Author: Molotov Cupcake

Geekscape Games Review: ‘Dust: An Elysian Tail’

by Molotov Cupcake

Dust: An Elysian Tail hearkens back to a simpler time in the action-RPG genre, where the plot advancement, character development, and exploration factor depended on you. These are all common traits of games released in the era of PlayStation 2, and it’s coincidental that, as Dust is reminiscent of the cult Vanillaware hit Odin Sphere, but without all the pesky chugging while knee-deep in combat. Dust is, in fact, a slicker, leaner incarnation of that excellent hack and slash gem, even if completely unintentional.

 

The whimsical tale begins with Dust, an anthropomorphic fox-like fellow who seems to have lost his memories. The only clue to unlocking them seems to lie in a mysterious blade he apparently summoned — that, and a spunky guardian creature known as Fidget. Together the trio set off to uncover the secrets of Dust’s previous life, and the truth behind the summoning.

Gameplay consists of exploration via side-scrolling segments, separated on the on-screen map into smaller quadrants. As Dust you traipse through different areas fighting off multiple enemies who spawn in, discover treasure chests, and the keys required to open them, and unravel an engaging story that’s well-paced and exciting. Residents located throughout the world can be approached to assign various quests, most of which involve scuttling back and forth between areas available on the world map, collecting items, or recovering lost characters. Occasionally you’ll be faced with some larger-than-life boss encounters and snippets of plot advancement (more often than not preceded by the running of majestic, adorable deer) but for the most part your journey through this Elysian Tail is comprised of hacking and slashing your way to the next level.

In no way is that a demerit against this beautifully crafted adventure, however. It’s very much a breath of fresh air in a stagnant market — the bright colors, fun dialogue, and main cast go a long way to set a lighthearted mood that is still appropriately mischievous and mysterious when necessary, while ingenious in ways we haven’t truly seen since the character interactions of Lunar: Silver Star Story.

Slinging around your blade is immensely satisfying in addition to the multiple combos and special attacks between Dust and Fidget. Cutting through the hordes of advancing monsters is buttery smooth and fluid, eschewing the slowdown from games like Odin Sphere and similar games for a clean and slick combo system where movements are lightning fast and a 1000+ hit chain is realistically conceivable. The higher your chain, the better your reward comes in XP, eventually resulting in another level gained. While the grind may feel like an insufferable chore as far as so many other RPGs are concerned, it never feels as such with Dust. It’s so fast-paced and silky you nearly look forward to encountering throngs of baddies, which is high praise indeed, even if the enemy types do tend to get a bit repetitive.

But it’s not just core mechanics in Dust where it draws so much of its delectable goodness — it’s just genuinely likeable. Whether it’s outspoken Fidget’s thinly-veiled Resident Evil 4 references or Dust’s tendency to blurt out awkward one-liners in the midst of a serious moment, you can’t help but smile at the silliness or let in the warmth you feel exuded from these familiar characters. That’s what keeps you coming back, in addition to the addictive looting, slashing, and storytelling.

Crisp visuals, a fantastic soundtrack, and an impressive campaign make Dust: An Elysian Tail easily the best Summer of Arcade release thus far, clearly ending the promotion with a bang. If you’re looking for an RPG with old-school sensibilities to spend a weekend or two on, Dust must not be missed. In fact, forget the rest of the XBLA Summer of Arcade games — Dust is where it’s at.

Geekscape Games Geek Peek Review: ‘Orcs Must Die 2’

by Molotov Cupcake

Grab your favorite orc-slaying sword and a friend — you’ve got some hideous monsters to exterminate. Orcs Must Die 2 is the follow-up to Robot Entertainment’s 2011 tower defense hit that combined real-time combat elements with the best of strategic trap planning. This time, the focus is on co-op action, where you and a buddy must team up to eradicate the endless stream of orcs pouring in from specific spawn points. Thinking you’re going to guard one area while your buddy takes the other? Wrong! You may be able to fight through half the game with this tactic, barely hanging on by a thread, but when various types of orcs begin spawning (particularly earth golems and those damnable flying enemies) you’ll need a different game plan.

You’ll need traps, and a whole lot of them. Spike, steam, acid, and launchpad traps are all meant to slow down orcs that climb up from the depths. Killing off the expendable baddies nets you in-game currency that may be spent on additional traps or troops such as dwarves with bombs or archers. Place them about the battlefield in a bid to help thin the often overwhelming crowds.

