Actual Sunlight is a deep and disturbing interactive fiction that will evoke strong emotions in the player.  The vast majority of games show as much eloquence in expressing complex themes and ideas as a blind pig does on ice skates. . . that’s not much, by the way. Every so often, however, a game comes along that genuinely strives to communicate important ideas with grace and style. It’s thanks to these games that the industry has gone from mindless stories about manic miners to stories that (at least sometimes) offer genuine character development in believable worlds, rife with intellectual and culturally / socially relevant themes. Games may still be pretty immature, but at least they’re heading in the right direction. Speaking of the right direction, one game that clearly propels gaming down the path of maturity is Actual Sunlight, a piece of interactive fiction designed by Will O’Neill, which covers such themes as loneliness and depression. In Actual Sunlight Read more [...]

My last experience with moonshine involved drinking way too much of it and throwing up in a restraint in front of my girlfriend’s dad. Did my experience with Sherbert Thieves – Moonshine Edition fair any better? The set-up of the game is simple. Alien critters have stolen your moonshine and you have to stop them. Yes, this is an unabashed shooter that wear its quirky charm on its sleave. There are splatting tomatoes, cows that shoot ray guns and space hippies. It’s a cheesy game, but that doesn’t mean its not a good game. Your mission is to protect the moonshine. To do so you’ll have to fight off a bunch of aliens that spawn all over the place. The more moonshine the lose the closer you get to failure.  You’ll also have to protect yourself and prevent your health bar from reaching zero. The game does suffer from a lack of balancing. There are an absolute ton of health pick-ups available, meaning you can act like a kamikaze stormtrooper and leap right into a bunch Read more [...]

Yousei develops the series of murder mystery games to a brilliant new height. With stunning presentation and a deep story, this is one of the best murder mystery games out there.  I’m fairly against stories that involve solving murder. Why? Because literally everyone I know (except myself) is obsessed with murder mysteries. From Lewis to Prime Suspect, I never stop hearing about murder. Sigh. But I’m going to put my personal feelings aside with this review of Yousei for a couple reasons. 1) Yousei aint exactly Poirot, 2) it’s in cutesty Japanese style animation 3) it’s pretty darned good. Yousei: The Third Investigation Review Being the third in the series, Yousei begins where its predecessor left off. Kangai is a hero who has the disturbing ability to relive the final moments of a person’s life by touching them. Kangai is suspect in two crimes as he teams with Aki, Naoki and Li Mei (also psychics) to investigate scenes at a university. It al goes pear shaped and Read more [...]

Blood. Death. The anguished cries of foes wailing in pain before falling at your feet, their lives torn from them at your hand. You aint getting NONE of that here cause this is Croixleur, the cutesy game with freaking gorgeous characters. It’s hack and slash. . . but it’s cuddly.  . .cuddly hack n slash. LOVELY. Croixleur Review You play at titular character Croixleur, the Vermillion Vortex. As Vermillion, you’ll battle your way to the top of a giant tower as quickly as you can, aiming to go faster than your competitor, childhood friend Francesca “Fran” Storaro,” the Moonlight Sword. And why should you do that? Why, so you might complete the test of strength called the Adjuvant Trial once you reach the top of the tower, of course. The game offers you three different modes: story mode (as described above), Score Attack—a three minute fight where you must score as many points as possible—and Endless mode—an onslaught where you must survive. The game’s plot Read more [...]

It was only a few short weeks ago that Nifflas released Knytt Underground and already they’re releasing a new game. The Great Work was made in order to help promote a documentary made by Bautafilm. What’s “Positive” about The Great Work? : The Great Work is a highly relaxing and beautifully presented game. Plus, it’s free. You can’t argue with a free game made by a well respected video game developer. .  . can you? The Great Work Game Review In The Great Work, you play as Fulcanelli, as apprentice alchemist who believes he has produces a philosopher’s stone. You must journey out into the unknown, meeting other alchemists as you attempt to transmute stone into gold. On your way you’ll discover items, furnaces and a number of natural barriers that bar your progress. Movement in The Great Work is achieved through [Arrows] with [S] jumping and [A] and [D] opening your inventory, swapping objects and equipping your items. I was particularly impressed by the storytelling Read more [...]

 Indie gaming is in bloom. What a great thing that is. These days, you’re more likely to find top notch gameplay from an indie game that a developer sold their nan to make, than from a AAA title with as much financial backing as Hugh Hefner sponsored breast implants. What? Yeah, dunno, sorry, went off on a tangent there. Anyway, it’s not  just the games that have made indie gaming so good. Many fine “Role Model” websites have been instrumental in helping to build the indie gaming scene.  It’s to these websites we look now as we present the “A Role Model” award for best indie game websites.  The "A Role Model" Top 60 Indie Game Wesbsites for 2013 WINNER? Show off your unquestionable brilliance with the ARoleModel WINNERS badge. LINK: <a href="http://arolemodel.com/?p=44552"><img alt="ARoleModel-Indie-Game-Websites-Award" src="http://arolemodel.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ARoleModel-Indie-Game-Websites-Award-300x283.jpg" width="300" height="283" Read more [...]

