Flash Game Friday: GROW!

I blogged about the adorably addictive Grow Tower a while ago.  There’s also an RPG-themed Grow that I somehow missed. The mechanics are the same, you’ll grab icons on the sides to drop items into the world and then watch those items grow and interact and build new features.

The major difference is that a little adventure happens in your Grow terrain. Your terrain grows into all the RPG constants — a castle, a tower, a monster, a magician, and so forth — and a tiny adventurer sets out though all the  fantasy staples. (screenshot above shows our adventuring friend looting treasure)

Bookmark the Grow RPG-adventure game to play when you need a smile.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Inmate Loses Fight To Play D&D

A man serving life in prison for first-degree intentional homicide lost his legal battle Monday to play Dungeons & Dragons behind bars.

Prison officials instigated the Dungeons & Dragons ban among concerns that playing the game promoted gang-related activity and was a threat to security. Singer challenged the ban but the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld it as a reasonable policy.

Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures, often working together as a group, with the help of complicated rules.

I don’t think we should punish murderers by letting them hang out and play D&D in the first place… but it seems a bit odd that prisoners can watch cable and read other books, but not D&D. Maybe prison officials are afraid of someone getting shanked over the division of party loot?

Via Game over: Inmate can’t play Dungeons & Dragons – Odd News – Fresnobee.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

JayIsGames’ Best of Casual Gameplay 2009

The awesome JayIsGames site is running a Best of Casual Gameplay 2009 contest.

Adventure is a hard call — since Monkey Island: Screaming Narwhal, Time Gentlemen, Please! and Wonderland Adventures: Mysteries of Fire Island are all in the running. I think Monkey Island wins for me… with TGP in second . I enjoyed Wonderland Adventures, but it just can’t compete with Guybrush Threepwood or foulmouthed Dan and Ben.

Some of my other favorites on this list are A Case Of The Crabs, under Browser Adventure, Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting To Danger under Hidden Objects. (I also helped out with NDD: Resorting to Danger so I’m not entirely unbiased) Faerie Solitaire is running for best Time Management… so is Build-a-Lot 4, which means I am officially the only person who hated Build-a-Lot 3. The frustrating Don’t Look Back under Interactive Art, although this game was made for  people with more patience and skill than me, I did like the myth theme.

Vote for your favorites, or just use this as list of games to check out.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Kill 10 Rats And Bring Me Their Tails!

Guest author Lexton “Lunarhound” Collins discusses the upcoming Guild Wars 2, believable NPC drama, heroic errand-running, and shares his perspective on what makes a good MMO great.

Most gamers, both fans and detractors, would agree that MMO’s need shaking up. It’s happened before, when City of Heroes and, shortly afterward, World of Warcraft made camp grinding a thing of the past and brought quest-based advancement to the mainstream. Suddenly, characters had purpose-driven lives. Other games followed suit, and life was good in cyberland.

Now, several years later, gamers are growing weary of the new grind. It’s tough to ensure that every single one of the hundreds of quests necessary to keep an MMO going are interesting, and players are growing weary of the endless variations on “kill ten rats and bring me their tails”. Mini dramas acted out by NPC’s cease to feel immersive when sticking around for a minute afterward lets you watch the world reset before your eyes so that the next players in line can ride. Collecting exclamation marks and running errands for people too lazy to deliver their own letters or fight their own battles feels less like an adventure and more like checking off a list of chores. Few want to go back to the way things were, but developers, and many players, seem to be finding it difficult to see a way forward.

There have been efforts to do something different but they’ve gone largely unnoticed. Guild Wars came hot on the heels of World of Warcraft, and attempted to remedy many of the ‘theme park’ issues that came with a static world that had to reset each quest for the next player by making heavy use of instancing. Players see each other in towns, but once outside, you and your party had your own private copy of the world. This allowed them to change things permanently based on your actions. Unfortunately, this lead to many players not considering it a real MMO and, despite its commercial success, it didn’t inspire many imitators. Additional problems came from the fact that players could not jump, climb or swim and the world was full of invisible walls that forced strict adherence to the current mission path. Dungeons & Dragons Online came along a few years later with a similar world structure coupled with much better implementation of the mission-based game play and a great new action combat system, but the facts that it couldn’t (at the time) effectively be played solo and it required a monthly fee, it also ended up being relegated to niche status.

Now, Guild Wars has a sequel on the way. ArenaNet was very secretive about it for quite some time after its announcement, and even now information is limited, but what is beginning to emerge paints an interesting picture of a title that is trying to shake up the genre all over again. With the inclusion of open world areas and much greater mobility (players will be able to jump, swim and climb as they can in most other MMO’s), as well as new attitudes toward creative use of instancing, they might actually succeed this time.

