Thirty Flights of Loving

Blendo Games - 2012 - PC

I just finished Thirty Flights of Loving and I'm not sure what I just played. I do know that it's a roughly 10-15 minute experience telling a story about spies... carrying out a heist? ...I think? What I do know is that it was created by Brendon Chung, the one-man team behind Blendo Games who is also responsible for Flotilla, Atom Zombie Smasher and the upcoming Quadrilateral Cowboy. Thirty Flights of Loving (TFOL) was created as part of a Kickstarter campaign to support the Idle Thumbs podcast, of which I am a frequent listener. According to Chung, TFOL was an excercise in creating a game that tells a story without any dialogue. TFOL is certinaly a realization of that concept, but I don't think it's very successful in telling a clear and understandable story

Part of the problem here is that in order to get the whole picture of what's going on in TFOL, you had to have played some of Chung's previous games. TFOL opens by announcing that it's the sequel to a game called Gravity Bone, which is jarring to anyone (myself included) who wasn't aware of Gravity Bone and was expecting TFOL to be a standalone experience. I found TFOL to be a pretty hard and confusing game to parse through. Part of it is the lack of any dialogue, part of it is the smash cuts and non-linear presentation of the story, and part of it is the expectation that the audience has also played Gravity Bone. By doing a bit of research and also watching an excellent video by Errant Signal, I was able to find out that Gravity Bone is part of Chung's long running series of games called "Citizen Abel". Now I'm not sure if playing all of the other Citizen Abel games helps TFOL make more sense, but that's a lot to expect your audience to do espiecially considering some of the older Citizen Abel games are Quake II and Half Life II mods. And if having played those games doesn't contribute anything to the understanding of TFOL, why brand it as the sequel to Gravity Bone? I acknowledge that some my confusion with the story may be my own fault for not having played the other games, but this was one of several nits I had to pick with this game.

As I mentioned earlier, the story in TFOL is told non-linearly and without any dialogue at all. As you might guess, it makes the story a bit hard to follow. Even though I played through the game twice to try to piece it together, I still can't come up with a reading on this game that isn't jumbled nonsense. I'd love to hear someone else's interpretation of the story though, if someone can actually manage to follow it and come up with an understanding.

Summary

I'm all for smaller games made for a specific audience, so I feel bad picking on the little guy here. Nevertheless, I found TFOL to be a short and confusing experiment in weird and nonsensical storytelling. I've now written quite a few words about a game that has none.

The Talos Principle

Croteam - 2014 - PC

Not to be confused with one of the Gods of Skyrim, The Talos Principle is a philosophically themed puzzle game and has nothing to do with any of the Elder Scrolls games. Released late last year (2014), The Talos Principle was made by a small European development studio based in Croatia whose only previous notable works are the Serious Sam games. Being a puzzle game, The Talos Principle is a huge departure from the FPS style of the Serious Sam games so I was expecting this title to maybe be a little rough around the edges and maybe expose the inexperience of the development team making a game in a new style, but this was not the case at all. The Talos Principle is air tight, and features some of the best puzzle design and well executed narrative I have ever experienced in a video game.

The game begins as your player character wakes up in a seemingly abandoned garden. Between the lines of computer text scrolling across the screen or the occasional glimpse of your own metallic fingers, you'll quickly realize that your player character is a robot. Your unnamed character soon begins to hear a voice in his head. The voice refers to himself as Elohim (Hebrew for God) and starts referring to you as "my child". But not really in the typical motherly/fatherly parental way; the voice refers to you as "my child" the same way a God would address his creation. The voice then guides you around the garden and asks you to solve various puzzles to obtain "sigils", which will unlock more areas of the garden which will allow you to collect more sigils

The structure of the game is broken down into solving puzzles, obtaining sigils, reading pieces of story text and then repeating the process. This structure and repetitive pacing of The Talos Principle might be the only complaint someone could have against it, unless you don't care for difficult puzzles, which this game definitely has. I've often criticized games for being too repetitive and not offering enough variety of gameplay, but I never really got that feeling from this game. Even though it was a very lengthy (about 40 hours) puzzle game, I never felt like it outstayed its welcome. There was enough variety in the puzzle rooms and with the methods used to solve the puzzles that I never got the sense that I was doing the same thing over and over. The Talos Principle felt like a longer version of Braid, but 3D and with different puzzle mechanics. It's what I'd imagine The Witness would play like, if it ever gets released. I really can't stress enough the brilliance of in the design of the puzzle rooms here. The Talos Principle introduces puzzle elements, makes sure you understand how they work, then slowly increases the difficulty and complexity of the puzzles. Some of the later puzzles required me to just stop and stare at the screen and think. I love when games can get me to do that.