Artifacts and relics may be purchased with skulls earned after each area to keep you on top of your game. Though the male player is given a close-range weapon and the female player has a long-range spellcasting ability with the secondary chance to charm enemies (a useful ability, if fluffy) you may upgrade to a crossbow, a lightning ring, or even some admittedly awesome greaves, all of which you can easily switch between on the fly in the heat of the moment.

But don’t expect a cakewalk. Orcs Must Die 2 is a difficult affair. It’s easy to get lost while you’re scrambling to keep scragglers from escaping and blindly slicing through the crowds. It’s also a bit on the repetitive side, especially if you’ve been playing for a few hours or so. But when you’re on crowd control, summoning thunderstorms, and stationing dwarves all around the play field in the hopes that even four or five orcs are obliterated before things get even more hairy, you know you’ve hit the sweet spot. Skip the single-player jazz and go straight to co-op, if you’ve got some friends around. This is a celebration of orcish bloodshed that’s best experienced with comrades.

Geekscape Games Reviews ‘Deadlight’

by Molotov Cupcake

Deadlight is a dark side-scrolling platformer that will undoubtedly strike a chord with the very same audiences who fell in love with The Walking Dead, Shadow Complex, and Limbo. It should be immediately obvious as to the bond those games share and the content each brings to the table for Deadlight — The Walking Dead’s copious usage of zombies and grim imagery, and the silky smooth platforming mechanics perfected in games like Limbo and Shadow Complex. It’s easy to see where this mature creepfest siphoned its influences, but that doesn’t make it a bad trip — it’s simply utilizing all its resources to create a quality product. And for the most part, it succeeds.

If you’re playing to immerse yourself in some sort of new and inventive narrative that expands upon previously established genre conventions, you’ve got the wrong game. Deadlight makes it clear early on that it is content to pull from every tired zombie apocalypse saga cliche out there to weave its stoic tale: missing family members, a grizzled protagonist, and a dreary world where you’ve gotta be looking out for number one nearly constantly. Randall is our substitute Rick Grimes/Survivor/Zombie Hunter Extraordinaire, but he’s still just an ordinary man searching for his daughter and his wife — all the way from Canada, to Seattle to find an established safe area for survivors. Of course, traipsing through the now-ravaged lands is going to be his biggest obstacle.

“Shadows” are lurking everywhere, and when you least expect it their numbers only seem to multiply. It’s your job to guide Randall through numerous run-down, dreary urban areas to hopefully be reunited with his family and possibly other survivors.

It’s all fairly standard stuff. If you’re a horror buff or even a zombie enthusiast you’ll have lived through these very same scenarios many times over, even if only in your mind. Deadlight allows you to explore the fantasy by having you scavenge and survive the zombie-riddled wasteland by way of side-scrolling platforming. Utilizing an art style similar to that of Limbo where Randall is nearly silhouetted against the muted grays and darker earth tones of the background, you’re immersed in a decidedly depressing world. You’ll mostly move from left to right and occasionally from the background to the foreground in order to reach point B from point A.

Usually it’s best to sprint as long as you can, as long as your stamina bar will allow, to simply flee from any advancing zombies, as facing them one-on-one (or three or four on one, as is usually the case) is not the best course of action. When trying to combat the zombies, Randall’s sluggish melee combat is a dealbreaker. Aiming is a chore that never becomes any less of one, no matter how many times you pick up a firearm. And swinging an axe is not enough protection when you’re on the run from six or seven of the undead. That’s why it’s better to try to do your best parkour expert impression and shimmy up ladders, leap from ledge to ledge, and take bounds between rooftops to keep away from the danger below. While it gets repetitive, there’s still something exhilarating about the constant feeling of being on the run and being forced to re-evaluate your escape plan over and over, even if it does make for some frustrating moments here and there.

Puzzles are quite rudimentary button pushing and crate-pulling affairs, and rarely will you ever be stumped as long as there are action triggers abound to make note of. Collectibles are littered about each area, like pages of Randall’s diary and other personal belongings, but other than that there isn’t much going on in-game beyond brief comic book styled cut scenes and the clipped segments of narrative interspersed with gameplay.

Platforming is easily Deadlight’s biggest strength, and it does this with the greatest of ease. Where normally I would be annoyed with the constant acrobatics, running leaps, and wall jumping, it felt so natural here that I found myself looking forward to these things the most. There was a simple thrill in going into an abandoned garage, trapping some undead baddies beneath a car, and zipping up a ladder to start again, all the while avoiding the zombies like the plague. It kept me coming back for more, even when disgusted with the otherwise annoying aiming mechanics and samey feel to the story.

