Game on: RUSH

Today, we're looking at RUSH, another Two Tribes game, available on Steam.

In a Nutshell

Rush is a puzzle game in which you guide colored blocks to colored goals using signs, conveyor belts and walls while avoiding collisions.

Story

There's no story to this game. Just 3 tiers of levels you can tackle in pretty much any order.

Gameplay

In each RUSH level, you are given a field with starting differently colored block spawning points and matching goal areas. Using a variety of tiles, ranging from direction-changing arrows, conveyor belts, splits, stop signs, the occasional portal and the geometry of the levels, you have to guide the blocks to their goals. This game's puzzles are all about logic, planning and some trial and error to see how certain configurations work. The main threats to your success are collisions between blocks and, as levels get trickier, it becomes more complicated to mesh the various streams of blocks. To help you, however, a robust hint system is included that can either tell you if the tiles you placed are right or wrong or tell where tiles have to go and whether those you placed are right. It also runs a tally of the number of hints you used for a level. Of course, it never is as exciting to solve a level if you needed to use hints the whole way through. The game features 66 main levels (6 tutorials, 20 easy levels, 20 medium levels and 20 hard levels) as well as 15 extra levels if you join the RUSH group on Steam and 5 extremely challenging levels associated to the Portal 2 ARG. The difficulty curves nicely and some levels are very challenging, which makes them all the better when you successfully solve them. Of course, abusing the hints will rob you of such a feeling of accomplishment.

Presentation

RUSH looks very nice, it goes for a very colorful and shiny style where everything is made from cubes and tiles and it manages to look very good. There is, however, no real variety to i, once you've seen the first level, you've seen more or less all of them. Though I must say, the individual levels all look distinctive enough and fit very well in the aesthetic, but the lack of themes or variations make this game look a bit boring after a while. The music is catchy enough, but it, too, lacks a bit of variety at times.

Verdict

If you're looking for a fun puzzle game where logic, planning and trial and error meet a cubical, angular, colorful and shiny world, you will without a doubt enjoy RUSH quite a lot. For what it is, RUSH is a Nice and challenging title. It's not extraordinary, but it's competent and fun, especially for a low price point of $4.99.

Game On: Toki Tori

Today's game is Toki Tori, developed by Two Tribes, available on Steam, Android, iOS, Wiiware and originally on Game Boy Color.

In a Nutshell

Toki Tori is a puzzle game in which you must explore various maze-like levels and collect eggs using a limited stockpile of tools such as bridges and blocks.

Story

There is absolutely no story in this game. It's not particularly missed either, since this is a simple puzzle game.

Gameplay

Toki tori is not a very complex game to describe. Each level puts you in a little maze-like area with platforms, ledges, hazards and ladders. You have a limited number of tools which include bridges, blocks as well as more exotic ones such as teleportation, moving small block walls and weapons such as a freeze ray. You have to navigate the levels, avoid hazards and try to collect all the eggs. In case you mess up, which will happen very often, you have a handy rewind feature, much like in Braid, which allows you to avoid mistakes without restarting the entire level every time. The game is separated in 4 worlds, each with a theme, 12 normal levels, 7 hard levels and a handful of extra levels for those who join the Toki Tori Steam Group. The levels are varied, but the difficulty goes up rather quickly and, i must confess, i needed hints to complete many levels around the latter half of the game. Of course, if you want mental conundrums that need you to plan how to traverse a maze using limited resources, you don't want it to be too easy. The game mechanics themselves are good, and the inclusion of a level editor is a nice touch.

Presentation

The game has a very cute style that hides a deceptively complex game with some devilish puzzles. Everything is colorful and there are some nice little touches that differentiate each world. From the forest to an old castle to the sewers to underwater, you don't have a massive amount of diversity but the worlds don't really overstep their welcome. The music is nice, light and catchy, always appropriate with the background. However, the game's ending rap is kind of atrocious.

Verdict

Toki Tori is a delightful little game, perfect for anyone who wants some puzzle solving and maze navigating. If you're up to the task, you will find an entertaining puzzler in Toki Tori. it's not a great game, but, for what it is, is as good as it needs to be.

Game On: Borderlands

Today's game is Borderlands, developed by Gearbox, Available on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

In a Nutshell

There's a story people know on planet Pandora, the story of the Vault, which countless people are searching for. Alone or in a group, you must find the vault and the riches therein, fighting alien creatures, psychotic raiders and completing quests along the way in this FPS-RPG hybrid.

