Perspective

Whenever a game from the students at Digipen starts generating some buzz you know your on to a winner. Already 2 of the games in the arcade (Dig n Rig and Nitronic Rush) have come out of their campus and this latest one carries on their record of innovative gameplay.

Perspective  is, to use the developers own words, "an experimental first person perception puzzle game". What that means in real speak is that you control two characters; a little blue guy who is your typical platformer with a jump that could rival even the most prolific pogo champion  and the man behind the camera. Your aim is to get your little blue friend, who is stuck fast to the blue platforms built into the room, to a certain area to reach the goal. The camera man does this by moving into the correct position and allowing his position in 3D space to effect what the level looks like in 2D for your robo smurf. Without seeing it moving its a difficult concept to describe but if you can imagine those adverts and youtube videos where the guy gets out his car in the distance and then walks real close to the camera and picks it up, youve pretty much got it

The game is simple and initially at least not too challenging, but the levels are a lot of fun and the concept is so original that it does make you want to see what they are going to do next with it. A lot of the challenge seems to come from the little guys apparent allergy to the colour orange. One touch and he is dust which, although doesn't result in an immediate game over, can be very frustrating if you find yourself failing over and over again.  As soon as you find your sweet spot with the camera guy though the platforming becomes a doddle. It helps too that switching between the two is as easy as a quick press of the space bar. Although this creats a lot of stop start gameplay it's a simple system that you get used to fairly quickly

So all in all perspective is a nice idea executed well and definately worth your time for a download. Continue after the jump for a trailer and if my rambling excuse for an explanation hasn't cleared things up, the video at least should.

Good luck player 1

Open TTD

So it seems when something goes down tons of alternatives that you had forgotten even existed pop up to fill its place. Recently with the sad news we will be loosing Google Reader, lots of old RSS readers popped up from everywhere. Gamers are clamering for Old school RPG's and Baulders Gate gets a HD re-release. More recently,with would be players of SimCity having roughly the same experience as a fly trying to escape through a glass window, other ways of scratching that simulated itch had to be found.While GOG had a sale on Simcity 2000 The first game that sprang to my mind is Open TTD.

Open TTD is something of a labor of love. Originally released in stable form in 2010 (after 6 years of alpha and beta updates) the game is a completely open source project that just keeps growing. It takes its base from the original Transport Tycoon Deluxe released by Microprose in 1995 and expands upon it with better multiplayer, smarter AI and better creation tools that have lead to some incredible railway system designs rivaling even the most complicated real life networks.

For those that have never played it, Transport Tycoon is exactly what it says on the tin. Rather than managing just one city you are given the task of building a thriving network between them. Making sure their power stations are filled with coal, their shops with goods and their homes with people. Ignore them and watch them shrink into obscurity but help them and they become vast metropolises that basically print money; just as long as you can keep the system running.

Building and shaping the world is deceptively simple. Everything is done on a grid and fits together like the toy train set you wish you had. Once you start to work up the funds and the means though you can start building tracks that require signaling points, stations that offload cargo onto tankers and bus routes for every street on the map. Its not all sunshine and roses though. Apart from the obvious crashes and wrecks that can damage the public opinion of you, damage too much of a towns local area and you will start to upset the council. When this happens you can forget squeezing in that crucial truck stop that would be perfect to finish off your route. This becomes more of a problem in a Multiplayer game when it becomes a race to squeeze all the money out of an area you can before the next guy steals all your faithful pundits. Add council bribes and road work sponsorships that can completely shut down an area  and you've got yourself a very dirty money hungry game.

So if you feel like taking a break from the server queue or are looking for something you can still play while miles away from a WiFi connection then give it a try. Alternatively get a group of you together and you will find it to be one of the best LAN games still available today.

Continue after the break for a video of what can be done if your feeling up to designing a particularly complex network.

Good Luck Player 1

Mega Man 8-bit Death Match

Its not often that two of your favourite things are combined into one blissful amalgamation. Vodka Jelly, Custard doughnuts and Lazyboys with fridges built into the arms rank among some of the best. But put the oldschool multiplayer of DOOM (wads and all) with the even older school sprites of Megaman and you have got yourself one hell of a cocktail.

