Pile Up! Box by Box is a puzzle platformer from HandyGames where you play an adorable box that uses other boxes to complete puzzles.
HandyGames is back with another family friendly title, Pile Up! Box by Box, a platformer where collecting boxes and keys are your goals. You play as a box that navigates a world of water and cardboard to solve puzzles. Visually the world looks very similar to that of Paper Mario and there is nothing that would make me question if my children should be allowed to play it.
Puzzles are quite simple in the solutions but trying different approaches makes them more worth it. One of the levels has a puzzle that requires moving four boxes from one area to another and each area has bomb boxes. Picking up bomb boxes cause them to explode but if you nudge them you can get them into place without having to find all of the intended boxes. There does not appear to be a story for the game outside of the quests you must complete per level but those are more of a guided objective. Controls are easy to pick up but hitting the wrong button at the wrong time is always a concern. I found the game to be quite enjoyable and I am looking forward to sharing this with my family!
CD Project Red has been on the receiving end of gamer’s frustration with Cyberpunk 2077 but is it actually warranted?
Back in 2012 CD Project Red announced their most ambitious project yet, Cyberpunk 2077. Eight years later it was finally released. Most projects are not made public so early in their process, or at least it seems that way in most cases. To say the least this game is massive with layers upon layers of storytelling and gameplay. That’s not even to mention the plethora of Easter eggs and branching dialogue trees and missions. The complexity to this game is is deeper than any I can recall every playing.
Before we get to my thoughts on the game, let’s discuss some of the complaints. Almost all of them resolve around the number of glitches found in the game, most of them random and inconsistent. Cars vanishing while driving, floors in buildings vanishing, models stretching and twisting in ways they shouldn’t. Thinks like that. What I have never seen though is a “polished” FPS (first person shooter) where there are never any glitches. I did experience some of these glitches and even had a couple force the game to close. Reloading the game and performing the exact same action resulted in the glitches not repeating themselves in nearly every case. At least that was my experience.
Gameplay was fast paced, controls were fluid and graphics (when working as intended) were amazing. The story was better than any other game I can remember playing. With the issues with the glitches I believe that most people had their expectations too high and expected the game designers to be more godlike than man/woman. I have never played a AAA title free of glitches and yet they are given the courtesy of lower expectations because they are a bigger studio that can publish games more frequently. This game is a higher quality product than any other FPS I have had the pleasure or displeasure to play and I will say this it is by far THE BEST GAME I HAVE EVER PLAYED! If I could take the team out for a round of drinks to thank them for the experience I would.
In Frostpunk the world has essentially ended in a permanent winter that some believe is the end times foretold by the Vikings, but are they right?
11 Bit Studios released Frostpunk a while ago but not so long ago released the complete Console Edition which includes all available DLC and this will help bridge the story of the original game and the eventual release of the already announced sequel. The world has succumbed to what seems to be a permanent winter, some survivors believing this is Fimbulwinter- the winter before Ragnarok that brings about the end of the world. The game is split into different story arcs, each with their own pitfalls and goals.
At it’s heart the game is a city management sim where the focus is not to let your citizens perish to the cold. Where most city management games the focus is one powering all of your structures as you build the city of your dreams this is more of a rush to keep everyone warm and alive while trying to expand. The first time I played the game my “captain” was exiled because more than half of my people froze to death within ten minutes of starting. The second time as I learned the menus better was more successful and after 3 hours they were still alive. The game has great graphics but is not very stimulating for the eyes, however trying to manage everything efficiently will keep your brain going into overdrive. I found the game to be fun but not something I would find myself playing more than half an hour at a time due to the lack of overall excitement.
HandyGames brings us Skydrift Infinity, a racing game with striking similarities to Hydro Thunder Hurricane, but with jets and planes instead of boats.
Recently HandyGames shared a copy of Skydrift Infinity with us for the purpose of this review. As with all of situations we have agreed to share our thoughts on the game but have not agreed to any predefined opinions. Similar to most other racing games you start with a single course and as you place in that race you then unlock others. Experience earned goes towards unlocking skins and other planes/jets as do various challenges that need to be completed. Unlike most racing games this one is more similar to the Mario Kart games in that you pickup power ups as you fly and use them to either remove the others from your path or give you some sort of edge against them.