In a preview at Eurogamer, back in August, lead designer Eric Flannum states that “I think I can safely say that you won’t see a single exclamation mark floating above a character’s head in Guild Wars 2.” This one little sentence makes for a pretty bold statement considering the direction of MMO’s for the past few years and, luckily, he elaborates:

“We actually don’t have a traditional RPG/MMO quest system… Instead what we’ve got are Events. Think of them as group-orientated activities. This is one of the many things that will encourage the player to explore the world – you can wander through and never quite know what you’re going to see. You might come across a fortress that’s being attacked by centaurs, or it might be that the centaurs attacked half an hour before you got there and they hold it now. You might start walking along a road you’ve walked a hundred times and suddenly there’s a caravan traveling along that road that you may not have seen, and you can go help that caravan out.”

Supposedly, these events will form a complex web within any given public area, spawning new ones and phasing out old ones based on cause and effect. An older example given is that of a dragon attacking a bridge. Players can band together to defeat the dragon, which might open up a new chain of events that can be participated in. Alternately, they might fail, choose not to help, or simply not be there when the dragon attacks, which would result in the bridge being destroyed and a completely different chain of events opening up, revolving around repairing the bridge. The difference between this and something like Warhammer Online’s public quests is that they will not simply reset repeatedly so that players can do them over again. The assertion that there will not be a traditional quest system seems to indicate that public areas will consist of countless such events and, rather than wandering around looking for someone with an exclamation mark to tell them what to do, players will spend their time looking for something actually happening. The potential of such a system to change the way questing is seen in online games is staggering.

That isn’t to say that all adventuring will be completely directionless. Each player will have a personal quest chain to play through that reflects his or her own character. From an interview with MMORPG.com in December:

“When a player creates a character in Guild Wars 2, they will be able to answer many questions about their personal character history. These answers will help determine your personal story in the game. As many fans have theorized, one of the first things you choose is a ’subdivision’ of your race, which provides a more personal feel to your character’s history. For the humans, that means their ancestry–Elonan, Krytan, Ascalonian and Canthan–and also their social status as gentry or commoners of the city of Divinity’s Reach. For charr, it primarily means their legion, whether Blood, Ash, or Iron. The asura choose between the three most respected colleges of learning; Synergetics, Dynamics, and Statics. The sylvari follow the path of their seasonal cycle, or the time of day in which they awakened, being Dawn, Day, Twilight or Night. The norn choose their personal totem, and may choose to walk in the path of bear, snow leopard, raven or wolf. From these and other initial determinations, a wealth of personalized storylines develop, so that each player in the game experiences a story that is individually tailored to their character.”

According to ArenaNet, these choices, though part of character creation, will not affect class or power in any way. Their sole impact is on the player’s own personal narrative. This sounds tantalizingly like the Origins system in Dragon Age: Origins, and is an exciting thought when considered in the context of an MMORPG.

There’s no telling, of course, how much of an impact any of this will have or how well it will be received until the game is available to the public in some form. And if these claims were being made by a smaller developer without the experience or budget to back them up, they might be only a faint cause for hope at best. But ArenaNet has the budget and the talent to back up its big ideas, and it has already proven with one successful series that it knows what it’s doing.

Most seem to believe that the ultimate feat for an MMORPG would be to topple World of Warcraft. I’m not so sure. I think the ultimate measure of success is moving the genre as a whole forward. With a new approach to quest content, a strong focus on providing the player with a personal storyline, and the lack of any sort of monthly fee, Guild Wars 2 stands poised to do exactly that. Will it topple World of Warcraft? I doubt it. But it may force Blizzard to change in order to compete, which would almost certainly lead to other games following suit. Now that would be an accomplishment.

Popularity: 1% [?]

ThumbGods in 2009

In 2009, I reviewed indie games like Funky Farm 2, A Case Of The Crabs, Rotoadventures Momo’sQuest, Slayer of Dragon,  Democracy 2,  Electric Box,  Faerie Solitaire, and CyberWord. I plan to keep focusing on creative, indie games next year. I also played major mainstream titles, like Cartoon Network’s new MMO Fusionfall, and James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club:  Games of Passion for the DS. ThumbGods reviewed the match-3 Atlantis, Totem Tribe, National Geographic’s Mystery of Cleopatra, Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, Sims 2 on the DS, and Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting To Danger! Major misses  this year were  My Boyfriend,  Create-a-Mall,  the disappointing Build-a-lot 3, and Jack in Lost in Blue 2. (Not all of LiB2. Just Jack.)

I tried to branch out a bit from reviews, and started writing some hints, including a guide to solving MyTribe mysteries and hints for Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting To Danger! I’ll probably keep doing this whenever I’m really proud of solving a puzzle and want to help out.