Indie gaming fans will remember Puppy Games from their previous title Revenge of the Titans. Now, they’re releasing Droid Assault, a game designed for players who like love the brain melting rush of dodging a storm of enemy fire. What’s "Positive" about Droid Assault? Droid Assault makes is fast and intense, making you think quickly and helping improve decision making skills. Droid Assault Review The world is controlled by Omnicorp, a company which creates deadly automated military hardware. Their range of devastating devices reach from droids to assault mechs. You don’t want to mess with them. Only you actually are about to mess with them. The droids have rebelled against the company. Now, you must destroy every droid. You’ll use a virus to take control of various droids in order to fight other . . . errr . . . droids. . . so, there’s a lot of droiding going on in here. You’ll start off with a little droid that will infect other machines. You can effectively hop Read more [...]

Stealth Bastard. Catchy title. It’s not really about stealth, though, being more a 2D platform game with a bit of stealth splashed like a lick of paint over the top. The stealth component comes from your ability to use shadows and from various stealth gadgets, like cameras and traps. Anyway, moving beyond the title. Stealth Bastard is something of a puzzle / platform title in which your objective is to find the quickest route through a level. When you first start a level, you’ll want to examine the design to find the right route. This is really the bulk of the game—it’s much more about finding the right route rather than reflexes. You’ll need to work out and remember the position of traps, how to get to switches and other puzzle-like considerations. You’ll be playing with either the keyboard or a controller (both are decent). The controls are plenty reliable enough. Better than the controls is the depth of the game design. There are community maps making for Read more [...]

Seth Hogan and Joanthan Kittaka’s Anondyne is an adventure wearing its 16bit heart on its sleathe as you journey through a Anodyne, a world at once cutesy and innocent yet surreal and dangerous. Gameplay will be instantly reminiscent to RPG fans. Move with [Arrow], interact with [C], save at checkpoint with [C]. Your main weapon is a broom with which you can not only sweep dust but also attack enemies. You’ll collect new abilities as you progress too. Perhaps the most important aspect of Anondyne is in the gathering of cards. There are 50 in total, which you’ll find hidden through Anondyne in chests and in dungeons. Collect all the cards in an area and a gem will light up in the game’s central hub area. This allows you to warp to different areas of the world. There are also locked areas that you must unlock by collecting a specified number of cards. So, that’s the set-up of Anondyne. Does it deliver? I love the atmosphere of Anondyne. You constantly feel as though Read more [...]

Positech’s Gratuitous Space Battles is a pure joy for all space fans out there. And now it's added to by the excellent new DLC "The Outcasts." Rather than being all about your finger dexterity and reflexes, success or failure in Gratuitous Space Battles will be determined by your strategy, meaning its the smarts that win this time around. In Gratuitious Space Battles, you set up your ship and get to design it as you like, then position them in formation and send them off into battle. In addition to the original game, a new piece of DLC has recently been released called The Outcasts, which gives you a new race called Vla-hurk 2.0. Now, admittedly, the name “Vla-hurk” sound a lot like the sound I make when vomiting, but it actually refers to a cybernetically enhanced religious race of exiles. They’ll bring with them ten new varities of ships, featuring lasers, tractor beams and their signature module, the Decoy Projector. The DLC also packs new missions in which you can Read more [...]

There’s nothing funny about a tennis ball in the groin. .. but a tennis ball in the face. . . THAT’s FUNNY. Or, at least, Tennis in the Face—the new tennis / physics game from 10tons—is belly-achingly hilarious. Pete Pagasii used to be a professional tennis player, but his career was ruined by the evil energy drinks company Explodz. Now he’s out to stop them using the almighty power of tennis baklls. In Tennis in the Face you’ll be kicking the bejesus out of office workers with tennis balls. Tap and hold the screen and you will aim your shot, then simply release and watch the ball fly. You need to knock everyone out by hitting them in the face while using as few shots as you can. Some elements of the environment, like Explodz explosing cans, can be used to your advantage, but mostly you’ll be using your tennis skills. Tennis in the Face is ridonulcous and hilarious and all kinds of other superlatives. From a strictly video game design school kinda perspective, Read more [...]

Let’s face it, the idea of being a time surfer is pretty freaking cool. I mean just think about the prospect of surfing through space. .  .awesome. And that’s precisely what indie game developer / app developer Kumobius is having you do in their new game Time Surfer, a title beautifully presented in a science fiction style. So, what is Time Surfer? Well, if you take Braid and add surfing, smashing, items creative challenge missions, you’ll be in the right neck of the woods. You tap the on-screen arrow to speed up and ascend, aiming to land on a downward slope so you can glide like the coolest of boarders, but oops, you soon cock up and smack into an enemy. Thank goodness you’re able to hit an hourglass icon to turn back time and give yourself a second chance. The gameplay in Time Surfer is familiar but nevertheless utterly enjoyable. The one-touch gameplay mechanics are intuitive and all in all, the game is easy to pick up and play (which surely is the diadem of good video Read more [...]

No Time To Explain is indie game developer TinyBuilds first title. A time travel platformer that began life as a flash game but, thanks to staggering popularity and a Kickstarter campaign that raised $26,068, tinyBuild has now been revamped to produce this, the final game. In a whacky story, No Time To Explain starts off with a character from the future bursting in on his present day self to reveal a threat of which he has too little time to explain. He’s soon captured by a massive crab, though, so it’s up to you to rescue him, then save the world. . . see, makes perfect sense. The gameplay of No Time To Explain is intuitive and easy. WASD moves while left click controls your weapon, an energy cannon. You’ll be journeying through time and space over all manner of terrain and environments as No Time To Explain progresses. You’ll also welcome a ton of different skills, from fire to a slingshot to a beam. You’ll have to look out for pitfalls, walls, liquids and more Read more [...]