages exploration and there are achievements for collecting them all in each stage.
Very very cool game, highly recommend it. Will definitely be writing more on this one!
Real Racing 3 Update!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/real-racing-3/id556164008?mt=8
A new update hit yesterday morning, I've given it a full days run and with no bugs of note here's the skinny.
. New Car Ferrari F40.
. New Car Ferrari F50.
. Both cars have been placed within existing race series.
. Both cars have been given a new race series to chase each other in, Classic Ferrari Showdown.
. Gold rewards for leveling up has been seriously overhauled. Two days ago, leveling up got you 3 gold (iap currency). Didn't matter if you just hit level 3, or level 303. You got 3 gold. As of now, the gold you receive scales with your new level. At level 128 this morning I received 28 gold!
Also worth noting, the pay for the final cup races in Classic Ferrari Showdown pay almost as well as the final cups from endurance kings. But nicely, the Ferrari series is available much sooner to newer players and upgrading the ferrari's is no where near as painful on the wallet as the le mans cars in endurance kings.
I've also got this feeling the car handling has been tweaked across most of the cars in the game, everything just seems to handle a wee bit better.
So there we go, fantastic if not long over due update to the leveling system. The new cars and new races are always welcome but without a doubt this update is going to be remembered for the gold in our pockets.
o7
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Last Week's Releases!
Well that was a fun vacation last week. Love my work schedule. I worked seven days straight the week before, that gave me three days off last week. Then the holiday made it four. Slap in 8 hours of vacation and I essentially got seven days off straight! Win!
Of course the side effect was totally falling behind on my gaming. Ahh well, recap time. Three games came out last week, well actually alot more than three but I downloaded three to the iOS so here those three are.
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monster-hunter-freedom-unite/id744769918?mt=8
14.99usd, universal, 820mb download, gamecenter... yea right.
Holy crap its here! This game is the psp 1 title, completely ported with all the optional dlc like content that hit the original post release. In fact the only thing missing are the load times (psp 1 loading times averaged 45 seconds from area to area, ios loading time averages less than 5 seconds). Controls have been optimized for our touch screen devices though controller support is fully present. The graphics even look... crisper. Gamecenter is enabled but strictly for the friends list and yep full four player co-op is enabled. Make sure you read the fine print before forking over fifteen bucks though, the supported devices list is a bit short.
Civilization Revolution 2
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id864880531?mt=8
14.99usd, universal, 428mb download, gamecenter enabled.
Sequel, better graphics, more gameplay options, win. Steadily take over the world, build armies, manage economies, you name it. I need some play time with this one before I go more than two sentences in depth though :)
Fates Forever
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fates-forever/id658886500?mt=8
Free, iPad only, 302mb download, no gamecenter.
Think League of Legends, on your tablet. Huge pvp game, fight across maps with many unique characters, defend your structures while destroying the other players. 3 player teams. Spend earnt currencies on equipment and characters.
So those are the three I picked up, need more time with all three before I go in depth at all but what I did play of each, I enjoyed.
Of course the side effect was totally falling behind on my gaming. Ahh well, recap time. Three games came out last week, well actually alot more than three but I downloaded three to the iOS so here those three are.
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monster-hunter-freedom-unite/id744769918?mt=8
14.99usd, universal, 820mb download, gamecenter... yea right.
Holy crap its here! This game is the psp 1 title, completely ported with all the optional dlc like content that hit the original post release. In fact the only thing missing are the load times (psp 1 loading times averaged 45 seconds from area to area, ios loading time averages less than 5 seconds). Controls have been optimized for our touch screen devices though controller support is fully present. The graphics even look... crisper. Gamecenter is enabled but strictly for the friends list and yep full four player co-op is enabled. Make sure you read the fine print before forking over fifteen bucks though, the supported devices list is a bit short.
Civilization Revolution 2
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id864880531?mt=8
14.99usd, universal, 428mb download, gamecenter enabled.
Sequel, better graphics, more gameplay options, win. Steadily take over the world, build armies, manage economies, you name it. I need some play time with this one before I go more than two sentences in depth though :)
Fates Forever
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fates-forever/id658886500?mt=8
Free, iPad only, 302mb download, no gamecenter.
Think League of Legends, on your tablet. Huge pvp game, fight across maps with many unique characters, defend your structures while destroying the other players. 3 player teams. Spend earnt currencies on equipment and characters.
So those are the three I picked up, need more time with all three before I go in depth at all but what I did play of each, I enjoyed.
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