Soundtrack Feature: The Whispered World

Soundtrack of the Month: April 2017

The Whispered World is an incredibly flawed point-and-click adventure game that has a very special place in my heart. It's about a depressed clown named Sadwick and his caterpillar named Spot, as they set out on an adventure to prevent the world from ending.

Seeing as today is April Fool's Day, this soundtrack seems like an oddly fitting selection. The game's protagonist is the antithesis of a clown, who thinks of himself more as a joke than a creator of jokes and humor. He adds a darker dimension to an otherwise lighthearted and colorful fantasy world.

The music, composed by Finn Seliger, is surprisingly beautiful, covering all of the game's various themes. The sound is very unique, to the point that I frequently have difficulty distinguishing what instruments are used. There is for certain a very strong presence of piano and wind-based instruments, but they're used in a way I haven't often heard. It makes for a very unique soundtrack.

Another reason for the timing of this feature is in celebration of the semi-recent release of Silence, the sequel of The Whispered World. The two games are incredibly different, yet surprisingly very similar. The music of Silence has a more orchestral approach, and was composed by Tilo Alpermann.

Featured Tracks

Track 1: Main Theme – I adore this main theme, and I love that it was brought back for the game's sequel. I have a friend who learned to play it on piano, and suddenly I want to learn piano.

Track 2: A Sad Clown – Boy, this game is weird. This song frequently comes to mind when I'm asked about beautiful piano music.

Track 9: Asgilia – You are not in a very nice place. Not nice at all.



Purchase The Whispered World soundtrack on Amazon MP3 or iTunes.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

Soundtrack Feature: Tick Tock Isle

Soundtrack of the Month: February 2016

Tick Tock Isle is a short but enjoyable indie game about a time-travelling clock repairman and how he accidentally influences the lives of a family over many years. It has charm and humor and, if you don't get too lost in the family's maze of a mansion, can be completed in around an hour and a half

The music is a melodic chiptune soundtrack by Irish composer Kevin Carville. It's full of personality and frequents a main theme heard throughout many tracks on the soundtrack. It's diverse enough to remain interesting and beautiful throughout the game, but it's also soft enough that you could fall asleep to it. In fact—I have! Overall, the music is as lovely as the game itself.

Featured Tracks

Track 1: Tick Tock Isle – The main theme of the game, heard multiple times throughout the soundtrack to accompany various different periods of time, seasons, and times of the day.

Track 12: Box Fort – Every so often, you'll come across a couple kids who've built a fort out of whatever they have lying around, be it boxes, sand or snow. Inside each fort is a short platforming level inspired a classic video game.

Track 32: Melody's Big Finale – Melody is a young girl, quite talented in musical instruments, but also quite bored and feeling uninspired. Throughout your adventure you'll find various instruments to give her, to try and spark her creativity.



Purchase the Tick Tock Isle soundtrack, or listen to it for free, on Bandcamp.
Be sure to check out the game itself on Steam.

Soundtrack Feature: Hue

Hue is a puzzle game that focuses on using colors to manipulate the world around you. It's packaged with an incredibly thought-provoking narrative, and a melodic soundtrack that beautifully captures the soothing atmosphere of the game. The music was scored by Greek composer Alkis Livathinos, and has an emphasis on melodic piano. Hue's main theme can be heard multiple times throughout the album.

The Hue soundtrack can be purchased or listened to for free at Bandcamp. It can also be purchased on iTunes and Amazon, and listened to on Spotify. The game itself is a very enjoyable experience. If you enjoy inventive and relaxing puzzle games you should check it out. Hue is available for Steam, PS4, PS Vita and Xbox One.

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My full Soundtrack of the Month series has gone on hiatus and for the time being has been replaced by much smaller soundtrack features, which I am simply calling Soundtrack Features. Yes, it's quite original.

