Looking at the description for Deep Black: Reloaded it had many appealing features that I look for in a shooter. The main thing pulling me into the game were the underwater sections in the game. Did the game live up to what I expected? Not really.

The story takes place as two different nations have had a little falling out and decide to start a war. You play as a soldier coming out of retirement known as Pierce and are given a mission to rescue some hostages from a base that are up in the drama. When you get to the compound, things aren’t as you would expect. You find a giant weapon and have to do something about it.

Deep Black: Reloaded has some great water sections. You find yourself swimming throughout tunnels, raising and lowering the water level and solving underwater puzzles to progress yourself through the game. Unfortunately these underwater sections are split up by repetitive shooting sections that become more frustrating than fun after the first few battles. Deep Black: Reloaded is a shooter and the shooting sections are plenty.  On your mission to find out who is responsible for the weapon, you will have hundreds of enemies to take out, all spawning out of nowhere on the side of the corridor and coincidentally standing directly next to an exploding object for you to conveniently shoot and take them out in one shot. The majority of the game takes place while shooting instead of making great use of the most appealing part, the underwater sections. It becomes very difficult to enjoy certain parts of the game knowing that the second you step out of the water you should get comfortable as you might be repeating that section another 10 times after getting killed for a whole number of reasons out of your control.

The cover mechanic doesn’t help the combat as attempting to get to the cover becomes just as difficult as hiding behind it. The game has a non existent sprint button so you find yourself walking with the camera slightly to the side hoping that the game kicks you into sprint mode so you can actually make some progress through the level. As most of the game takes place on land, the pace of the game is slowed down by this. At times you will end up dying as you can’t make your way to the cover before a turret takes you down because you are stood out in the open trying to hide behind anything. Once hidden, you won’t have much luck either as most of the things that you attempt to hide behind, Pierce will end up with his arm or his head poking out so the enemies can do just as much damage when you are in cover. The underwater combat sections are more forgiving and although repetitive, I didn’t have an issue with any of the underwater controls or mechanics. You have a boost button to push yourself forward and a grappling hook that you can use to pull enemies into the water or hack and solve underwater puzzles. The enemies you face underwater are basic and at times you have difficulty telling where the enemy is in context to you and start spinning around hoping to see a bullet fly past.

The enemies that you take out aren’t varied enough for each section to be a new challenge, and as the environments aren’t that varied either, the game just becomes one giant level, with shooter sections, water sections, shooter section and so on. I wouldn’t mind the various faults of the shooting sections if the checkpoints within the game weren’t so terrible, at points if you get killed you end up going back 10-15 minutes and having to do another two shooting sections before you get back to where you were originally. The boss battles (or giant mechanical robot battles) you occasionally encounter follow the theme of the rest of the game as you have to figure out what to do and then three deaths later you finally take them out. The voice acting is very poor and basic and the certain sounds that the enemy makes when you kill them can get repetitive after hearing someone collapse and gargle themself to death for the tenth time in 15 minutes. I didn’t get chance to try the multiplayer as I couldn’t find a match, but I can imagine it is the same painful shooting sections as the Single Player but with other people.

I went into Deep Black: Reloaded with the impression that it was going to be a primarily underwater based game, and on certain sections, it is. Unfortunately those underwater sections are accompanied by some terrible shooting sections on land that after your first couple of times can become boring and at times frustrating. If you are looking for a game in this genre, it might be best if you give this one a miss.

• Beautiful water effects
• Fun underwater sections
• Terrible shooting sections
• Frustrating and infrequent checkpoints
• Clunky cover and movement

Score: 3 out of 10

Game Review: Defenders of Ardania
Release: March 14th 2012
Genre: Strategy
Developer: Most Wanted Entertainment (MWE)
Available Platforms: XBLA, PC and iPad
Players: 1-4
MSRP: $15
ESRB Rating: 12+
Website: http://www.defendersofardania.com/

Defenders of Ardania is a tower defense game from Most Wanted Entertainment that attempts to take the traditional gameplay of a tower defense game and throw it out the window. Instead of the usual act of just defending, Defenders of Ardania requires you to fight back and send troops back out to your enemies base. While this is an interesting addition to a tower defense game, it is ultimately the downfall of the game.