Thumb Gods had a great guest post when when Lexton Collins reviewed Runes Of Magic. I guest posted reviews of Cake Mania 3 and Ciao Bella, over on Casual Gamer Chick, Crayon Physics Deluxe review on Angry Gamers, Travians: Asterix Meets The Sims on SeeJaneGame, and contributed to several issues of Indie Game Mag.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Beta Opp: Grand Fantasia

Open Beta has begun!

Grand Fantasia is now open to all, and the Item Mall has been released! Join the dynamic and quickly growing community now and experience the adventure. The Aeria Staff has a lot of thrills planned, and players can look forward to epic contests and events including the chance to win 1 Million AP!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Beta Opp: Avalon Heroes

From the burda:ic press release:

This is what adventurers have been waiting for: On November 25, 2009, the games publisher burda:ic will start the Closed Beta phase for the eagerly anticipated free-2-play online strategy game highlight Avalon Heroes. Starting immediately, all registered members can sign up for the one-of-a-kind Closed Beta at alaplaya.net/pages/ahcbapplication. With a little luck, this means that they will already get to marvel at the impressive skills and weapons of the game characters before the release date. Moreover, in the official Closed Beta forum at avalon.alaplaya.net/forum, players will be able to find more detailed information and share what they experienced in the game.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Mystery of Cleopatra

Mystery of Cleopatra follows Herod’s Lost Tomb and other educational, casual games from National Geographic. In this one, you play as a trusted advisor to the queen, charged with solving a mysterious break-in at the palace.

Cleo is a gateway game,  a hidden objects game with elements of an adventure game. While there’s still a certain amount of searching, you aren’t just looking for objects for the sake of squinting at the screen, your character actually uses those items.

I’ve written before about losing interest in hidden objects play, but Cleo held my interest a bit longer with ancient scenes. Did I mention that there are Romans? I’m unable to separate my game reviews from my classicist side, and I have to admit that the later civil wars and the question of Caesarion and Octavian’s inheritance have always interested me. The story leads you through different famous places in Alexandria, like the library and the lighthouse, and touches on some of the Roman-Egyptian tensions at the time. As you click around the hidden objects screens, bits of information appear about the items you’re seeing. You’ll also come across scrolls with a paragraph or two of historical background information. (I soon found myself skimming these, but that’s mostly because I wanted to play more.)

Finding items was quite easy, since you can see silhouettes of the items you’re seeking. I found my location hints recharging much faster than I could possibly need, but of course I was playing in casual mode because I am a huge slacker I don’t like my games to scold me for pausing. At times, silhouettes of items that are used together will appear inside a jeweled circlet, and once all the parts are collected, you can make and use a new item.

The puzzles ranged from the usual reassembly of a torn-up note to really creative, clever puzzles. I particularly liked the logic puzzle to open the armaria (That’s classicist for storage box. You’re welcome.) and the code-breaking puzzle. The only disappointing puzzle was one that required players to arrange numbered scrolls. The directions were seriously confusing, it took me a long time using the red and green hints to figure out what the game was asking me to do. (If you’re stuck, it might be because “across” doesn’t mean what you think it does. )

Later in the game, your character remembers places you’ve previously visited, and you use your inventory and evidence to answer questions about them, a bit like the basic mechanic in Phoenix Wright and occasionally used in Women’s Murder Club: Games of Passion as well.

Spoiler Alert! Caesarian gets killed so Octavian can be Caesar’s undisputed heir! Wait, wrong spoiler. The real spoiler is at the end of the game when your NPC sidekick, Kathya, who’s been mostly plot exposition and historical detail so far, turns on you and tries to frame you as the murderer!  The brutal backstabs of palace life!

Overall, Cleo is an engaging Big Fish-type game with great scenery and good puzzles. And Romans.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Game Review: Women’s Murder Club

James Patterson’s Women’s Murder club has been a successful series of novels, a TV show and a series of casual mystery PC games before coming to the DS. The new Women’s Murder Club: Games of Passion seems designed for a casual DS gamer to tuck her into her purse, instead of a Patterson mystery novel. Most of WMC is played with the DS turned sideways, using the read-only screen to display a list of objects to find, instructions, or images to accompany the action in the interactive screen, which creates a book-like format for more of an interactive novel feel.

WMC follows the usual pattern of story cutscenes, hidden objects and minigames. The hidden objects casual adventure game is a pretty crowded genre, so it’s hard for a new game to really stand out. Probably the most unique characteristic was the James Patterson characters.  Players solve crimes and meet with the WMC ladies as Patterson’s detective Lindsay Boxer, and supporting characters with solid personalities made this more that just a reskinned HO game.

