UFO: Aftermath.
The most famous tactical turn based squad game series has to be the UFO/X-Com series of games. Unfortunately the last released game of the franchise, X-Com Apocalypse, was not the financial success that
Microprose needed. Ultimately the company went under, and took the genre with it. For six years, we were without squad based tactical combat against aliens, until in 2003 when the game "UFO: Aftermath" was released.
Developed by ALTAR interactive and published by Cenega/Tri Synergy, the game is a spiritual successor to the UFO/X-com games. Taking charge of the defense of the planet you must guide humanity out of an apocalyptic scenario leading to the near extinction of all life on the planet. Defending Earth and its remaining human population from the alien invasion and whatever their sinister intentions may be.
The game starts with a soldier making his way to a nearby abandoned Army base, which serves as a tutorial to teach the basiscs of combat and issuing orders. There are some distinct changes from UFO/X-com, no longer strictly turn based, it functions on a 'planning' system. You can pause the game at any time, allowing you to give your soldiers orders. Once orders have been issued, unpausing sends them off to do as ordered to the best of their ability. The various tactical decisions are easy to grasp and have a distinct impact on the mechanics of the game. This allows you to react to different situations quickly and intuitively. Crouching increases accuracy but slows you down, running makes you go faster but is loud, and burst fire does more damage but is not as accurate as aimed fire.
Unlike UFO/X-Com where your soldiers stats increased depending on what actions you took in combat, Aftermath's soldiers gain experience and level up. Every level you increase one of your soldier's attributes; Strength, agility, dexterity, willpower, intelligence, and perception. Which effects various skills. Having high perception would increase your marksmanship with long range weapons such as sniper rifles. While having high intelligence allows you to make more efficient use of your medkits. Better strength allows you to carry more, and agility lets you better handle a pistol or SMG. Skills can also be upgraded by training if your soldier meets the physical requirements. Training as a medic for example requires intelligence and dexterity, while a scout requires perception and agility.
You generally have fewer soldiers than in UFO/X-com, as you are only the commander of Pheonix squad, the spearhead squad who gets the most dangerous assignments, and are generally the first ones on the ground. You can delegate missions away to other squads, but in general it is less likely that they will succeed. Useful for when its a little mission that won't make much difference, not so useful when assaulting an enemy base or crashed UFO.
Like UFO/X-com you should expect to rack up deaths quickly, especially in the early game where battle sometimes comes down to spotting the enemy before they spot you. Proper use of resources will make it a bit easier to keep your soldiers alive and in the fight. Managing and balancing the amount of resources spent on military bases, research, and engineering factors heavily into the game, and each choice matters. Do you choose to begin an alien autopsy, to better understand these strange creatures attacking us? Do you begin researching the alien weapons and artifacts in the hope to better your squad's equipment? Or do you start building what you already have access to, to ensure every one of your squad members has the best equipment you currently posess? The choice is yours, and the fate of the world is in your hands. No pressure.
A wonderful strategic and tactial game, it can currently be purchased for six dollars off of Good Old Games, and I really couldn't think of a better price. The graphics are a bit dated, but are still pleasing to the eye. The music and sound effects are well done, even if the voices of your soldiers can be a bit cheesy and grating at times. Overall, its a marvelous game that'll have you planning out assaults, counter assaults, and infiltration missions for weeks.
E-Tank
P.s.
I highly recommend the Combo Mod. It tweaks items a bit, adds new enemies, new euipment, and so many new guns. Sooooo many guns.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
The Binding of Isaac: Sweat, Blood, and Tears.
The Binding of Isaac.
From the company behind Super Meat Boy, the Binding of Isaac is a simple yet complicated game. It can be best described as a bizarre mixture of roguelike, legend of Zelda dungeon diving, religious iconography, bullet hell games, and so many twisted visuals I felt like my eyeballs had been thrown into a taffy machine.
The game starts off with a cutscene detailing the story so far. Isaac is a normal little boy living with his mother, spending his time solely on having fun and living his life. His mother however is a hardcore fundamentalist, spending all day watching religious TV shows and ignoring her son. Until one day, when she begins to hear voices in her head. Believing it to be the voice of God, she listens and obeys every command. The voice claims that her son is being corrupted by evil, and the only way to save him is to take away everything he enjoys. She does so, even going so far as to strip him bare naked and leave him that way. The next time the voice speaks, it says that she must lock him away, so that nobody can see him. She does as she is told, dutifully locking her son away in his bedroom. The final commandment? She must kill her son to purify him.
Isaac, overhearing her talking to herself about her plans, quickly runs and hides in the basement. Where he encounters nightmarish creations from the fevered dreams of madmen, and must fight his way to safety. Unarmed and still buck naked, he has only one thing he can defend himself with. Curiously high pressured crying, launching tears at his enemies to fend them off.
The controls are very simple to grasp, allowing you to walk in any direction, but limiting you to firing only in four directions. This is not as irritating as it could be due to the ability to sling most of your attacks by using your momentum, but it can still be incredibly infuriating and will lead to a multitude of deaths. Which wouldn't be as much of a problem if not for the little fact that each death is permanent. That's right, if you die, you must start the whole game over again. This adds much more to the tension, and requires you to carefully gauge and consider each resource you have at your disposal. However, like other roguelikes, Isaac's content is procedurally generated. That room you're about to walk in may hold the key to survival, or it could lead into the lair of a horrific monstrosity that shouldn't exist, that wants to suck the marrow from your bones.