In Defenders of Ardania, you make your way across the map from territory to territory facing different enemy types while unlocking and purchasing new towers and units to send to your enemies base. As with most tower defense games, you start with the simple close range and long range towers and slowly as the levels progress you unlock more varied towers. The same applies to the units you can send out, the soldiers, tanks and rogues are a great starting point, although even fully upgraded, the enemy towers can still take them down pretty fast if they are left out on their own.

Attacking ultimately becomes the main strategy, as the game limits you to placing only 10 towers when you start each level, it pushes the tower defense element of the gameplay to the back burner and leaves you to focus on taking on the enemy. Unfortunately the attacking element can become repetitive very quickly and you end up focusing on spending all of your resources on sending out 25 of the same rogue or tank unit so that the opponents towers can’t keep up with such a horde.

At the start of the game, I was really excited by the premise of being able to attack the enemy. Slowly as the levels progressed, it turned from a new and interested game into a repetitive and very limited game. Some elements of the game are a great addition, such as the magic ability granting you the power to use some of your resources to heal your base or attack a certain point of the map with a thunderstorm.

Music in the game is a strong point and definitely suits the game. This is accompanied by some terrible voice acting as it seems like the voice actors for the game are reading the script for the first time. Thankfully you don’t need to focus on the story much and this only affects you in between levels leaving you to focus on the actual game within the level. Multiplayer follows the same theme as the single player and pits you against up to four online opponents in the same format as the single player. While following this format, the online matches will also take you sometimes an hour, just because your units are just too weak to take out the enemy and you wind up just endlessly throwing hundreds of troops out, hoping that at least one of them might make it the enemy base.

Defenders of Ardania was a really great idea for a tower defense game and at certain points it fulfils what you expect from the game. With a wide variety of levels, towers and units, strategy is key. If you can see past the long levels and the limitation of tower placements, then Defenders of Ardania is a comparable strategy game. If you are looking for a real tower defense game, I would give this one a miss.

• Wide range of towers and units
• Great first couple of levels
• Too much repetitive gameplay
• Terrible voice acting and dull story

Score: 4 out of 10

Hidden object games are a sort of guilty pleasure for this “hardcore gamer.”  It’s an opportunity for me to take a few hours off from the rigors of more serious gaming, and click through a light adventure while hunting for spiders, glasses, and trying to figure out what version of the word “compass” the game wants me to find.  So I came into Dark Strokes expecting the same lighter fare, where the story is really just tacked on to a series of interactive puzzles.  Fortunately, Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers very quickly establishes that the story is worth paying attention to, and through the course of your adventure, you will actually be engaging in puzzles and hidden object screens that are integrated nicely with the flow of the story.  The spooky theme isn’t as forced as previous efforts, as the protagonists are revealed early on to help drive the story.

The game itself follows the standard format for previous adventure / hidden object games.  You will interact with relatively static environments, engaging in dialog with characters, moving between screens, and solving various puzzles.  You will acquire an inventory through either picking up objects directly from the environments, or as a result of completing a hidden object game or puzzle.  These objects are always used to solve later puzzles (using a bandage on a wounded person, key in a lock, etc).  Everything is a single click, which makes interacting a fairly effortless process.  The game will punish you slightly for clicking haphazardly by slowing down your cursor, so some effort is required to work through the various puzzles in the game.  The puzzles themselves are varied, and some are a decent challenge (not as difficult as 7th Guest, but not as frustrating either).  Special bonus: not a single Tower of Hanoi puzzle in the game, which is a feat in and of itself.  The hidden object screens are richly detailed, and not as cheap as some other ones I have played; just about everything is hidden in plain sight, rather than artificially blended into the picture.