Soundtrack Feature: Titan Souls

Titan Souls is an adventure game in which the player must traverse a vast overworld, defeating bosses with a bow and a single arrow. As there are many bosses and no ordinary enemies, the soundtrack is composed almost entirely of boss music, but also a handful of beautiful overworld themes for the various areas of the game world.

David Fenn is the composer for this incredible album of music. It can be purchased or listened to for free at Bandcamp, or also listened to for free on YouTube. If you're interested in the game itself, which feels like a hybrid between Dark Souls, Shadow of the Colossus and 2D Zelda, you can check it out on Steam, PS4, PS Vita, or Android.

- - -
My full Soundtrack of the Month series has gone on hiatus and for the time being has been replaced by much smaller soundtrack features, which I am simply calling Soundtrack Features. Yes, it's quite original.

Soundtrack Feature: Overwatch

My most recent addiction is surprisingly not a television series, but an online multiplayer video game called Overwatch. The game itself has no story mode to play through—only online matches—but the developer Blizzard has released a multitude of story and lore for the game through the means of comics, animated shorts, and other methods.

Overwatch contains many memorable melodies, including a grand main theme and various level themes inspired by different parts of the world, scored by a fantastic team of composers. While the soundtrack sadly doesn't feature the scores of the incredible animated shorts, it does include the score to the original cinematic announcement trailer.

You can check out the soundtrack on iTunes, and you can also find it by searching on YouTube. This one's not on Spotify. Sorry about that.

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My full Soundtrack of the Month series has gone on hiatus and for the time being has been replaced by much smaller soundtrack features which I am calling... Soundtrack Features. Yes, I know it's original.

Soundtrack of the Month: July 2016

To close up year two of the Soundtrack of the Month series, I decided to feature something very near and dear to me, a game called Bastion. Settling on an apt description for the genre of the game's setting is, in itself, quite difficult. Perhaps, a post-apocalyptic steampunk fantasy story which takes place on a nation consisting of floating islands. The music is masterfully written and composed by Darren Korb, who also serves as the singing voice for the character Zulf.

The album, like the game itself, is a superb mix of genres, described by Korb as "acoustic frontier trip-hop." It's incredibly unique, and matches perfectly with the bizarrely unique world of Bastion itself. The album opens up with the game's narrator and deuteragonist, Rucks (voiced by Logan Cunningham), giving an introduction, after which the listener is treated to the music of the game.

There are three sung songs in the game, and four on the album. All of them are sung by characters in the game. "Build That Wall" is Zia's theme (sung by Ashley Barrett), and "Mother, I'm Here" is Zulf's theme (sung by Korb). "Setting Sail, Coming Home" is the ending theme, which is an amazing duet hybrid of Zia and Zulf's themes. The final, album-exclusive song is "The Pantheon", sung by Logan Cunningham as Rucks.

Featured Tracks

Track 2: A Proper Story – A proper story's supposed to start at the beginning. Ain't so simple with this one.

Track 12: Build That Wall (Zia's Theme) – When Zia's world literally crumbles to dust around her, her only solace is to sit and play music, and pray that one day help will arrive.

Track 16: The Mancer's Dilemma – A number of the songs can sound quite haunting, highlighting a feeling of tragedy and fleeting hope during gameplay.



Purchase Bastion (Original Soundtrack) on Bandcamp, iTunes, or Amazon MP3.
You can also purchase a physical CD on the Supergiant Games Store.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

Bonus: In celebration of the conclusion of this series' second year, I put together another playlist of various great soundtrack pieces. Some of them are from soundtracks I've featured; many are not. You can check out the playlist here, and last year's playlist here.

Game Review: Momodora

I’ve had my eye on a particular game series for some time now. It's called Momodora, and it's a series of action platformer games that just released its fourth installment. While Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight looks to be a highly sophisticated and polished game, the original Momodora was released in 2010 with a far more amateur look and feel to it. For me, however, this was a very nostalgic period for indie games, especially those created with Mark Overmars' Game Maker, as Momodora was.