Visually the game is sleek and the terrain is full of features that will distract your attention from your flight path. The controls are fluid, allowing you to move about the course and around obstacles without too much effort. Of course if you fail to avoid an obstacle and crash you respawn seconds later pointed in the correct direction, allowing you to resume the race with minimal fuss. There really is no story to speak of but the gameplay overall is fast paced and quite a bit of fun, even better is when playing with your friends.
This game is a must for racing fans or fans of flight simulators, especially if you enjoy dogfighting because the powerups make attacking the other planes on your course more enjoyable than winning the race itself and with enough bullets you’ll be able to do both (most of the time)!
It is rare to find a game where you are blind and not from a lack of information. The Vale is the first I’ve played without any visuals.
Falling Squirrel Inc have not only envisioned a game where players must rely on senses other than sight but have delivered on their goal. The Vale: Shadow of the Crow is the finished product of that endeavor and we were given a copy to review. As with every game we either received or purchased we put in at least one hour of gameplay before sitting down to write our thoughts and in this instance we played for two.
When given the opportunity to review a game we rarely read many of the press releases and as such when it came time to play my expectations were that this would be some sort of RPG (Role Playing Game). I was shocked when I started the game to be greeted with a screen that was almost entirely black save for a handful of floating sprites. I went on to listen as the story was told and then expected to defend myself against wolves. I feel like the concept for this game was meant to give players a truly blind immersive experience. With the right sound setup you would get a three dimensional cue where threats are attacking from and be able to meet them in kind, however most people rely on television speakers and this advantage is lost. Players can find foes eventually by audio cues indicating when they are hit and then able to keep hitting them but without the immersive feel it falls flat. The audio work on this game is a much higher quality than most games, but it isn’t able to give players the true feel of the game. This game has a lot of potential but not in a two speaker world.
Puzzle games and platformers are both rife with frustration but this feeling is usually accompanied by enjoyment. What happens when you blend the two and throw in cute slime? You get Gelly Break Deluxe.
ByteRockers brings us an adorable platformer and puzzle hybrid called Gelly Break Deluxe. You control one or both of two gellies, an orange and a green one, and when stacked together the one on top becomes a turret. When playing solo the turret gelly is controlled by one of the sticks where movement is controlled by the other. When playing together each gelly is controlled by one play and whichever is on top is the turret and can only point and shoot. Most levels will have three hidden gellies to find and most will give an audio cue when you approach them, even if you can’t see them.
The puzzles can be quite challenging as the stages progress but with a little patience can be overcome with minimal effort. The only truly difficult part of this game is finding the secret passage needed for the related achievement. I have completed every level I’ve seen and found every hidden gelly and yet I still can’t find this passage. I will keep replaying until I do because it is very well hidden but despite having to replay levels the are enjoyable enough that it’s worth it. For the complexity of some of the puzzles they remind me of playing Splosion Man, and that’s a good thing. This is a family friendly title that will easily end relationships if playing together- I suggest playing solo if you want to save your friendships.
You can pick up your copy on Steam, Xbox One, PS4 and Switch. Our copy was given to us by Byterockers for the purpose of this review.
Nothing brings out the frustration and rage like a game of Overcooked 2 and the newer stages that come with the Season Pass are no exception!
The kinds folks over at Team17 shared the season pass to their game Overcooked 2 with us and honestly this article took way to long to be written and for that we do apologize. Nearly a year ago we reached out to the developers and requested the opportunity to review the downloadable content for an already great game and they agreed. Now fast forward through the year and I soon realized my play style was not going to cut it for this coverage. When playing this game, whether the core title or any add one, I always did so with my wife. Between yelling at ourselves for missing a goal or one of us pleading with the other for one more level, it has always been the two of us playing.
Out of a sense of obligation to Team17 I have decided to continue only far enough to share thoughts on each dlc without my wife as we have found it difficult to find time to play the game together.
Too Many Cooks
This DLC pack is a chef only pack which adds a Cat, a Pink alien, a Unicorn, a Walrus and a Monkey. The Unicorn is the family’s favorite.
Surf n Turf
The focus of the meals in this pack is one food you’d eat on the beach or during summer. This includes smoothies, burgers and kabobs. We had a ton of fun with this one, one of the easier worlds by far, and even got to 3 stars with my children. It was quite amusing to use squirt guns to clean the dishes.
Night of the Hangry Horde
Conceptually this was my favorite of the worlds as it brought zombies into the game. Now with this game the zombies are made of food, just like the king and instead of eating your brains you cook them a meal and send them on their way.
