Truth be said, I'm not much of a casual games fan and even less so when I'm too busy to spare the few precious moments needed for that extra drink. Also I'm not in the best of moods. And
ButtonSmasher has been taking up too much of my gaming/blogging time. Oh, yes, and
Circulate, the brand new game I'm supposed to be reviewing here, is definitely advertised as one of them casual offerings. Then again, were I wearing a sombrero (
sombreros always make you happy, mind) I'd definitely describe it as an indie, physics based, action heavy puzzle game, which definitely sounds a lot better and is closer to the truth too.
So, what precisely is
Circulate, I pretend to hear you ask. I mean, besides an indie, physics based, action heavy puzzle game. Well, that's not a very easy answer to give unfortunately.
Circulate, you see, has the player spinning whole levels around and occasionally clicking on -for lack of a better word- spheres, while trying to get them spheres in containers, trying to make them vanish, or generally moving them properly around while avoiding a variety of obstacles and traps. A concept that is apparently way easier to understand than explain. Hopefully
this video or the following screenshots will give you an idea of what to expect.
And is it a good a game, I pretend to hear you ask again, while thinking I should cut down on the habit. Why, yes, yes it is. Innovative and maddeningly addictive too. The learning curve is just perfect, the controls are intuitive, the levels incredibly varied and more than enough to keep you sleepless for a few nights (
there are 120 of them), the kaleidoscopic graphics are beautiful, the music is just fine, the tutorial mode works perfectly and the game is an absolute blast to play. Add the numerous options available, including the one to play
Circulate in windowed mode, its modest price and the very reasonable hardware requirements, and you got a game any PC gamer should try.
Why not have a look over at its
official webpage then? Apparently you can actually order a proper boxed copy of the thing. After all, not all casual games are derivative little offerings aimed at non-gamers. Some are true gems waiting to be discovered.
That's a (
seven and a half) out of (ten).
:
Meet Slave Circus,
The Lord of the Rings Online review,
Age of Decadence interview,
Savage 2
? Watch the video and all (/none) will be clear.
So, what should we start with? Something game related would do I guess. From the International House of Mojo preferably. Better start with an amazing Maniac Mansion mega feature complete with trivia, mini developer interviews and a full mansion tour, then.
And you thought Adventure Lantern was dead... Hah! Just follow the link and download 40+ pdfed pages of adventure gaming goodness. It's as free as it has always been and it's even got an extended bit on text-adventures and the forthcoming (though definitely not very convincing) AdventureCon. Issue highlights include a Sam & Max review double feature, a look at Mass Effect, a preview of Overclocked: A History of Violence, a review of Valve's all singing all dancing Portal, a nod to the PSP and a lovely Sam & Max episode 203 walkthrough. Oh, yes, and I did my usual news bit too.
TIGSource just announced it and after clicking around I (heroically, if I may say so myself) discovered it to be true. Hooray! TIGdb has gone live and can now be accessed by following this very link. Or by being old fashioned and typing http://db.tigsource.com somewhere appropriate, I guess. Oh, and in case you failed to understand what the point is, well, TIGdb does sort of stand for The Indie Game Database.
Truth be said, I'm not much of a casual games fan and even less so when I'm too busy to spare the few precious moments needed for that extra drink. Also I'm not in the best of moods. And ButtonSmasher has been taking up too much of my gaming/blogging time. Oh, yes, and Circulate, the brand new game I'm supposed to be reviewing here, is definitely advertised as one of them casual offerings. Then again, were I wearing a sombrero (sombreros always make you happy, mind) I'd definitely describe it as an indie, physics based, action heavy puzzle game, which definitely sounds a lot better and is closer to the truth too.
And is it a good a game, I pretend to hear you ask again, while thinking I should cut down on the habit. Why, yes, yes it is. Innovative and maddeningly addictive too. The learning curve is just perfect, the controls are intuitive, the levels incredibly varied and more than enough to keep you sleepless for a few nights (there are 120 of them), the kaleidoscopic graphics are beautiful, the music is just fine, the tutorial mode works perfectly and the game is an absolute blast to play. Add the numerous options available, including the one to play Circulate in windowed mode, its modest price and the very reasonable hardware requirements, and you got a game any PC gamer should try.
I know I've mentioned text-adventure/interactive-fiction games on this blog more than enough, but now -I'm convinced- even the uninitiated will care, for Gun Mute by dear Pacian is an immensely accessible, brilliantly written, incredibly fun, modestly sized and 100% freeware offering. Hints, you see, oh text-phobic readers, are readily available, an in-game walkthrough of sorts has been included, traveling has been limited to forward/backward movement and only a handful of commands are required to finish the game.
Think we all got to thank Trevor, an apparently knowledgeable RPG gamer and a rather generous reader of Gnome's Lair, for pointing me (us) towards the excellent and very freeware RPTools collection, for quite frankly it does feature some of the best RPG tools available. By following the link you'll be able to grab a pretty sophisticated dice-rolling tool, a fantastic online-enabled map tool with its TokenTool add-on and the always handy InitTool, that helps GMs/DMs keep track of initiative orders. Lovely, innit?
Yehuda, the gamer, blogger, tabletop aficionado and board game designer of It's Alive fame, has finally presented us with the latest in tabletop gaming web love: Purple Pawn. Visit it, bookmark it, add it to your feed reader, pet it, read it, hug it and you'll be sure you'll be getting all the tabletop gaming news you've always wanted. Purple Pawn is apparently covering everything from board games and RPGs to wargames and CCGs.