Also like many roguelikes, the items you find in the various mazes are different each time, running the gamut from useful to useless and even harmful. Just about every item has a visual effect on Isaac's body, sometimes making you look just as, or even more monstrous than the monsters you face. He who fights monsters etc. etc. As a few examples, finding a stone lodges it in Isaac's forehead, and turns his tears grey. Finding a coat hanger increases the rate of fire of your tears, but jams a coat hanger through Isaac's head. Finding a wooden spoon increases Isaac's speed, but causes red marks all over Isaac's face as if he was beaten with a wooden spoon. Meaning each play through will lead to different appearances, and different ways of having to fight.
The visuals are amazingly well done. Smooth and consistent in all their disgusting glory. From a simple child crying bloody tears, to a headless body gushing blood from its stump, to a giant floating bag of flesh coughing out attack flies. Every creature seems to be more disturbing than the last, and each is dangerous in its own right. You can only cry tears so fast, and you are usually swarmed by enemies seeking to tear you apart.
Usually you are given a fair shake, a special item always available per level, but sometimes the random numbers god will decide to screw you over beyond belief. If you're skilled enough at dodging you can beat almost anything with the base stats, but that doesn't mean you won't have some deaths that utterly infuriate you. Many of them regarding being swarmed with attacks and personal space invaders overwhelming you. Causing Isaac to explode into a small cloud of blood and revealing his will, where he gives all the items he has discovered to his pet cat.
While infuriating at times, the game has that perfect mixture of hair tearing difficulty, yet making it incredibly fun in the process. The powers and abilities you unlock and find are creative and have a dark humor about them, the enemies are unique and varied, and the controls are tight if a bit limiting, and the music fits the haunting mood perfectly.
Its a marvelous game, truly more than worth the price on Steam. At five dollars it is a steal, and I highly recommend it to anyone.
From the company behind Super Meat Boy, the Binding of Isaac is a simple yet complicated game. It can be best described as a bizarre mixture of roguelike, legend of Zelda dungeon diving, religious iconography, bullet hell games, and so many twisted visuals I felt like my eyeballs had been thrown into a taffy machine.
The game starts off with a cutscene detailing the story so far. Isaac is a normal little boy living with his mother, spending his time solely on having fun and living his life. His mother however is a hardcore fundamentalist, spending all day watching religious TV shows and ignoring her son. Until one day, when she begins to hear voices in her head. Believing it to be the voice of God, she listens and obeys every command. The voice claims that her son is being corrupted by evil, and the only way to save him is to take away everything he enjoys. She does so, even going so far as to strip him bare naked and leave him that way. The next time the voice speaks, it says that she must lock him away, so that nobody can see him. She does as she is told, dutifully locking her son away in his bedroom. The final commandment? She must kill her son to purify him.
Isaac, overhearing her talking to herself about her plans, quickly runs and hides in the basement. Where he encounters nightmarish creations from the fevered dreams of madmen, and must fight his way to safety. Unarmed and still buck naked, he has only one thing he can defend himself with. Curiously high pressured crying, launching tears at his enemies to fend them off.
The controls are very simple to grasp, allowing you to walk in any direction, but limiting you to firing only in four directions. This is not as irritating as it could be due to the ability to sling most of your attacks by using your momentum, but it can still be incredibly infuriating and will lead to a multitude of deaths. Which wouldn't be as much of a problem if not for the little fact that each death is permanent. That's right, if you die, you must start the whole game over again. This adds much more to the tension, and requires you to carefully gauge and consider each resource you have at your disposal. However, like other roguelikes, Isaac's content is procedurally generated. That room you're about to walk in may hold the key to survival, or it could lead into the lair of a horrific monstrosity that shouldn't exist, that wants to suck the marrow from your bones.
Also like many roguelikes, the items you find in the various mazes are different each time, running the gamut from useful to useless and even harmful. Just about every item has a visual effect on Isaac's body, sometimes making you look just as, or even more monstrous than the monsters you face. He who fights monsters etc. etc. As a few examples, finding a stone lodges it in Isaac's forehead, and turns his tears grey. Finding a coat hanger increases the rate of fire of your tears, but jams a coat hanger through Isaac's head. Finding a wooden spoon increases Isaac's speed, but causes red marks all over Isaac's face as if he was beaten with a wooden spoon. Meaning each play through will lead to different appearances, and different ways of having to fight.
The visuals are amazingly well done. Smooth and consistent in all their disgusting glory. From a simple child crying bloody tears, to a headless body gushing blood from its stump, to a giant floating bag of flesh coughing out attack flies. Every creature seems to be more disturbing than the last, and each is dangerous in its own right. You can only cry tears so fast, and you are usually swarmed by enemies seeking to tear you apart.
Usually you are given a fair shake, a special item always available per level, but sometimes the random numbers god will decide to screw you over beyond belief. If you're skilled enough at dodging you can beat almost anything with the base stats, but that doesn't mean you won't have some deaths that utterly infuriate you. Many of them regarding being swarmed with attacks and personal space invaders overwhelming you. Causing Isaac to explode into a small cloud of blood and revealing his will, where he gives all the items he has discovered to his pet cat.
While infuriating at times, the game has that perfect mixture of hair tearing difficulty, yet making it incredibly fun in the process. The powers and abilities you unlock and find are creative and have a dark humor about them, the enemies are unique and varied, and the controls are tight if a bit limiting, and the music fits the haunting mood perfectly.
Its a marvelous game, truly more than worth the price on Steam. At five dollars it is a steal, and I highly recommend it to anyone.
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