Megaman 8-bit Deathmatch blends together these styles into an extreamly fast paced FPS with maps based on the robot masters spanning all of the original megaman series. Many of their weapons are similarly available from Cutmans "Rolling cutter" to Sword Mans "Flame Sword". Admittedly some are much more useful than others but its fun to try out all the different guns you had only seen in the 2D space until now.

The game even includes a pretty competant single player mode with a very mega man style story (spoiler its all Dr Wily's fault). Even though it basically breaks down to Deathmatch maps with the odd boss fight thrown in for good measure, its still pretty enjoyable and gives you pleanty of practise for the Multiplayer game. It also helps that the maps themselves are pretty varied and also include a few capture the flag modes to change things up a bit.

The multiplayer itself is completely functional if a bit complicated to set up initially. As long as your on a LAN with other willing players its not to bad but the servers themsleves are pretty barren at the moment and even when people are online  if you dont have the correct maps installed then your plum out of luck.

Its well worth downloading just to experiance. Its style and speed are solid and, though it might not turn up at any pro gaming tournaments, its fun just to mess around with some friends for a while and talk big fish stories about when you completed Megaman 2 in one afternoon with only a Glass of purple juice and a bag of monster munch to keep you going.

Continue after the Jump to See the Trailer and grab that Sweet sweet source link

Good luck player 1

Nitronic Rush

Its always a good sign when you find it difficult to start writing about a game because your having trouble stopping playing. Nitronic Rush is a fast paced arcade style, time trial racer with a heavy dose of inspiration from Tron. Far from being a simple case of getting from A-B in the fastest time possible, here the track is not your friend; it wants you dead. Gaps in the road are frequent and walls will sprout from the ground leaving only the smallest of spaces to squeeze your car through. That's not to say the game feels unfair though, your vehicle is kitted out with some pretty fancy tools of its own. A boost will help you make those difficult jumps, and smaller boosters under your car let it bunny hop neatly over any troublesome dents in the road. The biggest trick up your sleeve though is the pair of wings tucked discretely under your chassis. As long as you are airborne your car can take to the sky and avoid any trouble down below. This uses up a lot of your energy though and is liable to make you overheat and when used with a poorly timed boost...explode.

Nitronic Rush isn't a long game by any means. You can easily complete the main story mode in twenty minutes or so. But like any true arcade game its the replay value that keeps you coming back for more. Beside the story mode there is an arcade more which gives you access to not only each story mode track but also a set of hardcore and challenge tracks that steeply ramp up the difficulty and change up the game in various ways. On each one of these you have the option to race against ghosts either from your local machine or from the best of the best online.

Visually the game looks amazing. Its sense of style and speed stay constant throughout and its soundtrack sounds like its straight from Daft Punk themselves. On some less powerful machines it can be a bit much to handle and leads to some frame rate issues, its worth messing about with the settings though as you are going to need every frame to be perfect if you want to complete some of the harder levels.

Give Nitronic Rush a download and if you like what you see it might be worth checking out their steam Greenlight which was recently accepted. Their Next game Distance is a spiritual sequel to Nitronic Rush takes from it a lot of the same style. This time though its not just you taking to the track, other racers will be right along side you fighting for position. Only chaos can ensue.

Continue after the break for a look at the trailer and some extracts from the excellent soundtrack

Battle for Wesnoth

It may not have long sweeping camera angles of bloody battlefields, it may not have hundreds of troops flooding the screen at once but download Battle for Wesnoth and you will soon find a fun and surprisingly deep little strategy game.

Anyone familiar with the Civilization or Heroes of Might and Magic series will be on familiar ground here. Compared to these though this game is much more rooted in combat (all done with dice rolls), and outwitting your opposition. In a typical game you are given one hero who you must protect at all costs. Although he hits harder and is a lot less squishy than the normal fodder you will be sending out, if he dies its game over and a snarky victory speech from your opponent. On top of this your hero is your only method of creating more troops, as long as he is in a castle (and you have the funds for it) more units can be spawned in that castle and sent out to fight.

