Life has been full of Digital explosions and leveling these last few weeks since Christmas. So here is a list of the games I have played and am exploring lately.
Skylander’s
I did a partial review of this awhile back and would like to expand on that.
If you have children, and don’t mind them playing video games, go and buy this game. Seriously, its that good. Expect to spend a ton of money on the figs though as you really need at least one of every type out there to complete the levels to 100%.
Arcade Son loves the game and is far more fascinated with the little things that make up each section instead of the overall gaming experience. Sheep are apparently the bane of his existence. Whenever we are in the main area he runs around chasing sheep in order to: Set them on fire, soak them in water, explode them, turn them into boulders, etc…. its actually pretty funny. (He occasionally shoots the quest givers, but they don’t really respond as well as the sheep)
His favorite character currently is Gill Grunt, who he has given a pretty epic Cowboy hat to.
Gill Grunt Minus the Hat
The game really rewards the characters that have Ranged attacks, and its honestly much easier to play when using these characters. The Melee style characters just get whomped no matter how fast you “spam” the main attack buttons. Still though Arcade Son likes to play each of them and he has this little summoning thing he does that’s a mix of Pokemon and Ben 10. Anyway, in order to back him up in his sheep shooting, treasure hunting endeavors I mainly play a character named Trigger Happy
Two Gun Mojo!
Parents if you do play this game, I highly recommend this as the character you use to support your kids as they rescue the Skylands. His attacks are all ranged, Powerful, and his special attack will even hit enemies that are on elevated platforms. You can sit back with ease and pummel everyone.
Two things I will say about the game that I haven’t noticed anyone else discussing:
A) You can revisit all of the previous levels. This is handy when working on helping kids figure out traps and puzzles. The game does a really decent job at slowly easing the player into what to expect. Also the previous levels always give experience and treasure, the revisit is essentially a repeat of how it was when you first visited, instead of a “you beat it but go again” setup.
B) The above is much needed as the Boss fights are RIDICULOUS.
Kaos the head bad Portal Summoner in the game likes to have you fight his minions for extended periods of time. Its actually nerve wracking at times and there is absolutely no way my son wouldn’t have made it through the fights on his own if it wasn’t for my vast experience with Zelda and Mega Man over the years.
Rift MMO
So I have been a Citizen of Telara for about a year now. This Christmas though Trion Worlds did something that no other gaming company has done. They won my loyalty and gratitude.
Typically in December I cancel all of my MMO subscriptions to better spend time with Family and have a little extra cash for the holidays. This year was no different however the few days after I cancelled something bizarre happened.
I received an email from Trion Worlds saying due to my being a BETA tester, as well as being a long time Subscriber, they were gifting me with XXX Amount of time to play for free. (I won’t go over how much time it was, but my head exploded, because it will last me damn near until my Birthday) for free.
I just had to sign into my account and accept the gift…….
Now like any Tech savvy person out there I assumed immediately this was some Nigerian Prince hacking my account to sell to Chinese Farmers. So I hit my own links for Trion’s Account management, and sure enough it was sitting there waiting for me to click Accept. It never asked for Credit Card information, or tried to lock me into some sort of contract of service, it was just a “Thanks man, here is some Game time on us”.
I took a poll on my Server, Defiant Faction only as thats the side I play, and apparently I was the only one to get this. I jumped on the Forums expecting others to jump up and say something, but nada…. Feeling sort of odd, I called Trion Account support and talked with “Helpful Tech Person#217″. She basically re-iterated the email, and said thank you for Supporting Trion Worlds and the Rift MMO.
~My head exploded~
Anno 2070
So this one is an odd one, and not something I would normally play these days. I didn’t even know the game existed until I saw it pop up on Steam a few weeks ago. That being said, I am addicted to this game. Addicted in ways reminiscent of SimCity, Command & Conquer, Master of Orion/Magic, Civ 1-X, etc….
I can’t honestly say that Anno 2070 is better than any of the games listed above, but if you like City management, building, and strategy style games, then you will like this game.
Full Harbor and warehouses
Anno 2070 has more of a “Mission” feel to it, even in the Open ended mode, than any other Strategy/ Simulation game I have played. Which was odd to wrap my brain around at first but its really good and becomes second nature to work towards those goals automatically. There was never a point where a mission would pop up and some NPC would need me to build X for them and I wasn’t already working on Building X.
The Storyline for the game is that Earth went through some horrible geological and climate upheavels and now the world needs to be rebuilt for folks…….. Honestly, none of that matters, I just pretend I am on some different planet and the game plays the exact same without being preachy.
There are Three Factions that the player can ally with:
Global Trust – Jerks that ruined the Earth. Think huge mega-corporation that now feels slightly bad about destroying everything and wants to fix it for its citizens but can’t quite shake off its horrible habits. (Building practices and tech trees are really solid for these guys. Power plants and pollution management are horrible!)
Eden Initiative – Eco-Hippies! They want to save the planet from further destruction, but haven’t realized that some industrialization is needed to prosper. (Great Pollution management, Best Power Plants in the game, but Tech tree for buildings is horrible and slow)
SAAT – The Scientists, and the only Underwater faction. Thats right, you can build underwater bases and housings! I love these guys, they are like the mid ground of the three Factions.
There is allot of management to be had in this game and while the speed that it moves does annoy me at times, I do enjoy the overall pace of the game. There is something fun in Controlling the Trading between your islands, and even figuring out how to break into other factions warehouses for goods.
Small Settlement
There is an online component to the game, but I have not interacted with it. Apparently you can reap some benefits from this, but I choose not to. I couldn’t explain why, and I get mail from the Ubisoft system about hte goings on with other players, but I just can’t jump out there. I prefer to enjoy my world shaping the old fashioned way.