Story

The story is not the focus of the experience. That being said, it's adequate for the game. The plot is simplistic with only a couple plot twists around the end. Most of the story is relayed through text that comes with quests or through some audio messages relayed through the ECHO system. The characters are not developed at all, but they're nice. They're flat, sure, but the hint of personality they possess is endearing most of the time. This is certainly what's best for the experience, though, as this is mostly a co-op multiplayer FPS experience.

Gameplay

The game is rather straightforward. You find quests, either to advance the story or merely to get more loot, experience and money, shoot your way through them and then turn them in to get your reward. This is, at it's core, a western action RPG. Enemies drop a variety of randomly generated guns, money and ammunition, upon leveling up, you spend skill points in your character's 3 skill trees, complete quests, compare equipment and so on. it's actually quite a robust RPG in that regard. There are several gun types, ranging from pistols to rocket launchers and including some rather rare alien weaponry. Additionally, you can customize your grenades, ranging from regular ones to teleporting ones or Transfusion grenades which hurt the enemy and siphon their health back into you. Shields allow you to customize your main means of defense and class mods allow you to further customize your character by boosting some skills and adding utilities such as regenerating ammo for the entire party or making you more accurate with a certain type of gun.

Each of the 4 classes, Soldier, Hunter, Siren and Berserker has a special skill, 3 skill trees and some affinity for some types of guns. For example, the soldier specializes in assault rifles and shotguns and can deploy an automated turret gun. This succeeds in giving each of the classes their own feel and, since each gun type has it's own skill, ultimately your own playstyle is going to allow you to build a character up to your liking, getting bonuses with guns you use more often. Enemies come in many varieties, be they alien creatures of human antagonists. Though a lot look very much like palette swaps, they each have their special abilities and can come in "badass" varieties that are tougher but also more rewarding to kill.

The areas you explore have a nice variety, ranging from large, open areas to more confined, linear spaces, including some indoor areas. Quests each have a recommended level for them, and there is some scaling happening behind the scenes as each enemy has its own level. higher level enemies are harder to kill and hit you harder, but also drop better loot, more money and more experience. Chests are strewn upon liberally, containing ammunition, money or sometimes weapons and equipment. The vehicle handles well and, though there are only two turret types, the fact it has more than one turret type is something commendable. The main problem with it is that it sometimes takes way too much damage from collisions with enemies and its turrets begin to be rather weak at some point in the game which removes the utility of having a turret.

There are, however, some flaws. For one, the difficulty is a bit uneven at times, with some areas being quite a lot more challenging than the areas before. The vast majority of the equipment you'll find won't compare favorably and will serve no other purpose than to temporarily clog up your inventory until you find a shop to sell it, though that may be endemic to this type of loot-driven RPG. At one point in the game, I found a gun that was not particularly rare according to the color code, but simply so good it was better than every other gun of its type for a long stretch of the game.

Presentation

The game uses cel-shading to achieve a distinctive look and succeeds rather well. The game, though not particularly pretty manages to look extremely nice through stylization. The character design is distinctive and has a certain low-fi aesthetic to it, as it sells the idea that this is a backwards world that has been abandoned by all but the more adventurous, if not the poorest. there is a sort of quiet misery to be found in the characters, stuck on this planet where Mad Max style raiders outnumber honest citizens almost 3 to 1. The gun designs are rather cool and distinctive, adding a lot of variety to it. Each corporation has its own style and specification. For randomly generated guns, they look rather nice and not samey at all. Creature design is also very inspired, helping drive the point that this is a hostile world, not a garden world. Each important character also gets a very fun little scene and title card in a cool poster style. It's slick and it really helps the game look and feel distinctive. The music is mostly ambient and muted, but it works well to enhance the experience. The game also has two pieces that are more stated for the intro and for the credits and they are rather fantastic songs. All in all, the presentation really shines with this game.

Verdict

If you're looking for a fun co-op experience, a distinctive FPS or a lootfest RPG, look no further, this game succeeds at all three goals. This is a Very Fun Game and a Very Fun Co-Op Experience. Do not miss it, it is that good! With a slick presentation, spot on mechanics and tons of potential hours of fun, this is just a great game.

Game On: Assassin's Creed 2

Today's game is Assassin's Creed II, developed by Ubisoft, available on PC, XBox 360 and PS3.