Momodora is an intentionally, and sometimes frustratingly, difficult game. The creator even suggests that players skip this game and move on to its sequels, as it was inspired by the difficulty of early arcade games. I, being the gamer that I am, and knowing that I’ve probably played much more frustrating games from the same era of the industry, promptly ignored this warning and played the game anyway.

Throughout Momodora you get access to a number of different weapons that you can cycle through, although you'll probably just end up alternating between a couple of them. Players are also given two secondary items you can cycle between that you’ll find yourself using quite frequently. One creates an easily-breakable shield around the character offering more defense, and the other is a boomerang that basically works as a secondary weapon, which comes in handy a lot.

The story... is almost entirely in a text document. It's not actually addressed in the game until the end. This, as well, may have been inspired by early titles in the game industry, whose stories would be almost entirely restricted to the games' manuals. The graphics well fit the era and style of game, as sort of a medium between Cave Story and Theseus and the Maze. The music is good, and fitting. The entire soundtrack (and all of the other sound effects) are included in the game's zip folder as .OGG files.

While I was able to get through the game and I very much enjoyed it, it's most certainly not for everybody. If you're looking for a more sophisticated experience that's not so much of a frustrating challenge, perhaps you should just jump ahead to a later game in the series as the developer suggested. I might be a little more sympathetic towards this game if it weren't for the fact that it uses one of my least favorite tropes, which is to have a very difficult boss battle after the final level of the game, with no save in-between.

If you want to try your hand at the game, you can check it out for free here. Look for my reviews of Momodora II, Momodora III, and Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight in the coming months.

Soundtrack of the Month: April 2016

Escape Goat 2 is a platforming game about a goat navigating a labyrinth, rescuing sheep, and trying to escape to the surface. Is this a joke? No, it's not. This is a real thing. It's a lot of fun, and the music is amazing.

Ian Stocker, the game's main developer and soundtrack composer, used to work in the mainstream game industry as a sound designer and composer. So players not only get to navigate a goat through a bunch of crazy puzzle-platformer levels, but they get to do it while listening to totally rad music.

You still think I'm joking. The joke is that I'm not. I'm dead serious.

Featured Tracks

Track 1: Restoration – Escape Goat 2 features a graphics style very different from the pixelated style of the first game. The music style gets a renovation as well, to better mach the new visuals.

Track 5: Reunion – This track is used for the game's secret levels. Yes, you are headbanging to music about a goat.

Track 8: Peaceful Sheep – Did I mention that you're trying to rescue sheep?

Track 14: Caper Erratus – The credits music of the game, and one of the greatest masterpieces I've had the pleasure of listening to. Not only is it a reprise of my favorite track from the first game, but it was also given words, sung by a choir, in Latin!

"Caper Erratus" roughly translates to "The Wandering Goat."



Purchase the Escape Goat 2 soundtrack on Bandcamp, Loudr, or iTunes.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

Soundtrack of the Month: October 2015

Trine is the epitome of fantasy soundtracks. The story of the game is nothing particularly special—three unlikely heroes are magically bound together through a mysterious artifact and must save the kingdom from an undead army—but the combination of great characters, pleasurable gameplay, exotic environments, and gorgeously fitting music are what make this game the gem that it is.

Ari Pulkkinen scores this mystical masterpiece. From the first note the listener is captivated by this wonderful world of fantasy. Trine is one of the few soundtracks that I was actually interested in purchasing before I was even into soundtracks. It made that much of an impact on me. Few soundtracks can rival it in my eyes, with the prominent exception of its sequel.

This feature comes a little over a month after the release of the third game in the Trine series. Trine 3 has received a lot of flack for various different reasons, but the music is not one of them. Sound design remains exceptionally strong throughout the series. I have yet to play the new game myself, but whether I'm disappointed or pleasantly surprised by the experience, I'm certain I'll be purchasing the soundtrack very soon thereafter.

Featured Tracks

Track 2: Academy Hallways – The song that greets the player as they set out on their journey, after completing the tutorial level. It sounds like what it is—the start of an adventure.