The Talos Principle Video Review

Summary

I know we're still very early in 2015 and also this game came out in December 2014, but The Talos Principle will more than likely be my 2015 game of the year. I was totally blown away by the superb puzzle design and the amazing presentation of the story. There's so much about the story I didn't want to reveal here for fear of spoilers, but exploring the island and finally uncovering its secrets felt really rewarding. The Talos Principle is everything I want in a video game. I would highly recommend it to fans of puzzle games or people who enjoy excellent game design

Theatrythym Final Fantasy: Curtain Call

Square Enix - 2014 - 3DS

See Also My Top 10 Final Fantasy Games List

Finally back with my first review of 2015! Hope everyone out there had a fun and safe holiday break. I happened to take my 3DS with me while visiting family and got a chance to play some Theatrhythm Curtain Call. It's a rhythm game whose soundtrack is made of compositions from nearly every Final Fantasy game to date. Curtain Call is a sequel to the first Final Fantasy Theatrhythm game which came out in 2012. I actually got a chance to play the first game earlier last year, but didn't write a review on it. Both games are basically Square Enix's attempt to try to capture the audience of Final Fantasy fans who love the soundtracks for the series. And as someone who is a huge Final Fantasy and Nobou Uematsu fan, this game is a great tribute to the series and its music

The gameplay in Curtain Call basically consists of listening to a Final Fantasy song and then tapping along on your DS screen with your stylus, guided by on screen tapping prompts. The game scores you on how well you did or if you perform too poorly, you can fail a song a la Rock Band or Guitar Hero. But as long as we're comparing rhythm games to one another, Curtain Call is much more similar to Elite Beat Agents gameplay wise. There are also some light RPG elements which I guess are obligatory because Final Fantasy. You can choose a party of Final Fantasy characters from pretty much every game in the series, give them skills and items and level them up. Your character's level and skills can give you point bonuses or extra health or other helpful things while playing, but the RPG elements of Curtain Call can really be ignored if you're not into that sort of thing. If you're just playing the game for the music and rhythm parts, not micromanaging your party won't hurt you. Or if you're really into maxing out your party for the highest points and most health, that's cool too. But I guess it doesn't speak too well about the importance of Curtain Call's RPG system if you can completely ignore it while playing the game

Let me just say that having played both games, Curtain Call is completely superior to the original game in every way. If you want to try this series out, go straight after Curtain Call and don't bother with its predecessor if you have the choice. Curtain Call has every single song from the original plus way more. It also has more unlockable characters, a slightly more complex RPG system, a hefty growing library of DLC, and more gameplay modes than the original including a multiplayer mode.

Summary:
Curtain call is the the perfect type of portable game for me. Gameplay sessions can be short - you don't have to commit a huge amount of time to playing the game and you can save pretty much at any point. It's also quite easy to pick back up after not having played for several weeks. It's a great tribute to the quality musical compositions in the Final Fantasy series and seeing all of the FF characters be cartoonized was actually kind of adorable. There's also now some DLC out for Square Enix games other than Final Fantasy. Hooray for Chrono Trigger DLC! It's a nice addition to your 3DS library if you're a Final Fantasy fan or a fan of rhythm games. It's a must-buy if you're both!

Thomas Was Alone

Mike Bithell - 2012 - PC/PS3/Vita

What an unusual game this was. In Thomas Was Alone, you can switch control between several multi-colored rectangles while trying to guide them through each of the game's 100 levels. Throughout each level, a narrator with a British accent tells you what each of the rectangles is thinking or feeling. Each of the levels are very short and are completed by aligning each of your rectangles with its matching outline that is found somewhere in the level.