You will have the option in the beginning of the game to play on either Casual or Expert mode.  Casual mode will highlight interactive parts of the environments, and allow you to use a hint every minute, whereas Expert has a 2 minute delay, and no such highlighting.  These highlights are only on the non-puzzle parts of the game, and show where you should (or will need to) be clicking. To be honest, the highlighting is subtle enough that you’re still required to scan the whole screen; it just makes it so you’re not randomly clicking all over the screen until you see something to interact with (a shortcoming of old-school adventure games), so I would recommend the casual mode.  Hints are handled well: if you use a hint outside of a puzzle, you’ll be directed to click on something on-screen (either a direction arrow to move to another screen, or an interactive element on the screen).  You can use these hints as much as you want, until you’re directed to actually take an action, at which point the hint timer will reset.  This is nice for when you are stuck on which screen to go to, as it will let you move quickly using hints, and then force you to wait once you take action.  Using hints in a puzzle will often solve it outright, and using hints in the hidden object game will highlight one of the remaining objects.

Dark Strokes does an excellent job of letting the player move as quickly as they wish through the story.  Screen transitions are quick and fluid, most dialogue can be clicked through, and a full strategy guide is available if you just want to plow through the story.  For those that like to take their time, there’s plenty of descriptive text available on each screen by clicking on non-interactive elements, and the game does a great job of adding animated graphical elements to the static screens.  The quality of ambient music and graphics are also excellent, and set the mood well.  The puzzles are fun, detailed, and well animated.  I also enjoyed watching my objects interact with the environment when appropriate.  Overall, the game feels very polished, and made it difficult to stop playing once I started.

There is some backtracking, particularly early on, but thanks to the quick screen transitions, this isn’t too annoying.  The game actually gets a little too easy after the first half of the game, as you start focusing on smaller parts of the map, so deciding on which objects are used where becomes much simpler.  There are some pretty neat interactive elements used in the early hidden object puzzles that never make an appearance again (clicking on a purse to open it to find one of the objects, for example).  More variety on these interactive elements, including red herrings, would have been nice.  The story, which is far from bad, is predictable and formulaic, and where the bonus chapter could have been great in giving some back story, it really comes up short (and almost laughable at parts).  My final gripe is more of a wish for the genre as a whole: add some consequences.  There’s no time limit, there’s no chance of dying, and therefore there’s no sense of urgency.  Especially with a story like this, there were plenty of times where having a 5 minute timer to solve the puzzle would have made sense, or where clicking on the wrong things could have resulted in a game over screen.  It seems that games are afraid of showing gamers a Game Over screen, and I hope that even for casual games like this, the Expert mode can include such features.

vttym’s take: Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers provides everything you could hope for from a hidden object adventure game.  The puzzles are varied, the hidden object sections are nicely integrated with the environment and story, and the presentation itself it top-notch.  The story leaves a little to be desired, but is hardly a distraction, and does its job in getting the player engaged in the characters. If you’re looking for a high quality puzzle game, you’ve found it.

Final score: 9/10

Time to dust me off?

Yes, you read that correctly. No, this is not an archived rogue article rearing it’s head after 15 years.  There is an actual game in development set to be released next year. Developer Super Fighting Team is developing Nightmare Busters set to ship 15 years after the last SNES title. Taking pre-orders for the first 600 copies, Super Fighting Team will deliver a cartridge (with support for both PAL and NTSC), a manual and box for $68 for customers within the USA and $75 for those outside.

The definitive game in the genre?

This may be the only time a game will be more expensive than the console, considering I can find used SNES’s on Amazon and eBay and craigslist in the 40-60 dollar range. The post on their website is both interesting and entertaining. It is clear the team is very serious about their game and committed to their fans. Head over, check it out, and if you interested, Preorder it!

Source: Nightmare Busters

Looking for something new? Producer and publisher, The Chinese Room, might have just what you are searching for with its latest release, Dear Esther. Dear Esther is a title which manages to escape the confines of what a standard video game experience is thought to be, while centering its focus on the power of environmental story telling. Given the nature of this game, I have decided to conduct this review in video format, so that you might get a more solid grasp on what the game is all about by seeing it for yourself. This title is available on Steam for the modest price of $9.99, but if you are willing to wait for a sale (which Steam is notorious for) then you should be able to pick it up for even less. The low price is due mostly in part to the game’s short length, but don’t let that fool you. This is a title that demands the attention of any gamer looking to experience something truly unique. Take a look at the video bellow for a full review.