The story progresses via cutscenes and dialogue options. Players have some choices for what to say, but it was more of a quiz on recent plot events. Believable banter makes the cutscenes worth reading, and the linear storyline makes it feel like reading a novel, not being hemmed

Random side note: The mysterious Chinese markings found on the victim actually do say bu zhong, Not Loyal. My Chinese  literacy is just good enough to be completely thrilled with the developers for using real words when dramatic red scribbles would have acceptable. (It always cracks me up when I see upside-down characters or random other words.) Good work, THQ.

A lot of the game was hidden objects, whether it was tidying a crime scene or looking for clues, but this was a particularly bad HO. The small DS screen doesn’t really lend itself to searching, and players search a picture that’s larger than the screen, for maximum squinting-at-the-screen annoyance. It was also the Highlights magazine type of hidden objects, instead of the cluttered-room HO. It felt oddly childish to look for giant peace signs and lightning bolts, especially on crime scenes with mysterious dead bodies. The game does mix up the hidden objects a bit by giving players a clue instead of a list of items, but still gives the feel of an activity book more than an adventure game.

The story leads to several minigames, which were much more engaging than the picture find. When I got the Women’s Murder Club press release, I was pretty excited to see the game included a science lab minigame, and the puzzle’s gameplay didn’t disappoint.

One of the minigames was a mah-jong game, which is also accessible under an icon that says China (This character is a different zhong, an object lesson on why I am not so good at Chinese!). I usually consider mah-jong games to be computer solitaire 2.0, but I found something charming in the tiny tiles and stylus interface, and ended up playing this minigame more than I’d expected.

Women’s Murder Club: Crimes of Passion offers a solid storyline and characters from the popular novels to fans of the hidden objects mystery.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal

I’d been meaning to play the new Monkey Island game since I first heard about the Telltale Games release, but it was the pirate-day free download that finally got me started.

Telltale’s new Monkey Island is not to be confused with the LucasArts updated re-release. No, the Screaming Narwhal is an all-new tale in the saga of Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate. Elaine and LeChuck (and at least one other familiar character!) are back as well, revamped from their grainy 2d incarnations, but following the spirit of the originals.

Goofy dialogue, creative uses for found items and pirate-y silliness are the hallmarks of the Monkey Island games, and the Screaming Narwhal has them all. Guybrush uses his razor-sharp wits to deal with the wacky denizens of Flotsam Island, whether that’s a clever ruse of selling fine leather jacket, an amazing use of misdirection (Look! It’s Louis XIV!) or coming up with a believable excuse on the spot. The dialogue is not a memory test of in-game facts, but a chance for zany interactions.

The freedom of the old Secret of Monkey Island and LeChuck’s Revenge options was in stark contrast to the thousand ways to accidentally off the protagonist in the punishing other adventure games I played around the same time. (Getting killed by a passing car when Laura Bow crosses the street still sticks in my memory as the finest example of the I Made This, You Play This, I Hate You mindset.) Guybrush can stick a bomb in his pocket or attempt all sorts of athletic feats without any ill effects.

The Monkey Island games make you wonder What would happen if I…? and then encourage you to try it out! When you try to pair two objects that didn’t belong,  use something in the wrong way, or say something ridiculous, Guybrush makes a joke instead of a beep, an error message, or a score punishment. LucasArts rewarded creativity by offerings zany responses to zany questions and zany actions. The object was not to beat the level, the boss, or the game, but just to see what would happen next!

The Screaming Narwhal contains the old Monkey Island mechanic of an old pirate map for Guybrush to decipher. I don’t want to give away too much, but this isn’t the usual hidden object standard, there isn’t any squinting at the screen to find map pieces. If you’d like to make the puzzles easier or harder, the hint frequency is on a slider in your options menu, so you can adjust how much Guybrush tells you.

When I think about it, the only thing that could possibly be improved is the inventory. Oh, no, not the actual inventory, the U-tube and manatee monocle and breathmints leave no room for improvement. But the way to access the inventory is to mouse over the right hand edge of the screen. This is also the way to walk off the right hand edge of the screen or look at things on the far right of the screen. It is not a game-breaking mechanical failure, but a minor annoyance that came back every time I mean to look at something on the right and opened my inventory.

Go check it out and remember why Monkey Island was such an awesome story.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Indie Game Mag, Issue 5

The newest Indie Game Mag comes out today. Issue 5 promises to have some great games and interviews, including my piece on Wonderland Adventures: Fire Island.

The July/August Issue of the Indie Game Magazine hits news stands everywhere today. In Issue 5: We have a brand new roundtable feature where 4 reviewers rate 10 of the latest indie game demos. This issue is chock full of indie goodness with over 20 indie games featured. We have an extensive interview with Edmund McMillen, Fling around bodies in Ragdoll Cannon, Solve some family friendly puzzles in Wonderland Adventures, Build an empire in Romopolis, and take a look at the IGF student finalist City Rain.