I found this game to be a bit disappointing and uninteresting. Oh it has interesting ideas, sure, but the execution of these ideas falls flat. For instance, the game's story is about these multicolored rectangles that are given names and personalities and are supposed to represent artificial intelligences in a computer system. But I couldn't remember which name belonged to which color rectangle and the story became very hard to follow. Even if I could remember who was what color, the story was pretty abstract and uneventful. The rectangles just wander around and you hear what they're thinking, but nothing interesting ever really happens to them. There's also several references to other games and pop culture, but they're not at all clever or well done. They're just kind of thrown in without purpose

The other interesting idea this game has - but doesn't execute well on - is the concept that each rectangle has a different ability. There's one that can double jump, one that can float in water, and one that has a bouncy trampoline-like property. But there's nothing really new or novel done with the puzzle solving sections that incorporates using all of your rectangle's abilities in a mechanically interesting way. There's one rectangle who's slow and fat and can't jump high. And nearly all of the puzzles in the game involve simply getting the fat rectangle to the end of the level which is usually time consuming and annoying. The puzzle solutions are almost always obvious and very frequently tedious. I feel Thomas Was Alone misses the fundamental point of why puzzle games are fun. In a good puzzle game, the fun is found in trying to figure out the solution to a difficult problem. You feel an endorphin rush when you have that "Ah ha!" moment and finally figure out a problem you've been stuck on. Carrying out the solution to a puzzle once you know what to do is usually not that fun or interesting. Thomas Was Alone presents you problems with obvious solutions over and over again. It's all execution and no critical thinking.

Summary:
I didn't really care for Thomas Was Alone. It doesn't have the charm or humor of Portal, it doesn't have the exhilarating platforming of Donkey Kong Country 2, and it certainly doesn't have the mind bending puzzles of Braid. But it's unique and it has its own identity. And I'd rather unique games like this be made than copy/paste sequels or games recycling the same ideas and gameplay for the millionth time

Towerfall: Ascension

Matt Thorson - 2013 - Ouya/PC/PS4

(On my Top 10 Favorite Games list)

I can't remember the last game I played that was this much pure fun. And I don't think I've laughed and screamed at the TV with any game this much outside of Smash. Towerfall is a fast paced brawler/platformer/shooter game. It guess it kind of defies genre classification. I suppose you could file it under party game? It plays best multiplayer, that's for sure.

Towerfall is kind of like Smash, except every hit is a one hit kill. And the levels wrap around Pac-Man style. And every player has projectiles. So I guess not really like Smash then, but it's similarly as fun. It's easy to pick up and play, the only buttons are jump, shoot and dodge. Moving your character around and learning the game is quick and easy, but like any good game, there's a deceptive amount of depth. You don't always want to shoot when your opponent is expecting you to because then he will dodge and catch your arrow. You also don't want to mindlessly fire away arrows at your opponent because ammo is limited and your opponent can pick up any stray arrows that miss and fall on the ground. You also have to be mindful of opponents that get up close to you as jumping on an enemy's head is also a one hit kill.  You also have to be aware of the edges of the screen and remember that the level wraps around. It's possible to get easy kills on unaware opponents by shooting back across the screen at an enemy on the other half of the level or jump down the bottom of the stage to head stomp somebody on top

There are also powerups that appear throughout the match that can give you arrows that explode on impact, bounce off walls or cut through the stage. Matches are quick, usually averaging about 30 seconds per round, so you'll want to race to pick up powerups as you see them. There are also powerups that can grant you invisibility, flight or trigger arena traps to try to kill your opponents. There's usually a lot happening on screen all at once and matches can get a little hectic, but I mean that in the best way possible. At the end of each round, there's an instant replay system that shows the final kill of the game. This is actually a pretty cool feature because things often happen so quickly that you'll miss how someone died. There's also a good variety of levels that have different powerups, different layouts and different terrain. You can also randomize the rules of Towerfall each round for maximum ridiculousness. One of my favorites was playing under a rule that doesn't show you how many arrows you have left combined with another rule that instantly kills you if you try to fire an arrow when you have no ammo left. The amount of customization and variety in Towerfall is a huge plus

As stated before, Towerfall definitely plays best with friends. The single player is alright for what it is I suppose, but if you're buying Towerfall, you're getting it to play with other people. Towerfall supports up to 4 simultaneous players and I found that 4 seemed to maximize the fun, hilarity and craziness of the games. Towerfall doesn't support online play of any kind which is really unfortunate because I think a game like this could really be fun online. At the same time though, this game is really fun to share with other people in the same room, yelling, laughing and screaming at the TV and at each other. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that this game eventually gets some sort of online support though, I would imagine that's going to be an often-requested feature. The only other thing that might be limiting this game is the hardware. This game plays best with 4 people. I happen to have 4 USB controllers for my PC, but I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority. And I don't think a whole lot of other people have 4 Ouya controllers or 4 PS4 controllers lying around either.