Track 4: Dragon Graveyard – The piece that stood out to me the most when first playing the game, and to put it simply, my favorite track. A gorgeous piece.

Track 16: Tower of Sarek – I don't know who Sarek is (aside from an apparent Star Trek character), but his tower is the final level of the game.



Purchase Trine (Original Soundtrack), on AriTunes, iTunes, or Amazon MP3.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

Soundtrack of the Month: August 2015

Alone in the Dark is a complete piece of crap. It's an attempted reboot of a classic video game that pioneered the survival horror genre in the industry. While the original Alone in the Dark is a clever, well-designed piece of art, the 2008 reboot is the furthest thing you can get from that description. Its only real saving factor is its amazing soundtrack.

The music is composed by Olivier Derivière, and accompanied by Grammy award-winning choir The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices. It's everything the game is not: creative, well-designed, and actually rather scary. Its haunting themes will send a chill up your spine, which is something you cannot say about the game.

A fair amount of the soundtrack sounds rather like cues from a movie. This could be due in part to the game's attempt to adapt a television show-like format, in the form of episodes that you play through one at a time, that you can jump between. It was poorly implemented, and another reason why the game didn't deserve its soundtrack.

For a further elaboration on just why Alone in the Dark is an awful game, I encourage you to check out ProJared's review of the game. Caution: Alone in the Dark is rated Mature for blood and gore, strong language, and violence. Keep this in mind regarding the video, as the game and its reviewer are hardly censored.

Featured Tracks

Track 2: Edward Carnby – The protagonist is named Edward Carnby. He shouldn't be, but he is. One of many tracks to feature the game's main theme, "Shto Li".

Track 10: Crying New York – I could make a joke about New York crying about how bad the game is, but this really is a great track.

Track 18: Shto Li (A Cappella) – The Alone in the Dark theme, "Shto Li", shows up in many tracks. This track isolates the vocals into a bone-chilling a cappella piece.



Purchase Music From Alone In The Dark from Amazon or iTunes.
Or listen to it for free on YouTube.

Game Review: The Next Penelope

The Next Penelope: Race to Odysseus is the classic tale of Homer's Odyssey... set in a cyberpunk world with futuristic racing.

It's been ten years since Odysseus departed from the kingdom of Ithaca, leaving his reign to the anarchy of an absent leader. Desperate to save the land she loves, and sick of her suitors' unwavering advances in the absence of her husband, Queen Penelope sets out on a journey to find Odysseus—by exploring planets, racing her suitors, and fighting epic bosses.

The Next Penelope is a top-down racing game that appears to have been heavily influenced by F-Zero. It reminds me a little of Super Laser Racer, another such game that was focused on translating the gameplay from F-Zero into a 2D top-down format. That game, while extremely fun, was little more than a bare-bones F-Zero clone. The Next Penelope adds story, bosses, an upgrade system, a somewhat unique weapons system, and a lot of interesting and fun challenges.

This adventure is not particularly long. If you know what you're doing you can certainly beat the game in under a couple hours. However, the strong difficulty curve your first time through and the endgame bonus levels are sure to keep you occupied for a good many hours. If you strive to complete all of the achievements, as I did, you're sure to have your work cut out for you for a while. The nice part? You'll have fun the entire time.

I've always had a love-hate relationship with Greek mythology. I love it for the lore and the mythos, but I hate it for the arrogance, narcissism and stupidity of a great many of the prominent characters. With that being said, I've had a strictly love relationship with this game since the moment the concept was introduced to me. It's Greek mythology... plus futuristic racing! Add that to the insanely fun gameplay, and you've got yourself a beautiful piece of art.

The game was developed by one man, Aurelien Regard. He created the story, artwork and music all himself, and programmed the entire game. It's always a treat when a game this well-polished and well-designed is developed by a single person or a small team. Such a man is more than worthy of my respect.