There is slightly more to it than just that (capturing points to gain money, leveling up units, defensive differences in terrain, etc.) but the game has a really handy tutorial done in the form of a mini campaign that quickly gets you up to speed. In fact the campaigns themselves are really worth doing, despite being pretty low spec the game has plenty of character and the dialogues that go on between the characters add quite a bit of charm to an otherwise long winded battle.

In the end though its the Multiplayer that makes this really worth downloading. Because of its simplicity Lag is almost non existent and setting up a match in the Wesnoth's own servers is quick and simple to do. With up to 8 people playing at once, whether in teams or not, it can turn into an intense battle with everyone doing everything they can to protect their hero. While the game has been around for a while the developers are still updating it, making sure everything stays as balanced as it possibly can be. That being said anyone that's had an Ent pounding them into the ground knows never to mess with a tree again. Moments like this though are very rare and for the most part there is usually a strategy to find your opponents weakness (hot tip, turns out trees hate being set on fire by a Mage)

Give it a try and let us know what you thought in the comments. Continue after the break to see a trailer with some pretty sweet Irish themed fantasy music and Ill see you on the field of battle.. ENTS AWAY!!!

Good luck Player 1

Runman: race around the world

Runman may be one of the happiest games of all time. Literally everything is smiling in this game, and if its not then Runman will deal with it the only way he knows how; by running the hell into it at full speed. This makes Runman some kind of joy spreading bad ass, a fact that the entire population of his home world know only to well. For this reason when there is a race to find the fastest in all the land and Runman shows up, everyone else gives up and goes home. Not happy with being the winner by default and being the interstellar tough-guy that he is he decides to run the race anyway, and so begins the story of the fast paced platformer Runman: Race around the world

Run man is all about keeping momentum, making it somewhat similar to old school platformers such as Sonic or more recently splosion man. The faster your going the easier it is to bust through enemies and obstacles and ultimately rack up a massive score. Its fortunate then that at the pace you are going your controls are relatively simple. Just a jump and zoom button are all you need to get through all 35 of Runman's colorful levels. However far from being a simple end to end sprint, each level will have you flipping off walls, bouncing off balloons and even paragliding to try and make the finish line in the fastest time possible. Make one wrong move though and you will end up shooting off in a random direction or worse; completely loosing all of your momentum.

The difficulty really starts to rack up as you meet other characters who dare to match their speed with Runman. Its your job to escape these guys with out letting them catch up at any point as you bounce around the level. Make no mistake you will die over and over again to the point it can be come fairly frustrating. But finish one and the sense of achievement is overwhelming.

In the end Runman is a solid platformer with some satisfying challenge and a genuine sense of speed. Click the source to download today and let me know what you thought in the comments. Hell why not post your best times if you get a good one.

Continue after the jump for a trailer and witness the dazzling power of the worlds fastest star.

Good Luck Player 1

Dig N Rig

 If Minecraft has proven anything its that the simple act of Digging a hole is still one of the most satisfying feelings in the world. Combine that with the chance to gain enough minerals to build a sweet jet pack and you're on to a winner.

Dig-n-Rig is a ASCII simulation of what it would be like to be a mining robot in a future where every scrap of dirt is worth something. Its your job to seek out, collect and process all of the Elements you can find using a mix of conveyor belts, scoops on pulleys and the odd stick of dynamite. As you get more elements you can upgrade your tools so you can move through a new patch of land in seconds.

Watching the piles of elements mount up as you mow down more rock and dirt is massively gratifying and working out where to place your next set of conveyor belts to best suit your needs turns into a lesson on engineering. What it lacks in graphical prowess it more than makes up for in game play and it can easily while away an entire afternoon before you realize it.

My tip though would be to save often, there is no auto save and, though a lot can be said for bringing all that dirt back to dig up again, its incredibly frustrating to lose an afternoons work because you accidentally shut down the game. Its also well worth reading through the tutorial at the beginning. As much as it may seem to go on for a little too long its the only way to learn how to progress.

Continue after the break for a video of the Yogscast playing Dig N Rig which might as well serve as a trailer for the awesome might of the MEGA BOMB.

Good luck Player 1