Legend of Princess

Introduction

Legend of princess is a 2D platform game that is free to play and is what a zelda game would look like as a 2D platformer. Legend of Princess is the work of indie developer Joakim Sandberg.

Gameplay

The game is much faster than games like mario, and needs quick reflexes to avoid enemies and reach ledges. There are some good puzzles in the game for opening doors and also during boss fights. The game might be short but there are plenty of boss fights and each one is unique and fun to play.

The main character is an elf wearing green just like zelda and there are two weapons a sword and also a boomerang type object you can throw. There are many secret locations containing bonus items. The game is very short but the time you complete its in and te number of bonus items collected is recoreded so you can replay to beat your previous best.

colourful 16-bit style graphics

Conclusion

Overall this good but short platformer, definately worth playing.

Score 7/10

Cave Story Review

Introduction

Cave story is a freeware action adventure game that is a 2D platform game with simple graphics like a Nintendo NES game. Cave story is completely free. To play in English you also need to get an English language translation pack.

Gameplay

The main character is an un named solder who finds himself stranded on a floating island. There are minigma creatures being hunted by a doctor, and also another outsider to the island called Sue who is missing. Who you rescue and don't rescue is part of the game, you can play the game helping everyone or just to find a way to escape the island for yourself.

Conclusion

Cave story is a very good game, which at first glance the depth is not obvious, but I advise being patient and giving the game a chance. Music is Cave Story is excellent and you will find yourself humming some of the tunes when no even playing the game. The game takes 6 hours approx to complete. Here are some cave story wallpapers.

Score 10/10

Main character, Curly, Balrog

Curly

Outer Wall

Alien Swarm Review

Intruduction
 
Alien swarm is a free top-down view space shooter. It is offered free because it is an advertisement for the Steam gaming platform from Valve. Previously it was a mod for Unreal Tournament 2004. A similar game to Alien Swarm is Alien Breed which was released originally for the Commodore Amiga.

flamer gun used on drones and two boomers

Gameplay

Alien Swarm is a co-operative multiplayer game. You play in a team of 4 to complete the objectives of a mission. The story mode called Jacobs Rest has 7 missions each with different objectives. To succeed you must work as a team.

Before starting a game you choose your class. The 4 different classes in the game are tech, Officer, special weapons, medic. Each class has different strengths.  Officer is good all-round, medic good at healing, tech is good at opening doors, and special weapons can use a chain gun. There are many weapons in the game including flamer(flame thrower), M42 Vindictor(shotgun) and Electric gun(IAF Tesla Canon).  Characters can also carry items such as stun grenade or damage amplifier.

While doing objectives you will be attacked by aliens. There are multiple enemy aliens and some will need a specific strategy to defeat. The shieldbug for example is best attacked with two people, one person acting as a decoy and the other person going behind and shooting. At the end of a match you are shown detailed statistics about the movement of your team, the number of kills, deaths, and friendly fire. Not always useful, but can be interesting.

The story mode can be completed in 1-2 hours. The game does have good replay value because there are multiple difficulties, and a levelling system that unlocks new weapons as you gain experience.

Conclusion

Overall Alien swarm is fun and definitely worth playing.

Score 7/10

S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl Review

Introduction

Stalker is a first person shooter game set in the area radioactively contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear accident of 1986, and fictional second accident which enlarged the size of the area contaminated and also mutated the inhabitants.

The area radioactively contaminated is called the zone, and in the zone there are many valuable artefacts. Stalker is the name given to people in search of artefacts. Artefacts have properties such as increasing someone resistance to radioactivity, fire, chemicals, electricity, increasing endurance, or increasing health. You can collect artefacts to increase your characters strength or to trade for money. The game has multiple endings depending on, how much of the back story you discover, how much other Stalkers like you, and how much money you collect.

abandoned industrial facility

Gameplay

Carrying out tasks for different NPC's such as helping defend a camp, killing another stalker, or finding documents. Exploration is very important in stalker and lots of the disused industrial sites area based upon real building in the zones. This shows and the environment has lots of detail to discover.

You can get more money in the game by fighting in the arena. You get money for winning a fight, but if you lose its game over. Next to the arena is the bar where you can talk to people for jobs, or trade items and information. There are lots of weapons to collect they all have different abilities. As you do more difficult mission you will get better guns. You can loot items from dead bodies to sell but you can’t take everything because of a 50kg backpack limit. You must also take care of eating, if you go too long without eating, a warning icon in the HUD will show. The staple diet of a stalker is tinned food, bread, sausage, and vodka.

One criticism is there is always light any never night time. It would be an improvement if there was a day and night in the game as well as a way to sleep to replenish health. Some of the many community made mods for the game do this. One if the popular mods is Stalker 2009 complete.

The A.I in stalker is hit and miss sometimes you will be shot dead with a single shot before you can even see the enemy, other times the A.I will just stand still and let you shoot them with no reaction. The A.I mostly works ok.

exploring the zone with Tsunder S14 assault riffle

Conclusion

Overall I enjoyed stalker, the grim and desperate world has lots of atmosphere, and some parts of the game are very scary. When an enemy is coming towards you, sound is used make you aware, but also does not make it easy to know the direction or the distance from of the attacker. This increases tension and then when you are attacked it is surprising even though you are expecting it. The back story is interesting and the game only scratches the surface of the Stalker world. There are other stalker games as well as books.

The game has a fair few bugs, but it is easy to forgive the bugs for all the good things about the game. The graphics are good, and the soundtrack is also good.

Score 7/10