+ Great Environments

+ Unique, Great Story

- Short

- Not Challenging

Final Score: 8/10

Gamers play games for different reasons.  Some play for the stories and experience. Some play for the achievements.  Some play to just have fun and get away from the world for a while.  And some play for the challenge.  Games come in all varieties, and the game’s difficulty is one of the ways that developers can try to create an experience that everyone can enjoy.  Some games will scale that difficulty based on how you play (with no actual setting to choose), some will let you change the difficulty while you play, while others will ask you the question that always makes me cringe: What difficulty do you want to play at? Easy, Normal, Hard.  The question is loaded from the start.. Are you a wuss that wants to blow through the game?  Do you want to play it like everyone else? Or do you want to throw your controller through the screen?  Let’s not even get into the fact that you have no idea how a game plays when you’re first making this decision; that’s a whole other article.  What I do want to know is..

What difficulty setting do you usually play a game on for your first playthrough?

(You may need to refresh the page to see the poll)

As I imagine you may play different genres at different difficulty levels, pick the genre you play the most, and pick your average. The poll is over-simplified; I’m aware there are often multiple “hard” settings, but often those secondary settings appear after beating the game once on a lower level.  I tend to play on the Hard setting for a variety of reasons: 1) there’s usually more achievements associated with playing on a harder setting, 2) I’ve been playing games a long time, and find myself getting bored when I play on lower settings, and 3) I’m not a wuss.  Don’t get me wrong, I will play a game on Easy from time to time, especially when I want to play it more casually, and enjoy the story more than the action (usually on a second playthrough), but nothing beats the rush of clearing a level on Hard that was kicking your ass multiple times.

I personally feel as though the difficulty selection is a lazy medium that really doesn’t apply to most of today’s games.  It was a necessity many years ago when storage space was at a premium, and you couldn’t waste code coming up with algorithms to determine how the player is playing, and adjust accordingly. It was an easy way for programmers to offer a varied experience without eating up a lot more resources.  But now?

What do you think?  Should developers just do away with the difficulty selector entirely? Do you prefer variable difficulty that adjusts to how you play?  Do you like ensuring a consistent game experience by picking a difficulty level? Let us know in the comments!

View previous ASQ: Game Instruction Manuals - View next ASQ: Staying Alive

A Simple Question (ASQ) is a weekly segment for Platform Nation.  Give a response and let the world know what you think; there is no right or wrong answer here. If you have a suggestion for a question, hit me up on twitter @vttym.

Guild Wars 2 is one step closer to being in the hard drives of gamers. Today ArenaNet announced on their blog, that the Guild Wars 2 closed beta will “aggressively ramp up” in size starting in March and April. That will lead to Guild Wars 2′s release later this year. I know my fellow Asura Necromancers are excited that the wait is nearly over. For those not familiar with Guild Wars 2, it’s an upcoming MMO that wants to break free of the genre’s conventions. Guild Wars 2 will have action oriented combat, a more natural quest system, and no monthly fees. Plus it’s beautiful. Check it out in action below.

I’ve never been able to get into an MMO. Even MMO’s that seem geared directly at me like Star Wars The Old Republic or DC Universe Online haven’t gotten me very interested. Guild Wars 2, though, has me anxiously awaiting it’s release. You can get information on the game at it’s official website.

Have you ever looked at something, noticed a recurring theme or element that you recall from your previous experience and knowledge, and then dismissively thought or exclaimed: ‘oh, that is just like -blank-’? Of course you have. We all do it. Practically everything you see, do, or experience possesses some sort of recurring pattern or theme that has been seen throughout history. When you saw Avatar, part of you felt like you had heard the story some place before. The graphics and 3D effects were able to partially lull your mind to sleep, but you still couldn’t help yourself from subconsciously trying to decide if the plot was more of a rip off of Pocahontas or Furngully. If you played through Darksiders, you would have been hard pressed not to draw similarities in the gameplay to Legend of Zelda. As you read through your favorite book series, or watch one of those horrific reality television shows, you feel like you almost know exactly what is going to happen more than half the time. Recurring themes pop up everywhere, whether we recognize them or not.