Popularity: 32% [?]

Monkey Island Returns

Ok, so when I posted about LEGO Rock Band, I was pretty excited. But this is even better!

Monkey Island is back, both as a remake of the original game AND as a new series in the Monkey Island world.

LucasArts and Telltale Reveal Series of New Monkey Island Adventures Coming Soon!
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif – June 1, 2009 – LucasArts today announced that the original hilarious pirate adventure is back, with two new projects underway based on the classic Monkey Island franchise. Beginning in just a few short weeks, Telltale will premiere the Tales of Monkey Island™ game series, delivering a completely new epic storyline and swashbuckling flair that will unfold across five monthly episodes on PC and WiiWare™. The Monkey Island celebration continues later in the summer when LucasArts publishes The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition, a completely re-imagined version of the first game in the series that adds updated high definition graphics, a re-mastered musical score, and full voiceover to the classic adventure game originally launched in 1990. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition will be made available on Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PC.

Can’t wait to see what kind of insults the Swordmaster has for GuyBrush Threepwood this time!

Popularity: 22% [?]

Florensia Battles

From VerticalWire:

Burda:ic, a leading publisher of online games worldwide, have announced that war is about to break out between the Royal Army and the Pirates of popular free-to-play MMORPG Florensia! Two existing in-game maps will be converted from standard adventuring areas into new player vs. player (PvP) War Zones for level 40 and above: the Hidden Port in the Pirates of the Black Dragon Base and the Rainbow Highland on Chester Island. Additionally, an all-new War Zone map, the Lava Plateau, will be added on Magnel Island.

Buccaneers beware, you’ll need a keen eye and fast fingers upon arrival to these new areas, as players are free to attack anything that moves… even if that happens to be a fellow adventurer. It’s every man, soldier, and pirate for himself on these battlegrounds, and it’s up to each player to decide his or her own fate. Help the Royal Army clear the areas of monsters and earn a boost in the ranks. Kill other players, and the Pirates are sure to take notice.

A war is brewing on the high seas of Florensia, and these new PvP War Zones are just a taste of the seafaring adventure and mayhem on the horizon!

For more information about the War Zones, scheduled to be added early next week, visit http://www.florensia-online.com/.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Beta Opp: Wonderking MMORPG

An upcoming MMOPRG from NDOORS:

NDOORS Interactive today officially announced their newest title, WonderKing. Planned for release in the second half of 2009, WonderKing is an unconventional MMORPG from the developer Ryu & Soft that is designed for gamers of all skill level. The beta is scheduled to launch early this summer.

“With the success of Atlantica Online and Luminary: Rise of the GoonZu in the US, we feel the market is eager for a variety of MMO games,” said Peter Kang, CEO of NDOORS Interactive. “WonderKing’s introduction to the North American market will offer a truly encapsulating experience for gamers of every taste and preference.”

WonderKing is a 2D, side-scrolling MMORPG that takes players on an adventurous journey with story-by-story quests, much like a fantasy novel. Along the way, players will travel from beautiful beaches to murky marshlands and frigid snowfields as they battle to save the world. Don’t let the lack of a third dimension fool you, as this game is a highly developed MMORPG, including features such as:

• Home Town System: Players can personally decorate a private room where they can rest and store items and trophies.
• Pet System: Adorable, loyal AI animals will aid in hunting, item collecting, and other tasks.
• Class Change: The game allows players to focus their character’s abilities and change between classes to learn powerful techniques (mage, swordsman, thief, and scout).
• Mounts and Vehicles: Get moving with a variety of vehicles to ride and animals to mount, providing boosts to attack and defense.
• Castle Battles: Engage in PvP battles using siege warfare across castles.
• Crafting and Cooking: Weapons, food, and potions can be made to give players an edge in battle.

Designed for gamers of all ages, WonderKing is set in a vibrantly colorful world and features some of the most uniquely creative character designs and gorgeous graphics in any game. As with all of NDOORS’ titles, the game is 100% free-to-play.

I’m not sure what makes it an “unconventional MMORPG”, it looks like a standard anime adventure game to me. (Not really complaining, I like that genre, but I don’t see what makes it unique) Watch the trailer and decide for yourself, or sign for the beta here.

Popularity: 28% [?]

Legacy: World Adventure From Big Blue Bubble

Big Blue Bubble has just released Legacy: World Adventure. While I’m downloading the demo, here’s the press release on the new game:

From the creative minds that brought you Home Sweet Home and Masters of Mystery comes a brand new adventure! Big Blue Bubble proudly announces the release of Legacy: World Adventure!

