Really Big Sky Preview

Courtesy of PC Gamer and Bundle Stars, Really Big Sky was a free Steam title during the month of July. I jumped to the chance to get my hands on this indie twin stick game with no idea on what to expect. After playing it, I am certainly glad I got it for free. The game isn’t bad by any means but it doesn’t do much to warrant a purchase especially with all of the other great twin stick games Steam has to offer. 

Really Big Sky is all about replaying the same thing but with slight changes. It’s variety of game modes and procedurally generated levels don’t help the monotony of the gameplay as much as Boss Baddie would like it too. However, the game is pretty fun and fast paced. Boss Baddie manages to mix the infinite runner and shoot’em up genre pretty well. There are sections that break up the shooting where you turn your ship around into a drill and go through a planet-like structures to collect points and power ups. The effect is nice and the visuals, in general, are nice. Sometimes the game goes overboard with the effects, like smoke, and make it nearly impossible to see yourself and the enemies around you. 

Enemies are pretty generic but the bosses are great. In my short time with the game, I only ran into a couple of them but they were definitely grand. One had you maneuvering inside it and shooting its core while dodging lasers. The screen is also moving ever so slightly adding to the intensity. The music does a good job complimenting the action and atmosphere as well.

The absolute worst part of this game is its narration. You can tell that they used someone with no voice acting experience and the quality of the voice recording is poor (unless it was altered in editing which would be a bad choice). It tries to do what the Stanley Parable and Bastion did for their indie games but fails miserably. I will give the team some effort for trying something different and I’m sure they had a blast recording but it ultimately falls flat.

Really Big Sky is $6 on Steam which isn’t a bad price but you can definitely do better. Some good ideas fail to keep you interested long enough to complete all of the games’ internal objectives and the constant bickering of the narrator will have you turning the game off altogether.

 

What makes a Game 10/10?

I’ve reviewed a couple games on Twin Stick Diaries using a 20 point scale (0-10 with the inclusion of .5’s). One thing I never really touched on though was how I go about reviewing games in terms of “What score does this game get?” So to help you guys understand how I go about reviewing these Twin Stick Games, I am going to explain to you what I believe is a 10/10 video game without writing a book about it.

From what I have learned about playing, writing and designing games, I learned that a video game needs to have one of two things. It needs to be either fun, or it needs to be interesting. A game that is fun, revolves around how you are playing it and how the game progresses with the way you are playing it. The fun doesn’t have to be simple or easy to pick up like a platformer or twin-stick shooter. RTS’s like Civilization and Starcraft are extremely complicated but they are fun because you get a sense of accomplished as you, the player, progress through the game. The graphics and sounds that revolve around the gameplay may enhance the fun, but they don’t need to be exceptionally great for their to be a fun game.

An interesting game is one of the key differentiators between one reviewers’ 10/10 vs. a reviewers 5/10. The interest that comes from the game may be generated from the story, graphics, music and/or the gameplay mechanics. A game’s story may be the driving force of the video game. Point and Click adventures tend to be more story centric. A favorite of mine, To The Moon, would be nothing without its story and if you don’t like this game’s story, than you would probably give this game a low score. The graphics of the game can make it more interesting as well. The retro look is very popular now in the indie scene as well as cel-shading. AAA Studios have been creating realistic look games that have been stunning gamers, especially the pre-rendered cut-scenes Square Soft and Square Enix have been creating for years. Crappy looking games tend to be forgotten or remembered by how bad they are. The music and sound effects can make a game more interesting too, believe it or not. Most horror games use the music to bring in a specific atmosphere as well as enhancing scares with sound cues. Guitar Hero, DDR and Rock Band would be no where without the music as well as the interesting way you control the game. Speaking of gameplay mechanics, Braid utilizes its time mechanic in multiple interesting ways. Braid uses them to solve puzzles which may or may not be fun for players so in some instances, interesting and fun can go hand in hand.

A game that is fun and interesting can create a 9.5 video game but without the final component, which I am calling polish, you will never get a 10/10 game. There is a reason why first party Nintendo games are so well-reviewed and loved. Not only are they fun, but they are nearly glitch free and they control extremely well. Glitches and unpolished gameplay and graphics break player immersion. Games developed by Bethesda (Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3) tend to be glitchy and have poor textures. As fun and interesting as these games are, the lack of polish these games have break player immersion and sometimes the game itself. The lack of polish can also feel like the game is cheating you are you are cheating the challenge.