Overall, The Next Penelope is a great concept, complemented by great gameplay. The artwork is beautiful, and the sweet elrectonic soundtrack is sure to get stuck in your head. I certainly got my money's worth from it, and I can't wait to see what other great projects the developer comes up with in the future.

Check out The Next Penelope: Race to Odysseus on Steam.
It's also in development for Wii U, and may be released on other consoles as well.

Soundtrack of the Month: April 2015

Caution: Do not check the date before reading this article. Just don't. Okay?

When I think of inspiring soundtracks, whose amazing music can help anyone through the hardest of times, there's one particular soundtrack that never comes to mind. It's the soundtrack to a little game called LIMBO, composed by Martin Stig Andersen.

LIMBO is a fairly short game, but it will make a large impact on anyone who plays it. If you hate spiders, you will love this game. I'm also never sarcastic. Ever! You can even ask my friends. (Which in itself is a joke, because my friends don't talk to me. We're not on speaking terms until I watch the movie Up.)

If you've never listened to Anderson's dramatic, undeniably existent LIMBO score in all of its continually ambient glory, you've clearly never played the game. Nerd.

Featured Tracks

Track 1: Menu – This song really shows off LIMBO's gorgeous melodies and sweeping themes. Actually, I'm not sure that the themes sweep. I mean, how does music sweep? Certainly not with a broom. Music doesn't have hands.

Track 4: Rotating Room – This game is not creepy at all. Whatsoever. This song is proof.

Track 5: Sister – Funny thing, you learn more about the plot from the title of this track than you do from playing the game itself.



Purchase Limbo (Original Videogame Soundtrack) on Bandcamp, iTunes, or Amazon.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

Game Review: Sinister

"And then I died."

The other day I came across a little game called Sinister. It was made in 48 hours as part of the Ludum Dare competition. When I say a little game, I mean a game that you can literally beat in two minutes. That little. Yet, for some reason I keep playing it. I wonder why that is.

Sinister is as mysterious as it is short. You are a man, and you have died. Yet, somehow, a world is able to come back together around you, bred from your memories. Where are you? What is this world? You explore this world of memory, and after a short time you come across a girl standing over a grave. As she turns to look at you, the words appear.

"I said that you would never be alone."

And then the game ends, bringing you back to the title screen, leaving you to wonder what the heck just happened. However, the "ending" is not where the game ends, because the game actually works as an endless loop. The opening and ending lines go together, hand-in-hand. The girl is standing over your grave, because you have died.

"I said that you would never be alone...
...And then I died."

Could it be that your character is stuck in some sort of purgatory? The same dream of a partial world of memories playing itself over and over again? Or is there something more going on here? I played the game numerous times, trying everything I could think to try, just trying to find some answers. But no matter how much I've looked, I've found nothing more than what I already know.

What is it about this game that keeps drawing me back? Is it the mystery of it all? Is it the brilliantly haunting music? Is it the fact that no matter how many times I play it, I can't find the closure I'm searching for? It's probably all of these things combined.

The developer has in fact stated that he intends to expand on the story sometime in the future, and has stated on Twitter, "This is not the end of Sinister." This makes me both excited and cautious. Someday I may finally find the closure I need, but at the same time the game is brilliant as it is, because of the unanswered mystery of it all.

Regardless, you should consider spending two minutes of your time to play the game. Be warned, it may keep drawing you back, as it did me. That will probably not be the case—I'm just an oddball—but who knows.

Play the game online here.

Game Review: Sneaky Sneaky

Here's a little game I came across recently. It's called Sneaky Sneaky, and in it you do a lot of sneaking.

A while ago I was going through my old Thursday Impressions posts on this blog and I realized that I kind of missed doing it. However, I don't have nearly enough time to write up a first impressions piece every week anymore, so I decided to compromise and do one every month. So then I played the first game on my list, wrote up an impressions piece, and then went and beat the rest of the game long before the post was scheduled to be published. So, screw impressions pieces. Here's a review.

