Adam the Artist
Ms. Splosion Man is pretty tough. It’s a hardcore platformer for X-Box Live Arcade, but I’ll admit it doesn’t have to be as painful as I’m making it. You see, they have optional levels on the world map that glow red, indicating heightened levels of danger & difficulty. Against my better judgment, I play those levels. They also have a pair of shoes hidden in each level, usually taunting me from some hard to reach death trap off the beaten path. Against my better judgment, I go for those too. The result: loud and constant profanity. Still, it scratches my Donkey Kong Country itch. Probably because they added mine cart and barrel sections.
On iOS I’m playing Highborn‘s Chapter 3 expansion. A two hour marathon of it last night, in fact. For whatever reason, I just find the game charming… Even when its sense of humor gets downright stupid.
Alex the Codesmith
Given my current gaming habits it would seem at a glance I don’t intend on playing anything else for the foreseeable future other than Starcraft 2. You’d be right, except that 2 new games are scheduled to be released this year that I’m sure I’ll be playing the crap out of. Those games would be Tribes: Ascend and Battlefield 3. But until then, every other game can wait patiently. Every now and then I explore other games (usually of the co-op variety) almost as ‘snacks’ between SC2 sessions. One that stands out recently was Realm of the Mad God. A Co-op MMO RPG Shmup with perma-death as a central feature. Played in a browser. And is fun. Win.
On the iOS front, the stand out game for me recently was one Matt Rix, of Trainyard fame, suggested over twitter a while ago. It’s called Async Corp. A puzzle/match-em game that I found hard to put down. Something about that genre scratches an itch for me. You’re presented with 2 ‘areas’:
You tap on a square in one area and tap on another square in the opposite area to ‘swap’ them. Make a group of 4 or more of the same color and they combine into larger squares. Tap the large squares to ‘ship’ them out (remove them). There’s a few game modes in there, but they generally revolve around “getting as many packets shipped out as possible’. Also the whole vibe of the game was charming. It had a very ‘happy but sinister’ feel to it I couldn’t help but notice. Maybe I’m looking for something that isn’t there. But it’s great a game like that can make you think about it in that way. Reminded me vaguely of Portal because of that.
One response to “What We’re Playing – August ’11”
Glad you liked Async corp, I thought it was great too, and it definitely has that “happy but sinister” Portal vibe.
I don’t even usually like that style of gam , but something about it was just really enjoyable, and I think there’s some good gameplay depth there.