Towerfall: Ascension Video Review

Summary:
If you've heard the positive buzz about this game, it's true. Believe the hype. This game is well designed, fun and fast paced. It's the early leading candidate for my 2014 game of the year. Yes, I know this technically came out last year on the Ouya. But now it's out on platforms that people actually widely own and use, so I hope this game gets lots of exposure in the near future. Check it out if you want a good, fun party game to share with friends

To The Moon

Freebird Games - 2011 - PC

So in the distant future, we apparently have the technology to alter people’s memories. To The Moon focuses on Dr. Neil Watts and Dr. Eva Rosalene, two memory traversal scientists who work for a company that uses memory altering technology to grant dying clients their last wish. Watts and Rosalene are hired by Johnny Wyles, an old man on his deathbed whose dying wish is to go to the moon.

You alternate control between Watts and Rosalene as you travel through Mr. Wyles entire life’s memories while you try to implant a memory of him going to the moon. If you hadn't guessed by the description so far, this is another narrative focused game. Actually the gameplay is somewhat analogous to Gone Home where advancing to the next scene in To The Moon requires examining different objects in the scene to determine if they’re relevant to the story or not. There’s also a few very simple puzzle solving bits in To The Moon, which I felt weren't really that fun and ultimately didn't add much to the game.

But man, the writing in this game was tight. This is a game that really “worked” for me in contrast to Gone Home. I found the characters relatable, interesting and very well defined, and once you get a feel for who all the characters are, the game keeps you interested by teasing you with the mystery of why Mr. Wyles dying wish is to go to the moon. This game conveys emotion with storytelling and music as well as any other game I've played, and it’s use of humor and comedic timing got me to laugh out loud a few times. The game’s tone alternates between humor, mystery and tragedy and touches on the themes of love, life and death. It borders on being overly sappy sometimes, but I found this game to be a pretty interesting commentary on life and human interactions told through a unique perspective of two people viewing a stranger’s life’s memories. I hear the creators are working on a sequel now that should be out soon, which I can’t wait to play.

Summary:
Again, there’s not much “game” to be had here, but if you want an excellent interactive story, check this out. It’s good stuff.

Tactics Ogre

Quest - 1995 - SNES/Sega Saturn/PS1/PSP

One of the coolest SNES games you've probably never heard of, Tactics Ogre was first released on the SNES in Japan in 1995. Actually, it was never officially released in the U.S. until it was ported to the PSP a few years ago. But your best bet to play this game is probably a SNES emulator with one of the fan-translated ROMs, because no one I know actually owns a PSP.

Tactics Ogre was made by largely the exact same team of people that worked on Final Fantasy Tactics. Same director, same story writer, same composer and (some of) the same artists. This game will feel very familiar if you've ever played FF Tactics. I realize now that some of the battle scenarios and story scenarios for FF Tactics were lifted straight out of this game. If you've never played FF Tactics, Tactics Ogre is a turn based strategy game kind of like XCOM: Enemy Unknown. One of the cool differences in this game is that there are decision-based branching story points. I’m not sure why they went away from that for FF Tactics.

I really want to like Tactics Ogre more, but there are a few gameplay issues present in this game that weren't fixed until FF Tactics that make this game pretty annoying. Firstly, this game is hard. Like stupid hard. Like evil hard. Which isn't bad, but when you combine that with a permadeath mechanic where your units instantly die, it feels unfair. In FF Tactics when a unit’s HP hits zero, it begins a 3 turn timer where that unit is bleeding out and can be revived. They only will die when the timer hits 0. In Tactics Ogre when a unit’s HP hits zero, they’re dead instantly. So many ragequits. So many battles restarted. You’ll eventually get a class that can bring back units who have died in a battle, but it’s not until way late in the game.

This game is also way more grindy than FF Tactics. There were a few battles where I realized I wasn't even close to winning and had to level up my units for a bit before retrying. And like most RPGs, grinding in Tactics Ogre is not that much fun.

Summary:
If you want to try an obscure tactical RPG with some old school difficulty, you could do worse than Tactics Ogre.