Travel the world as Emily King, an intelligent young woman with a yearning for adventure and a craving for knowledge. Help her reclaim her family legacy in an electrifying race around the globe, to win the illustrious Grand Adventurers Expedition! Legacy: World Adventure will challenge your Match 3 abilities and heighten your World Fact knowledge with exciting clues and stunning imagery!

So climb aboard our airships for the race of a lifetime, clever mini-game action, and hundreds of world facts that will push your skills to the limits!

Featuring…
• International Adventure Storyline!
• 30 Real World Locations!
• Hundreds of World Facts!
• 3 Different Types of Match 3 Gameplay!
• 5 Challenging Mini-Games!

Legacy: World Adventure supports 98/ME/2000/2003/XP/Vista. Download it from www.bbbarcade.com TODAY!

Popularity: 16% [?]

BioWare Announces Mass Effect 2

Guildford, UK– March 17, 2009– Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today officially announced the development of Mass Effect™ 2, the highly anticipated sequel to the multi award-winning 2007 hit, Mass Effect. The Mass Effect trilogy is a masterful science-fiction adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life forms and mysterious uncharted planets. In this dark second chapter, Saren’s evil army of Geth soldiers has just been defeated, and humans, still struggling to make their mark on the galactic stage, are now faced with an even greater peril…

“We’re going to surpass the extraordinary gaming experience we brought our fans in Mass Effect by delivering intensified combat and expanded weapon options as well as increased depth of planet exploration, all while delivering a powerful, emotionally engaging story,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, EA.“Mass Effect 2 is shaping up to be an unforgettable RPG-shooter experience, taking players on a non-stop roller-coaster ride filled with stunning plot twists and no-holds-barred action.”

Mass Effect 2 is coming to PC and the Xbox 360 video game system in Early 2010. To see the exclusive new Mass Effect 2 teaser trailer check out the website here: www.masseffect.com

Popularity: 15% [?]

Upcoming Faerie Solitaire

From the press release:

Subsoap(TM) (www.subsoap.com), an up and coming developer of
casual games, today announced the launch of Faerie Solitaire.

The game is a fantasy-theme casual card game that’s full of adventure,
mystery, and wonder. Featuring 360 exciting levels, including Hidden
Object mini games, 8 worlds to play through, and hundreds of hours
of gameplay entertainment. Faerie Solitaire is the next triple-A
casual title, and is available exclusively at Subsoap.com.

Rescuing Lost Faeries

In Faerie Solitaire players will travel across the land of Avalon
in search of magical faeries who have been trapped by some
mysterious force. A move away from what is currently popular in
the casual space, Faerie Solitaire’s strong production values
and compelling gameplay will surely please solitaire fans.

Is it just me, or does that sentence make it sound like other casual games have no production value and boring gameplay? I’m not saying there aren’t a bunch of dull match-3s floating around the internet, but I’ve played some amazing casual games, like Funky Farm 2, Crayon Physics, and Nancy Drew: Lights, Camera, Curses!, just to name a few recent ones that had me addicted.  I hope Faerie Solitaire will be one of them!

Subsoap also plans to launch a new casual gaming portal sometime this year.

Popularity: 32% [?]

Game Review: Don’t Look Back

Don’t Look Back is a new game on Kongregate based on the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. This Greek myth tells the story of the lovers Orpheus and Eurydice, who are tragically parted when Eurydice dies. Unable to live without her, Orpheus journeys to Hades to bring back his lost love. Hades, the god of the underworld, and his wife Persephone are so moved by Orpheus’ love and his musical gifts, that they agree to let Eurydice follow him out of the underworld… on one condition. He can’t turn around and look at Eurydice until they leave the underworld.

As they are leaving, Orpheus is overcome with love for Eurydice (in some versions he hears her breathing or her footsteps) and glances back. Eurydice fades away and returns to the underworld, never to see him again.

I really love that tragic love story. In college, I majored in classics, which has greatly helped in my career path of being freakishly well-read. Just a few days ago, I reviewed Electric Box, another Kongregate game and really liked it, so I expected the combination of classical myth and Kongregate to be great.

No.

Don’t Look Back is an arcade platformer, which means jumping, shooting and, in my case, dying. I’m not good at jump-on-the-platform games, and since I don’t really like them, I doubt I’ll ever get good. I’m willing to try platformers with cool slants — I made an exception for the cute jumping game Momo — but they’re not really my thing.

The game opens with a blocky figure standing next to a grave, but there’s no text or explanation to tell you what’s going on. Thank goodness I have my classics degree for moments like this! Don’t Look Back was much better about telling you to use the arrows to move or spacebar to shoot than it was about telling the story.

I found that Don’t Look Back had lots of jumping and landing on platforms, but not a lot of pretty things to look at while you’re doing this. Each new screen is a surprise, with creepy crawlies set to attack Orpheus on entry, so I spent a lot of time dying.