So what games do I find to be 10/10 games? Well there are very few that I do find to be 10/10 and they may not even be in my top ten list. A 10/10 game should be considered a game you should try, but don’t expect to love it just because of its score. For example, The Legend of Zelda: A Link To the Past is a game I would consider a 10/10 but it is not my favorite Zelda game. However, my favorite game of all time, Paper Mario, is but may not be to someone else. Sadly, I don’t think I’ve played a 10/10 twin stick game but I have no doubt that there will be one soon. They are already fun and tend to be very polished but the interesting factor has yet to push any of them to 10/10.

Can you think of any games that would be 10/10 but weren’t or do you feel that my definition is a little off? Feel free to leave some comments and tell me your favorite games!

 

Narco Terror Preview

Narco Terror is a twin stick shooter developed by Keen Software. It has a really cool 80’s film aesthetic and does a pretty good job modernizing the arcade style shooter. As I was playing the demo, it reminded me of the old Midway classic, NARC but not quite as over the top. With that being said, this game is still pretty crazy and fun.

The game starts you off with a cutscene of the main character punching the helicopter pilot through the window and seeing it crash as you fell off. The goal is to get to the pilot to see who stole your daughter (from what I could tell.) The story is clearly action film inspired and that’s okay with me. The real selling point is the gameplay. Like most twin sticks, all you have to do is point in the direction you want to shoot people with the right stick and you will shoot. You can switch between a pistol and a shotgun in the demo and their strengths and weaknesses are easily observable. The camera is pretty far out making it easy to see the short range of the shotgun and the noticeably longer ranged pistol shot. I was also able to use a rocket launcher for a limited of time and was able to man a turret that had a cool down which was a little too quick for my tastes. You can also throw grenades that have an unknown trajectory which is frustrating because you never know where they will land, especially since the camera is so far out and the grenade is so small.

Some minor additions to gameplay Narco Terror added were the ability to jump and use melee. Jumping was used to go up small ledges and melee was pretty useless. There was never much of a reason to use melee because you never got crowded in this game. The most enemies on screen would show up when their was a turret where it was most obvious to use that.

The most satisfying part of Narco Terror is how easily things explode in the environment and seeing all of the numbers float above objects and enemies as you shoot them down. It really makes you feel like you are really good at the game. These colorful numbers combined with the 80’s filtered graphics make the game a pleasure to look at and the music and sound effects fit the mood perfectly. The game also has two player, drop-in/drop-out co-op which sounds like a blast too.

 

Xenoraptor Preview

Xenoraptor is an arcade twin stick shooter that is currently being developed by Peter Cleary. The game was green lit and is currently available as an Early Access game on Steam. I tried out the demo version and I am liking what I am seeing from Mr. Cleary. As someone who has a soft spot for the vastness of space and its natural beauty, Xenoraptor does a great job recreating the beauty of space with its colorful yet dark backgrounds and floating asteroids. The games various weapon and particle effects are also gorgeous and contrast very well with the dark backgrounds. Enemies are also interesting in design and varying from standard space ships to skulls with chainsaw mouths. Bosses are just as varied and crazy making it fun to guess what will be your next victim or executioner.

Xenoraptor is very easy to pick up but it is difficult to master. From what I played of the demo, you have two ways to destroy things. Your standard weapon that can overheat and your missiles that are limited in ammo. In the beginning of the stage, your weapon will overheat frequently unless you pick up coolant. Near the end, your weapon will become powerful enough to essentially ignore the overheat which is really useful considering the difficulty these levels get to. Missiles are extremely useful because they home in on enemies and are very powerful. Games like these, I intend to save these for the boss at the end which is probably what most players will or should do.

Xenoraptor has tons and tons of weapons that you can unlock and customize your ship with. It is surprisingly complex for a mindless twin-stick which is pretty nice. The game also includes up to eight player co-op meaning players can create the best combinations of weapons’ strengths and weaknesses to create the ultimate team.