Game Reviews
Indie Game Review: Noitu Love 2
April 22nd, 2008
posted by Tom Quinn
Joakim Sandberg has been one of my favorite independent developers for as long as I can remember. As a member of the now defunct Fallen Angel Industries, he worked on Mina of the Pirates for years until ultimately cancelling it. His character design and art style have always caught my eye, so I was thrilled to hear he was working on a sequel to one of his earlier games, Noitu Love.
Finally appearing just last week is Noitu Love 2. I'll start with this: BUY IT. I'll explain...
Immediately, you'll notice how amazing the game looks. I'm a huge fan of pixel art, and Mr. Sandberg never ceases to impress. From the bizarre doll-like robotic Darns, to the agile Xoda, every sprite moves fluidly and convincingly.
The gameplay is no slouch, either. Combat is executed with the WASD keys and the mouse alone. Xoda can pull off endless combos with left mouse clicks, and the right mouse button is used in combination with mouse movement to use three special moves. There are plenty of enemy types with their own quirks, along with an unbelievable number of bosses and minibosses. I can honestly say I've never seen a game so thickly covered with boss characters. Again, it goes without saying that they all have great attacks and brilliant animations.
The music is appropriate, if not dazzling, with a few memorable tunes littered throughout the 7 mission story mode. Yes, only seven missions. Unfortunately, Noitu Love 2's largest disappointment is its length. For 20 dollars, you get a first playthrough that a gamer with any level of skill will waltz through in 45 minutes. That's not to say it's not worth it -- far from it.
Like I said before, BUY IT. With unlockable characters, an unlockable difficulty level, and an eighth bonus level with a user-submitted boss, Noitu Love 2 sums to a game that I've spent about 5 hours on already. The "Hard" and "Hardest" difficulties provide enough challenge for nearly anyone, and the extra characters actually vary drastically in their playstyles and the enemies they encounter.
One more time, for the road: BUY IT.
Indie Game Review: Dwarf Fortress
February 27th, 2008
posted by Tom Quinn
With the design phase almost entirely complete, most of my time is taken up by waiting on art assets and playing all the freeware I can get my hands on. Since I have the minutes to spare, I'll occasionally be posting reviews of indie games I've come across that have inspired me in some way.
First up is Dwarf Fortress, and for good reason. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more ambitious independent game project anywhere, a fact only made more impressive by the fact that the only people working on it are two brothers. The goal for Dwarf Fortress, according to its lead programmer Tarn Adams, is to create a full-sized and entirely interactive fantasy world. In the end, you'll be able to rule over an entire civilazation, take part in wars and international tr ade, and still take breaks to romp around the countryside clearing out monster caves and undead fortresses. Having read this, consider these three facts.
One: the game is rendered entirely in ASCII; people interested only in graphical flair need not even try Dwarf Fortress. On the other hand, anyone with a love for interesting gameplay can very quickly develop a "second sight"to see the meaning of the scramble of characters onscreen.
Two: after over 5 years of development, the game is still considered to be in alpha. It is also missing many of the features that it is planned to have, like being able to become a king. The two main attractions of the current version is Dwarf Fortess Mode, in which you micromanage a mountain colony of up to 200 dwarves, and Adventurer Mode, which has you controlling a single human, dwarf, or elf, exploring an entire randomly-generated world and accepting quests to kill various beasts and undead creatures. This might not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, which brings me to my third point.
Three: I have spent over 100 hours playing this game. Easily. Every little detail and minor feature (like detailed unique descriptions of carvings and artifacts) is charming and only serves to draw you into the game further. The game is being very actively developed and is constantly updated. Want an example? The October 2007 release added a Z-axis and entirely changed how the game worked. More recent versions have added entire random religions, and random pantheons of gods to rule over temples.
This game is free. It takes awhile to learn, but the excellent Dwarf Fortress Wiki can help. If any of this sounds good to you, do yourself a favor and download it immediately.
Indie Game Review: World of Goo
March 2rd, 2008
posted by Tom Quinn
After a decidedly positive mention on Penny Arcade, I made the move to shell out 20 bucks for 2D Boy's World of Goo. As I understand it, 2D Boy is made up of a few former EA folks, and World of Goo picked up a few awards at IGF. More power to them, because the one little preview chapter of WoG that I've played has more personality than all of EA's 2007 releases combined.
So, let's drastically oversimplify World of Goo. It's Lemmings meets Bridge Builder meets Gish meets Oddworld. There, I did it. I ruined your perception of the thing because, honestly, it's not much like any of those titles. What it is is another example of indie gaming's endless innovation. I had previously played Kyle Gabler's experimental gameplay project Tower of Goo, and when I heard the announcement for World of Goo, I did what the games industry has trained me to do: I expected a logical extension. I expected to be building higher and higher towers on a set of changing backgrounds, occasionally watching a cutscene. Thankfully, 2D Boy isn't that lazy, and created an Adventure Mode full of interesting scenarios. Sure, you build tall towers now and then, but each level is genuinely unexpected and unique. Some levels take place in tumblers, some have you building bridges across huge spans, and the last level takes place floating in a giant stomach.
The main obstacles are the "squishiness" of the goo balls, and the requirement of having a few balls left over to get sucked into the end pipe. Luckily, even with the incredibly simple formula of dragging triangles out of goo balls, the game stays fresh thanks to the interesting environments and the spooky art style. Plus, in the first chapter alone, you get to use 4 types of goo, with more types certainly coming into play later in the game.
Another great feature of the game is the high score board. Unused goo balls are added to a grand total at the end of each level, and in the World of Goo Corporation mode, you use them to build as tall a tower as you can in a fashion reminiscent of the original Tower of Goo. The height of your tower gets uploaded to their boards, and it represents the towers of other players as clouds floating around yours. To build a tower that contends with other players, you need to make smart architectural decisions that result in a very satisfying spot on the high score table.
The game's release date is still "TBA 2008", but I suggest picking this one up. This little demo is a good taste of what's to come, and when the game finally hits, it'll be a pleasant little suprise in your e-mail inbox. And come on, it's 20 bucks!