I bring this up because I see this complaint coming up again and again in reference to video games. The most relevant example, for me personally, would be with my experience in Bioware’s new MMO, Star Wars The Old Republic. Both in the game’s general chat, and in the media, the game is constantly compared to Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft. People accuse the game of being far too similar in formula, play style, and general mechanics to Blizzard’s online behemoth. Similarly, games like Killzone, Halo, or Resistance Fall of Man all share very similar game mechanics, general play style, and plot devices. They all have you running through war zones and rubbled environments, throwing grenades and shooting at anything that moves, all while trying to save the human race from aliens. Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 both had you trying to prevent a domestic crisis or attack in the United States from groups of Russian terrorists, and you can hardly even tell the game boxes apart without the title. In five years, people will think back on them as ‘just another shooter.’

So now we come to the heart of the matter. With the latest trend of sequels, downloadable content, and expansion packs, gamers are complaining that everything seems too similar. And they are right. But you also have to wonder if comparing the similarities in a game, song, movie, or any other type of art with works that have come before it is really a valid complaint, or merely a limitation or constraint of a genre. When a game ‘copies’ a solid, popular, or well implemented mechanic from a previous title, should this be something we criticize? Is it wrong for game developers to be inspired by their competitors in an attempt to give audiences what they want? Or is it simply a sound business policy?

I would argue that audiences should never become fully trusting of repetition, and always be wary of the ‘cookie cutter’ style of art, lest we become content with mediocrity. Yet, by the same token, I would also argue that repetition and similarity is a common, and natural part of creating works of art (which I most certainly consider video games to be) that shouldn’t be used to discredit a work, so long as the end result is enjoyable. If history has taught us anything, it is that something cannot come from nothing. If similarity or repetition is a bad thing, then we should only read one fantasy book, play one first person shooter, level up one MMO character, have sex only for reproduction (ouch…), listen to one love song, and eat only one potato chip.

But what do you think? Do you agree? Or do you despise games, movies, and other art that is similar to things you have seen, played, or otherwise experienced in the past? Does a game have to dynamically change and come out with something groundbreaking and new in order to be a true masterpiece? Is that even possible anymore? Vote in the poll and leave a comment bellow to let us know what you think! Don’t be shy.

Trine 2 is the sequel to the popular PC/PSN game Trine from a couple of years ago. For those who really enjoyed playing Trine, this game builds on that, but multiplies the fun by adding plenty more puzzle dynamics and character abilities that let you progress through the game in your own way.

Let me begin by mentioning the basics of Trine 2. The mysterious Trine pays a visit to your three characters and joins them together in an adventure. Now these aren’t just ordinary characters, as each of them have unique and special abilities that can help you in certain parts of levels. The Warrior of the game, known as Pontius, is the tough guy in the group, mainly used for smashing in rocks, and sometimes even smashing in the face of a goblin. Then you have the athletic Zoya, equipped with a bow and a grapple hook, she is the main character you will use to swing around and navigate the levels. And finally you have Amadeus, the most important part of the team, he can create objects from nothing, whether they are boxes or planks they can be a huge help at getting around the place. Now, you can switch between these characters at any point in the game, but each one has a health bar, so if you die as Zoya, swinging around the environment won’t be as easy and you’ll have to make use of Amadeus’s magical ability to make your way around.

A great example would be a room that has the floor covered with spikes, there’s nothing to grab onto apart from a thin piece of wood swinging from the roof on the opposite side, but unfortunately Zoya’s grapple hook can’t reach it. That’s when Amadeus can be a huge help and create a plank for Zoya to walk across the spikes and be able to grapple up to the ledge. I’m not going to lie and say that the warrior is a great character, although he can be a great character at times, he is also pretty useless when it comes to navigating the environment, and as I really don’t care for the combat in Trine 2 as it’s pretty repetitive apart from the bosses at the end of the levels. I found myself switching to the warrior character less and less as I made my way through the game.