Sneaky Sneaky is a grid-based strategy game controlled only by the mouse, in which you sneakily defeat your enemies and grab treasure on your way to completing each level. When an enemy discovers you (or when you sneakily get the first strike) the game switches into a turn-based mode until you or your enemy has been defeated, or until they've lost track of you (because you like to sneak away).

The gameplay is fairly unique. If at any time an enemy sees you before you attack them, they are able to move before you, and you're not allowed to move out of the way (or attack back) until it's your turn. Additionally, if you're able to sneak up behind your enemy without them seeing you, you can deal a much more powerful blow, which may take them out completely. Thus, stealth is a heavily encouraged strategy. Hiding in bushes for the right time to strike is a technique that works very well, along with sniping your enemy with arrows while you're out of their sight range.

The game isn't very long, and can be completed in just a few hours, but it's most definitely worth the low price. Not only is the art style really cool (and rather adorable), with great music that fits well, but also the game is pretty flipping fun. The difficulty curve is somewhat sharp if you're not prepared, and you might have to replay some already-completed levels in order to get enough money to buy an upgrade or two, but overall it's a brilliant gem of a game.

Sneaky Sneaky is awesome, and I'd love for the developers to make a sequel someday. I'd play the heck out of it.

The game is available on Steam and iOS.

Thursday Impressions: The Results

Many long years ago (that is, February 2013) I started a blog series called Thursday Impressions. It lasted for a little over six months, and I thoroughly enjoyed doing it. At the time I had a great many games on Steam, and I thought it would be cool if every week I'd play a game for 30-90 minutes and write up what my first impressions were. This was a great excuse to check out a good number of games in my Steam library that I might not otherwise get around to playing.

At the end of each mini-review, I'd give a verdict. The two main verdicts were "Keep playing," if I thought the game was good and that I'd want to keep playing, and "Stop playing," if the game was bad or I felt that I, personally, wouldn't want to continue. I also took creative liberties and stuck in some other verdicts as well. I'd also give a little blurb summarizing why I'd chosen each verdict. Additionally, the verdicts chosen were based on my personal opinion, and so the "Stop playing" verdicts did not necessarily mean the game in question was not a good game. It simply meant that it was not what I like to play.

Now, clearly a lot of time has passed since I did this series. It's been over a year since it ended, and a lot of things have changed. I thought it would be cool to go back and look over all my Thursday Impressions, and let the world know how they all turned out. Did I actually keep playing some? Did I actually stop playing others for good? Well, you should keep reading to find out.

If you want, you can go and read through all of the Thursday Impressions articles here. I apologize, as many of the image links appear to be broken.

Soundtrack of the Month: September 2014

Welcome to the second entry in the Soundtrack of the Month series. Last month we plunged into darkness with the debut of the blog series, and this week we shall rise into the light. Child of Light is a gorgeous video game about a little girl from 1895 Austria who was thought to have died, but instead woke up in the fantastical world of Lemuria.

Child of Light is a prime example of how video games are most certainly an art form. The visuals are incredible, the dialogue is all in poetry, and the music is absolutely beautiful. Each aspect of the game is a beautiful piece of art on its on, but they all come together to create something even greater. For a greater grasp of what I mean, you can check out the trailer.

The score was composed by French-Canadian singer Béatrice Martin, who goes by the name Cœur de pirate ("heart of the pirate"). I don't know how much experience she's had with composing, but this is her first ever score release, and it's easily one of the best video game soundtracks I have ever heard. The melodies are fairly simple yet beautiful, and the tunes will remain in your head for a very long time.

Beyond being an incredible background score for a game, the soundtrack to Child of Light is an amazing listen on its own. If you're looking for music to listen to while you're writing or drawing, look no further than this album.

Featured Tracks
Once again I remind you that this section does not necessarily show my three favorite tracks. In all honesty, if I were to list my favorite tracks, I would list nearly the entire album. Rather, here are three noteworthy tracks.