Campfire Cook Off
Following the Trail Mix trail the chefs focus on making meals that are centered around camping- hotdogs, smores, pancakes and oddly pizza is even on the list. Where in most other modes of the game ingredients are stored in cases, this time they are stored in backpacks.
Carnival of Chaos
As one would expect the them of this DLC was around the carnival. You will see things like donuts, hotdogs, pizza and even combo meals. It even features magic portals and canons to launch you from one part of the kitchen to another. As the name implies it can get quite hectic at times but that’s nothing outside the normal from the Overcooked franchise.
Final thoughts on Overcooked 2:
Each add-on brings a unique set of recipes and challenges. Some are downright maddening but in summary this game in all of it’s forms has been a hell of a lot of fun and worth grabbing a copy, just don’t expect to get the 3 stars on your first few tries.
Focus Home Interactive brings us a new offering in the Warhammer universe with Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground!
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground is bringing a new war to the mortal realms thanks to Focus Home Interactive and they were generous enough to share a copy with us! Playing the tutorial you must start as the Stormcast Eternals but after that first stage you unlock the ability to play as both Nighthaunt and Maggotkin of Nurgle. Players take turns moving and attacking with their units on a hexagonal map, each unit has their own default distance they are able to move and crossing difficult terrain will slow them down.
The movement mechanics look and feel like a cross between two of the different tabletop games set in the Mortal Realms- Age of Sigmar itself and Age of Sigmar: Underworlds. Visually, in every aspect I’ve seen so far, the game is absolutely stunning. I have read numerous comments about glitches in the game and after a couple hours I have yet to experience them myself.
As a whole I found the game to be an amazingly built adventure into the realm of death that exceeded every expectation I had for the game and on images alone they were already higher than most titles.
Green Hell is an FPS survival horror game based in the uncharted jungles of the Amazon where you must survive physically and mentally.
Creepy Jar is an awesome name for a game developer and those same minds brought us their newest release, Green Hell. Green Hell was previously released on Steam years ago but we were not able to play it until it was ported over to the Xbox One and we recently received a copy for the purpose of this review.
The game itself feels quite unique, or at least I have yet to play anything that came before that had this same feel to it. Some of the mechanics are tried and true across many games but this particular recipe feels new and that is rare. Before playing the game and before even seeing images of the gameplay I saw there was a tabletop version of the game about to go on kickstarter so it gave me a different expectation of the gameplay. I thought that the game would be an isometric game where you had to navigate the Amazon to some unknown end (I literally went into this game without doing any research on the story) and was shocked when I loaded the game up for the first time and was greeted to a first person shooter styled experience.
For the game mechanics you will likely recognize crafting mechanics similar to those in 7 Days to Die or the fact that any items that can be picked up as they are will receive a glowing outline like in so many other games. Graphically the rendering is not the best I’ve seen on the Xbox but I would say that it is on par with the earlier releases of the Xbox One. The story focuses on Jake and his Mia as they arrive in the Amazon. Their first step after making camp is for Mia to earn the trust of a local indigenous tribe. One day you wake up to her screams over your radio and you go charging into the jungle (as Jake) to find her. With several comments regarding Jake’s mental health throughout the tutorial led me to wonder if her voice was real. Very quickly you begin to question everything, like during the tutorial there was a path near your camp and after the tutorial the path is replaced by a stream. Very few games I have played have messed with your senses like Green Hell has and that was just in the first couple hours of the game. I can’t wait to see how else the game screws with my head.
Order of Battle: World War 2 is a turn based take on the battles of World War 2 by Slitherine Games.
Have you ever wanted to command troops during World War 2 over land, sea and air? With Order of Battle: World War 2 you can. Slitherine Games shared their newest Xbox One release to try and share our thoughts.
The visuals for the game are like something out of the early nineties. I don’t mean to say that this is garbage because I have played and enjoyed much worse. It’s on par with the original Command and Conquer games as far as the visuals are concerned but play style is quite different. Each turn you move your various troops up to a certain number of hexes (each varying from unit to unit) and most can also attack.
The gameplay is slow and tedious but still the game was enjoyable. I found myself on many occasions saying “just one more level” and after several hours I’d wonder where the time went. The game is tedious and everything about the interface screams that you need a mouse and computer to play this but it is enjoyable. Though it would likely be even more enjoyable with a mouse or an upgrade to the controls and interface.