That’s what Deadlight is — a familiar and comfortable platformer that attempts a new spin on the same story we’ve heard before, only with a different aesthetic. It’s certainly far from perfect, but it’s a perfectly serviceable and intriguing adventure that you might truly enjoy if you’re into the games mentioned previously or you’ve been bitten by the zombie bug. For future outings, perhaps Tequila Studios’ first order of business may be to forage for some updated narrative concepts — with the right ammunition, their next project could be killer.

Geekscape Games Reviews ‘Wreckateer’

by Molotov Cupcake

As the years post-Kinect launch drag by, the peripheral is still being backed by Microsoft and third-party developers who still see potential in the little motion controller that could. And while the software out there is hit or miss, there are occasionally some fun little apps that are content to wallow around in the allure of arm-flailing and “look what you can do with no hands!” that make an appearance on the Xbox Live Arcade. In the case of Wreckateer, the latest Kinect release since Kinect: Star Wars and Kinect Rush, you have a fairly standard concept: destroy everything. In fact, you could liken it to Angry Birds minus the freakish pigs and irritated chirpers, only with hordes of goblins transplanted in their place.

You’re dropped into the shoes of a fledgling Wreckateer, toiling as part of a team to blast the aforementioned goblins out of the castles and towering strongholds they’ve managed to overtake. It doesn’t matter if you destroy every last piece of castle, as long as you kill every last goblin out there. It seems counter-productive, and we can think of better ways to flush the creatures from a place where, you know, people might live, but it’s all in good fun. Once you’ve cleared the score threshold of each level you’re cleared to head on to the next one, where you’ll knock down more walls, obliterate towers, and leave a huge mess in your wake.

Of course, you’re not just flinging your body at the medieval structures. You’ve got an arsenal of cannonballs, bombs, and other shots to utilize in your makeshift demolition derby. Some, like the gliding flying shot, can be guided by your own hand as they zoom toward the target, and others explode on contact or when you activate them. The basic cannonball is launched as you would expect, and smaller split shots require your guidance in order to hit the bullseye. Once you’ve chosen the correct set of ammunition and approach for the level at hand, it’s prudent to survey the level and certain points where goblins have affixed bundles of dynamite to augment the explosive damage you’ll be causing as well as score multipliers.

Of course, accuracy is key when it comes to effectively crippling the goblins and the various defenses they’ve set up along each level in addition to strategically placing shots and Depending on whether or not your Kinect setup is optimal and sometimes how your luck runs, you’ll find the ballista moving on its own, firing off shots before the decisive signal, and basically behaving in ways that aren’t conducive to scoring tremendously. Just when you think you’ve set the stage for a perfect run, your efforts are foiled due to poor motion control detection. And it’s a real shame, as there’s much to enjoy with the career move to becoming a Wreckateer. Gleefully participating in wanton destruction is most of the allure, but when that’s foiled by shoddy controls a times, that glee turns into seething frustration.

Like you may have already surmised, Wreckateer is a fun time when and if the motion controls work correctly. It’s intriguing and quite a blast when played with others if you’re looking for some simplistic “blow things up” gameplay, but it could have been so much more had it not relied entirely on the allure of motion control. If you’re looking for a new “check this out” app to run to when company’s over, this isn’t it. If you need a new excuse for busting out the Kinect, you might enjoy its easy-to-learn mechanics and the silliness. If you’re looking for something a little meatier, you’d be better served looking into the earlier selections from the Kinect library.

Geekscape Games Reviews ‘Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD’

by Molotov Cupcake

Before Tony Hawk released garbage like Ride and his countless other cash-ins, there were quality skating games like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, which many of us waste hours and hours on after school, mindlessly breezing through each area to pull off sick tricks, collect video tapes, and snag high scores for bragging rights. This was a much simpler time, before you needed open worlds or fancy peripherals to have a good time. It was the game to play if you were an aspiring skater.


Fast-forward 13 years to 2012, where Activision has graced us with Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD, one of the closest revisions to the original game we’ve seen. It’s more than just an HD remake — it’s almost like a reimagining, and one that we’re immensely appreciative of. This is how future remakes should be handled.

Bravo to Activision for handling developmental duties to Robomodo, who from the ground up recreated the addictive gameplay we remember from Tony Hawk’s first adventure — it’s all here. From your first trip out on the board (which you can’t get off of, back to normalcy) you’re instantly transported back to a time where the grinds felt just right. A time when you didn’t have to fight with the interface, skate to missions, or contend with open-world mechanics you didn’t ask for. And those familiar tunes you rocked out to all those hours? They’re back as well — Goldfinger, Public Enemy, and more. This is, simply put, nostalgia at its finest.