The game has plenty of levels; after grabbing all the collectables needed to upgrade your characters, I reached the end of the first chapter after about an hour, which is a great sign, since the game has several chapters. Once I had finally started spending my skill points on the upgrades, Amadeus gained the ability to summon four different boxes at the same time, which was a huge improvement over the starting ability of just one. As your characters’ skills and abilities start improving, so will the difficulty of the puzzles. I went into Trine 2 under the impression that it wasn’t going to be a difficult game, and about 3 chapters in, I hit the difficulty barrier where each puzzle would be taking me around 10-15 minutes just to figure out which character needed to do what, where and when.

Throughout all the tough puzzles, the breathtaking graphics and environments within Trine 2 would always catch my eye. The lightning effects are unbelievable and the character animations and art stand out in such a unique and deep world. Whether you are in the forest or in a cave, a little beam of light or a drop of water look pristine and pretty darn beautiful. The music in the game adds an ambiance to the environment and this is accompanied by the occasional piece of voice acting.

Trine 2 really does have some great moments. Some of the puzzles and the boss battles really stand out and require you to use the skills you’ve picked up over the course of the game. Although I do feel like the fighting sections in the game are pretty pointless. Every so often when a group of goblins comes out it’s as simple as switching to the warrior and hitting them down. I would have been happy with none of this fighting and just boss battles. The puzzles are enough to keep me busy without having to mess around doing repetitive battles.

Online co-op is great feature in Trine 2 too. You can join up to two people online, with each of them controlling either Amadeus, Zoya or Pontius. While this is a fun feature and great way to play through the story, I would recommend doing it with a friend, as online people tend to find it much more fun to impale themselves on the spikes and not actually solve the puzzle.

Some days I found myself enjoying and flying through the puzzles, and some days I was going completely insane trying to figure out how to get up to the next ledge. This creative and varied level designs makes Trine 2 a game you should check out. The characters themselves are great to control and to make your way through the gorgeous environments in the game is a good enough reward for buying the game.

• Great looking levels
• Fun while still difficult puzzles
• Characters with an extremely wide variety of abilities and upgrades
• Giant fire-breathing snake, enough said.

Final Score: 9 out of 10

Daily deals are excluded because of their limited window of availability. We also didnt mediocre games that just happen to be heavily discounted , or great games that are not as cheap as they should be (like Red Faction Guerrilla or Bad Company 2, which are both well worth the purchase but are regularly on sale for more than they currently are).

Only actually great games at actually great prices are included  - the true hidden gems of the Steam 2011 Holiday Sale:

Shatter

Breakout + Classic Action Game = Shatter. Using a unique mechanic that allows you to push and pull objects, you will destroy those viscous block formations that hover around space and fight bosses on rectangular and spherical stages . Ever since Shatter’s original release on PS3 the game has been critically unappreciated, despite offering the most unique take on Breakout since the genre’s inception. Available now for just $2.50 – Shatter has dropped this low before, but if you still havent bought the game, this is your chance.

Demolition Inc.

Demolition Inc. is a relatively new release from an extremely obscure PC developer.  You play as an alien construction company tasked with the job of leveling Earth. Use a series of tools to cause inconspicuous destruction and finish the job before the Army arrives. For just $2.50 Destruction Inc. is a very fun action-strategy game with enough varied modes to keep you entertained for a lazy summer weekend.

eversion

eversion is an interesting take on the platformer genre,  hiding underneath the usual cute skin is a creepy interior. Like, CREEPY, worse than that backward version of the Lavender Town theme. Well crafted and unique, eversion provides a worthwhile experience through its  short story. Grab it for just $1.25.

SEGA Genesis Classics Packs

Each pack comes with 10 games – of varying quality – from the Sega Genesis era. But its safe to say each pack comes with a decent amount of good retro fun that is well emulated, and is well worth the purchase if you are easily affected by nostalgia. Each pack is just $3.75.

Street Fighter IV

While this version is outdated compared to Street Fighter IV:  Arcade Version, its just 1/4th of the price. If you enjoy the occasional foray into fighting games then this is the best deal you can get. For just $5 you are getting a well crafted and beautiful modern fighting game to play alone or with some friends.

The Mawsome Pack

The Maw was a hit indie game from 2009 – featuring an adorable main character who can kill just about anything. Guide Maw through a alien-world that is well constructed the whole way through. Only $3 for the game and all its DLC.