Track 2: Aurora's Theme – This is the theme of the main character, Aurora. It's heard many times in the game and multiple times in the soundtrack. It reflects the innocence of her youth, but also has a feeling of sadness to it.

Track 11: Metal Gleamed in the Twilight – While most of the tracks from Child of Light were recorded with only a few instruments, the battle themes were fully orchestrated and, to be honest, rather epic. This track is my particular favorite of the orchestrated themes.

Track 18: Off to Sleep – The credits song to Child of Light, written and performed by Béatrice. It's an amazing song on its own, but in my experience the best way to listen to it is at the end, after listening to the entire rest of the soundtrack. It's an incredible and emotional conclusion, both to the game and to the soundtrack.



Note: In the game, some of the orchestrated tracks include a choir. The choir was edited out for the soundtrack release, but that in no way detracts from the soundtrack.

Purchase the Child of Light soundtrack on Bandcamp, iTunes, or Amazon MP3.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

Thursday Impressions: Offspring Fling!

Offspring Fling! is a puzzle-oriented platformer game. You are a mother... something... and you have to find and save all of your children.

Right off the bat, I like this game. Great presentation, sweet visual style, and well-polished gameplay. While I find puzzle games very difficult, due to a mental condition, I still had a lot of fun with this one. Whether or not I would be able to complete it to the end, however, is another question entirely.

The soundtrack exceeds expectations. It fits the game perfectly, but at the same time it reminds me of Japanese RPGs, such as the Tales Of series. I actually own the soundtrack, and that makes me quite happy.

Verdict: I really don't know.
I love the game, but I don't know how far I'll be able to get before the puzzles are too much for me. They were already starting to get that way a bit when I stopped. Also, those bees are mean!

Thursday Impressions: Zen Bound 2

Zen Bound 2 is a game where you wrap rope around various objects. Yup, it's just about as boring as it sounds.

Ever since I got this game (through a bundle that had other games as well), I always thought that it looked boring as heck. While it's not exactly... boring... it's certainly pointless. My thoughts beforehand were basically, "This is going to be far too easy, until a point where it's too hard and thus becomes boring." What do you know? I was right.

Verdict: Stop playing.
It's not as boring as it looks or sounds, but it's pointless and I see no reason to continue.

Thursday Impressions: Fortix

Fortix is a game where you save a kingdom and slay dragons. How do you accomplish this? By walking around things.

It's difficult to explain, but it's fun. Your character certainly gets a lot of exercise. The music's good, the visuals are decent, and it's pretty addicting. In fact, I completed the entire game in easy mode before I typed this up, because it's that addicting (and that short).

Of course, there are resolution problems. So many games have resolution problems. In this case, neither fullscreen mode nor windowed mode worked properly. All I can say is I really hope such problems were fixed in the sequel.

Verdict: Keep playing, I guess.
Y'see, I already beat the game in just an hour. How do you keep playing when you're already done? Well, I guess there are other difficulty levels. I'll get on that.

Thursday Impressions: Geometry Wars

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved is a 2D space shooter where you try to survive all the obstacles coming your way by shooting them. Yup, this is a brand-new and original idea that I don't think anybody has done before. Also, I'm good at sarcasm.

In all seriousness, Geometry Wars is pretty decent as far as space shooters go. It's pretty fun and the visuals are really cool. However, I did have some gripes. First of all, there are only three resolution options, which means I need to either play with a slightly stretched resolution, or play in windowed mode, both of which take away from the experience a bit.

Also, the game was made specifically to be played on the gamepad, meaning the developers didn't take time to really work on controls otherwise. Using the keyboard to aim your bullets really didn't work. Other games have done it well, but this one really fell short. I opted to use the mouse to aim instead, and that was a lot better, though still kind of awkward.

Verdict: Stop playing.
It's a fun game with potential, but it's not friendly for keyboard users. Until I get a gamepad I won't be able to get a very high score at all.