You can choose from 10 different characters (and a few hidden ones here and there) and you’re still on the hunt for those elusive video tapes, except these days in our modern age we have DVDs. As a die-hard ’80s-’00s junkie, I was a little disappointed to see they had replaced the familiar VHS tapes I had collected in the original. But since it’s just a cosmetic change, I wasn’t bothered too much.

The addition of Xbox Live avatars actually softened the blow of the removal of VHS tapes for me. You can use your personal avatar as a skater, which is an interestng oddity and a pretty cool addition to the normal human skaters that area available. My avatar, grinning wide with her shiny shark teeth took some hilarious spills, and as strange as it feels to say it I felt more connected to my skater than any of the premade characters. I would have preferred to have been able to create my own skater, but the inclusion of avatars was something I wasn’t expecting.

I was very much impressed with the overall look and quality of the game as a whole, as well as the classic soundtrack — not to mention how well the controls seemed to translate to the Xbox 360 controller. It’s rare that this happens, as HD remakes seem to be in a perpetual state of flux — a few great ones, a few horrible ones here and there — it’s fantastic to see developers making an effort to improve upon and retain what we loved about the original games without making too many alterations.

While in many aspects it’s not perfect, but it still manages to capture the feeling of staying up until 3 AM in your underwear, chowing down on pizza, and staving off school the next day, where you’d likely talk about your exploits with Tony (or some other random late-’90s game) and how unfair your parents are. For ten bucks, it’s a great trip down memory lane, if nothing else.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD is available now for $15

Geekscape Games Reviews ‘Quantum Conundrum’

by Molotov Cupcake

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Portal should consider itself properly wood. Quantum Conundrum draws from the illustrious puzzler in many decadent ways, but also manages to stand on its own as a love letter to Kim Swift’s uproariously popular creation. Of course, that makes plenty of sense, as this new first-person puzzler is a project from the Portal lead herself. While it could have easily stood as a supplement to Swift’s outstanding work on Portal, it offers a satisfying and mind-bending journey on its own merit.

You’re Professor Fitz Quadwrangle’s nephew, and your wacky uncle has somehow managed to find himself trapped in the mythical dimension where all of our lost belongings end up. Your car keys? That dimension. The awesome Batman socks you bought and planned on wearing every day? Professor Quadwrangle’s hanging out there with them. But it’s your job to rescue him — with his disembodied voice, of course. And while you don’t have a name or any character development to speak of, you’re instrumental in ensuring the good Professor’s escape.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t exactly made this easy on himself — or anyone, for that matter. See, he spends most of his time tooling around with interdimensional experiments. So “scattered” if you will amongst Quadwrangle Manor are several different incomplete tests and their results, which ultimately ends up in the creation of four alternate dimensions being strewn about the house. In order to rescue your uncle, you’ll need to put your wits to the test (as well as those handy dandy problem solving skills).

Across four very different dimensions, all of which feature alternate rules of physics and other constraints, you’ll pack along Quadwrangle’s invention, the IS device (interdimensional shift device — a glove instead of a Portal gun) and Quadwrangle’s orders to guide you through all four of the varying areas. You’ll need to be quite nimble about switching between each dimension: where one might feature heavier objects, or “fluffy” items that bounce higher than others in the heavier dimension, and while it’s usually quite obvious what needs to be done to complete each puzzle, it’s a toss-up sometimes as to how you need to accomplish it. Where exactly do you need to toss this crate? At which time, precisely, do you need to make your descent into the laser-infested walkway?

It sounds like the stuff of any great platformer, and you’d be right in thinking it quite often relies on those kinds of sensibilities to accomplish much. It never claims to be anything more than a collection of sandbox-styled puzzles loosely connected via Quadwrangle’s dimension-sized dilemma, and the fact that this game never takes itself too seriously provides fuel for players to keep moving forward, even when puzzle solutions aren’t so readily apparent.

Quantum Conundrum infuses a sense of childlike wonder into each of its interdimensional areas, and a fantastic performance by John de Lancie (whom you might recognize from Star Trek) as Professor Quadwrangle spice it up in ways that elevate this puzzler beyond that of mere “indie” status and into an area that doesn’t quite touch Portal’s status as a cult icon, but into the stratosphere of praise you likely thought it’d end up. It’s just a shame it ends so abruptly. Might we be seeing another of these types of games from Swift in the future? We hope so — especially if the same kind of quirky humor is present in any future endeavors. We all know that’s what we came for, anyway.