The graphics are cutely retro, in gothy colors, but that just wasn’t enough to distract me from the problems I had with gameplay.

I really wanted to see how the developer interpreted this myth, and when I’m going to write a review, I usually play games to the end. But, even sondiering those, I never made it to rescuing Eurydice.  After repetive scenes of shooting blocky bugs and hopping over obstacles, I just wasn’t having a good time at all.

I hope that other players really liked Don’t Look Back, and that it inspires a whole trend of classical games! And I hope they’re more fun.

Popularity: 31% [?]

January and February on ThumbGods

I’ve heard about that post-Christmas slump for games, but on ThumbGods, this was a great time for reviews. I reviewed Funky Farm 2, the match-3 Atlantis, A Case Of The Crabs, Totem Tribe, Rotoadventures Momo’sQuest, Slayer of Dragon, the underwhelming Build-a-lot 3,  Democracy 2,  Electric Box, and Cartoon Network’s Fusionfall here on ThumbGods, and Ciao Bella, over on Casual Gamer Chick. Sheihk Chandio reviewed GTA: Liberty City, Pokemon Diamond,  Gran Turismo 4,  Dragonball Z:Infinite World and FF7. Lexton Collins reviewed the upcoming Runes Of Magic.

We recently discovered AngryGamers, a new site for gaming rants and reviews (with some NSFW language). We also posted about a cool boardgames craft project, and I wrote my first walkthrough, a guide to solving MyTribe mysteries.

Don’t forget, we’re also on Twitter! You can follow ThumbGods on Twitter for instant updates whenever we post!

Popularity: 19% [?]

Press Release: Women’s Murder Club Game Available Today

Women’s Murder Club: A Darker Shade Of Grey, a new casual game based on James Patterson’s best-selling novels, is available starting today from MSN Games. Here is the press release, and some exclusive screenshots!

NEW YORK, NY – February 24, 2009 - I-play, the world’s leading multi-platform casual games publishing division of Oberon Media, announces the exclusive launch of the second casual PC game based on the best-selling Women’s Murder Club book series by James Patterson.  Women’s Murder Club: A Darker Shade of Grey makes its debut on MSN Games today, where it will be available exclusively for two weeks.  Created by best-selling author James Patterson, in collaboration with I-play’s award-winning team of designer Jane Jensen and producer Robert Adams, this new title delivers another original story and thrilling adventure to follow the massive success of its predecessor, Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet.

“We are pleased to again collaborate with MSN Games on the exclusive launch of Women’s Murder Club:  A Darker Shade of Grey”, said Don Ryan, Chief Operating Officer, Oberon Media, I-play’s parent company.  “Millions of casual gamers, and James Patterson fans alike, made Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet an interactive gaming hit!  Now, James Patterson and the I-play team have created an addictive sequel that will have users riveted with the new Women’s Murder Club storyline through hours of spine-tingling game play.”

A casual adventure game based on Patterson’s massively popular Women’s Murder Club novels, Women’s Murder Club:  A Darker Shade of Grey is available exclusively for download at MSN Games until March 10.  MSN Games will be offering Women’s Murder Club fans exclusive content including a sneak peek of the first ten chapters of James Patterson’s not-yet-released novel “The 8^th Confession,” desktop wallpapers, Windows Live Messenger icons and jigsaw puzzles created from in-game scenes and characters.    Additionally, players purchasing the game via MSN Games will have access to Women’s Murder Club trivia questions and quizzes.  The game is available for PC download for $19.95.

Women’s Murder Club: A Darker Shade of Grey is the sequel to the tremendously successful Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet seek-and-find mystery game.  The adventure begins when a brisk morning jog ends in tragedy for a young military cadet.  The famed heroines of Women’s Murder Club are called to the scene and eventually led to a prestigious but secretive military academy in South Carolina.  Users will follow Lindsay and Cindy from California to South Carolina as they interrogate suspects and investigate esteemed military personnel.  Along the way, players will attempt to reveal the truth and track down the killer by solving challenging puzzles using instinct, fact and forensic evidence to expose years of corruption, cover-up and conspiracy.

Women’s Murder Club:  A Darker Shade of Grey is filled to the brim with new features including an all new Women’s Murder Club storyline; character dialogue; ten thrilling investigations unveiling a story of mystery, adventure and sordid secrets; twenty-five challenging puzzles; a point system to track progress within the game; and breathtaking art of locations that lead gamers to delve deeper into this interactive adventure.  The game is being developed and published online by I-play and will be published at retail by Elephant Entertainment, a division of THQ Inc.

One more screenshot of what looks like a forensics minigame. Awesome!

Popularity: 36% [?]