In a Nutshell
Desmond is once again thrust into the life of an ancestor through genetic memory and the mysterious Animus device. As Ezio Auditore da Firenze, he must unlock the secrets of Renaissance Italy, assassinate Templars and learn more about the true history of the world.

Story
The story mostly follows Desmond's ancestor Ezio this time around, with only a very limited number of sequences set in the present day. Ezio's tale is all about untangling a labyrinthine web of Templar deceit and conspiracy, ultimately ending with a plot by one to obtain more power. The characters are rather interesting, Ezio goes through a few character arcs, the supporting cast is a bit more uneven, with some being well developed and interesting while others kind of melting in the background. The villains aren't as developed as they were in the original Assassin's Creed due to the post-assassination limbo sequences being shortened significantly.There are a lot more characters, though, but it's still disappointing that only few have any sort of motivation beyond "He's a Templar" or "He's a friend of Ezio". To supplement the story, you have access to a database describing characters you meet and their place in history. It's an interesting feature and it helps you remember who a character is, and learn more about their life, but it's a poor substitute to proper character development.

The plot itself makes sense, starting with a conspiracy that affects Ezio building up to a bigger conspiracy by Templars to achieve their nefarious goals. Intermingled with the main plot is a series of optional vignettes and scattered data that can be accessed by finding glowing glyphs hidden on certain buildings. This allows you to piece more and more of the Templar's plans throughout history and are actually quite interesting. it's a shame that they're optional, though, because they're a quite novel, puzzle-based form of plot development. In the end, it can hold up, but the story suffered a bit compared to the first game in the series.

Gameplay
The gameplay has improved immensely since the original Assassin's Creed, while keeping the basics. It's still all about moving fast from point A to point B, either in the streets or on the rooftops, avoiding guards, blending in with the populace, assassinating people and participating in sword fights. The mission structure is also much improved. Unlike the original Assassin's Creed, you no longer gather intel on a target by doing 3 out of 5 missions in any order and then getting on with the main assassination. Instead, you follow a mostly linear line of missions while free to partake in the many optional side missions. A new feature is money, which allows you to purchase weapons, armor, ammunition and medicine as well as hire groups to help you distract or fight your enemies or merely help you blend in and hide. The climbing and free-running feel amazing, giving you a real sense of speed as you run, leap and climb your way. The effect is especially fun when chased by guards who witnessed an assassination. Sadly, it is not perfect, with a few moments where you might climb or jump in the wrong direction because you're, say, too close to a wall or near a gap. It's especially annoying when you die because of it, which will happen a few times during hectic chases.

A great feature is the freedom you're given to complete most missions.  Barring a few specific objectives, you're usually given a vague objective and several ways to achieve it. Thanks to a robust system with high profile and low profile action and a number of new assassination moves such as air assassination or assassination from hiding spots, you have a large number of tools at your disposal for every situation. The main problem is the game usually falls a bit flat whenever it restricts your options. It's interesting to be forced to assassinate a target without being detected, but a mission in particular sticks in my mind as being particularly hard even though there is no real reason why you can't be seen, and to not be seen, you need to go through the mission in basically only one way. Still in general, you're given a lot of freedom to complete your objectives. The game ultimately lacks a bit of the structure the first one had due to its more linear mission progression, but by giving you so much more freedom, it balances out very nicely.

Presentation
The presentation is a bit uneven in this game. On one hand, you have rather gorgeous cities that seem alive, plenty of nice character designs and very good animations. On the other hand, clothes very often have clipping errors and the models look odd, if sometimes ugly up close. The lip synching looks really odd at times, which is a shame since the game looks pretty damn good. I also noticed a lot of weird graphical glitches on the PC version, grass seemingly growing as you approach it, low-res foliage shrinking and high res foliage growing as you approach trees, it was certainly pretty jarring at times. Then again, the animations are really, really great, while free-running or sword fighting, it really looks great and alive. It's just a shame that it's marred by glitches and models that don't always hold up when seen up close.

The music is very effective at driving up the tension while racing through Florence or while fighting a group of enemies, otherwise being mostly atmospheric noises you expect to hear in a city. The audio design is very good, really making the cities seem alive and bustling. The voice acting is also very good, though one may wonder why the characters still have accents when their words are supposedly translated. The audio is, indeed, very good in this game.

Verdict
On the whole, a Very entertaining game that feels alive and manages to improve greatly on the gameplay of it's predecessor, though it sacrificed some of the narrative elements in the process. Though marred by some visual glitches, it is very much a pretty game and one that should not be missed!