Indie Game Mag and Momo

Indie Game Mag is a new magazine about — no points for guessing — independent games. Now, I don’t mean to bash the bestsellers, I love my World of WarCraft and my Sims2 just as much as the next gamer, but fun, creative indie games are often underrepresented in games journalism. It’s sad that so many really creative games get overlooked in favor of same-old mechanics and gorgeous graphics of a lot of mainstream games. IndieGameMag focuses entirely on new games from small developers, there’s no World of WarCraft or Gears of War here!

A few days ago, Indie Game Mag ran a crazy contest for the best ad that game companies could come up with in 24 hours. The winner would receive a full-page ad in the March issue of Indie Game Mag.

The winner was none other than the guys behind my squirrel friend Momo!

Guess the guys at IndieGameMag can’t resist Momo from RotoAdventures either!

PS Don’t forget to check out the upcoming March issue of Indie Game Mag for my review of Chains!

Via The Indie Game Magazine: Impromptu Ad Contest Winner.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Disney To Launch Online World This Summer

Looks like Disney will be following Cartoon Network’s lead with Fusionfall and creating a kid-friendly MMO world. Disney’s new virtual world will be based on the cute movie Cars. From their press release, as quoted on Casual Gamer Chick:

This summer, Disney Online will launch World of Cars Online, a 3D online world based on the hit movie CARS. Players will be able to take an amazing ride into a wacky world full of fun and adventure by designing their own car, becoming a racing legend, making new friends, and playing mini-games with Lightning McQueen and the rest of the cast.

Read the full press release, and more commentary, over on Disney to Launch an MMO/Virtual World | Casual Gamer Chick.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Game Review: Totem Tribe

Totem Tribe was sort of a cross between MyTribe and Age Of Empires. You start out as a young chief with a small tribe, and you complete building, combat and searching missions to improve their fate.

Totem Tribe uses building and unit training without the usual resource management side of things. There’s no real harvesting involved and no resource requirements to build new items, which takes some of the challenge away, and lets you focus on building an aesthetically pleasing settlement. Or maybe that’s just me. Your buildings each create specialized units, which you can then use to explore, build, fight, and so forth.

It’s no Momo, but this game is cute. Your villagers fight mushroom people and funny animals, and they live peacefully with giant ladybugs and lazy turtles.

Each island has gems, seashells and other clickable collectibles. It took me a little while to realize that what I’d thought were some funny-looking flowers are actually the gems you are meant to collect. Oops. Because there are surprise activitable items, I found myself clicking on everything, old-fashioned hand-activate style, to see what might happen.

Totem Tribe blends a civ game, a strategy game and the good kind of hidden objects game, all things I like, into an addicting casual game. My only real problem is that the story falls flat.  While I actually liked the gameplay of repeatedly finding a new object of Epic Supreme Destiny on each unlocked island, I found  the chief’s requests for and the general quest text about each Super-Duper Supreme Epic item to be stilted and annoying.

Overall, a solid casual game, even if the story arc leaves a bit to be desired.

Popularity: 29% [?]

Mario Is A Menace

Fortunately, I played Frogger so I know how to dodge cars.

(This picture has been forwarded to me a bunch of times, I guess all my friends know I’m a nerd.  If anyone knows where to attribute this photo, let me know and I’ll link.)

Popularity: 19% [?]

Game Review: RotoAdventures Momo’s Quest

RotoAdventures Momo’s Quest is a PC game about a baby squirrel (so much cuteness!) who is trying to find his way back to his owner, having adventures along the way. Platform games can get a little repetitive for me, but I was completely intrigued by cute little Momo, so I had to try this.

The controls were quite simple, although it does use the mouse instead of the keyboard for jumping and directional control. Momo’s Quest starts out pretty easy while players become accustomed to the controls and the goal, but quickly becomes challenging. I think the best games have very simple rules, and then add content and challenges, and Momo’s Quest did. The challenge was the usual platform game, jumping and grabbing gems for points, and finding objects. Oh, and not falling and letting little Momo get hurt, of course! But the new cute content on each level, like new backgrounds and new special things that Momo learns, kept me playing.

On each level, sweet Momo can either go to the light side, with fluffy bunnies and cuteness overload, or the dark side, with gothy woodland creatures and another style of cuteness. The whole game was like an interactive kids’ book, very light-hearted and fun.

When you play Momo, your cursor becomes an acorn. This is usually something I hate, funny cursors belong on a preteen’s MySpace page. But it was so fun to watch the squirrel chasing the acorn! I guess Momo’s magical powers of cuteness made me like things I wouldn’t normally like.

Finally, Happy Nutz Studio has won my love by making such a sweet game and NOT saying it’s for girls.

You can get download a demo or buy a full version from Happy Nutz Studio for Mac or PC.

Popularity: 31% [?]