Deathwatch Tyranid Invasion

While I haven't put an army on a table in a long time, I am still a huge fan of Warhammer 40,000's lore.  I want to pretend I'm crushing my enemies with a Thunder Hammer I just don't have the time or space to do it lately.  So I'm really happy to see Rodeo's new mobile game Deathwatch - Tyranid Invasion is out on mobile devices.  This is the same team that put together Warhammer Quest.  I put a ton of time into Warhammer Quest.  So I'm very excited for Deathwatch since it takes the same type of turn based gameplay and moves it into the 40K universe.

In Warhammer 40K the Deathwatch is a group made up of all the other Space Marine chapters. When a marine joins they paint their armor black to match their new brothers.  This is a great group to use for games because it lets people pick characters from their favorite Space Marine Chapters and doesn't just focus on one like the underrated Ultramarine game did

The game will contain 38 different Space Marines with over 150 different weapons and wargear. Once you put your team together you'll take them through 40 different missions.  Of course the game will support in app purchases.  The ones in Warhammer Quest were for things like new areas, new enemy types, new heroes, and new weapons.  I'd expect Deathwatch to have a very similar setup.

Warhammer Quest: Free This Week

If you’re on an IOS device than you’ll want to check out the free App of the Week; it’s the Games Workshop branded Dungeon Crawler, Warhammer Quest.  I purchased this game almost a year ago and I’ve spent a lot of time putting down orks and goblins with bows and axes.  The core game gives you four characters to go adventuring with a human Marauder, wood elf Waywatcher, dwarf Ironbreaker, and a human grey Wizard.  Each character will gain new abilities as they level and pick up all sorts of different loot. 

 

I think it’s pretty important to point out that you don’t have to be familiar with Warhammer lore to enjoy the game.  Group of adventurers pick up quests, kill bad things, and get new equipment is a pretty standard set up.  If you do know your way around Warhammer you’ll find the fluff around the game even more enjoyable.

There is also a lot of additional content available for purchase.  If you aren’t happy with your first four warriors you can pick up a high elf Archmage, human Brightmage, dwarf Trollslayer, high elf Shadow Warrior, ogre Irongut, human Warrior Priest, or a human Witch Hunter.  The new character run 3 dollars each.  There are two region packs that add new enemy types and open up new regions on the map.  Each of these are 5 dollars and add skaven and savage orks to the game.

There are a series of Legendary Weapons.  They each cost a dollar if you really want them.  Finally there are Dungeon Packs.  Each of these costs 3 dollars.  One pack adds Necromancers and skeletons, the second adds vampires and zombies, and the third adds vampire themed tilesets into the dungeon.  So you could easily drop more than 20 dollars on add-ons, but you don’t need to.  The core game is a great turn-based dungeon crawler.   I really recommended it to people before it was free, so if you haven’t downloaded it yet I highly recommend you do so.

Hands On: Space Hulk

This weekend Brandon and I were in Memphis for Games Workshop’s convention, Games Day.  I’ve been very excited about Full Control’s version of Space Hulk.  Space Hulk was a board game originally released in 1989.  It borrows heavily from the paranoia and endless hallways in Alien.  You control a squad of Blood Angel Terminators as they investigate ancient ships or asteroids.  Hidden in all of those corridors are Genestealers, four armed xenos that would love to devour the Blood Angels.  It’s a very difficult game but it’s also very fun.

 

Full Control had demo stations set up and I jumped into the first seat I saw available.  There were a number of small demos to choose from, but as soon as the person running the demo said the second mission had the flame thrower I knew I had to try it.  The flamer is very, very satisfying.  From what I saw, the game is also pretty clunky.  During the game I was playing I had to break down a malfunctioning door.  I walked my marine up to the door and hit the button to swing my power fist.  I looked at the screen in confusion.  Did I hit the door?  Did I miss?  After two or three hits the door did break open, but until then I wasn’t sure my actions affecting anything. 

 

It is entirely possible that there is some form of dialogue box that was hidden during the demos.  I only got a few minutes with the game instead of going through all the tutorials so it is very likely I am missing something.  Cyanide’s version of Blood Bowl hid all of the good stuff too, but it is possible for players to display all the rolls behind the game’s animations.  I’m hoping Space Hulk will do the same.  The game is currently up for pre-order on Steam for 29.99 and the mobile version will be following at a later date.  Expect multiplayer and the ability to create your own levels.  I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to, but the game is still a pre-order for me.

Warhammer Quest

I play a lot of games on my iPhone.  As much as I love my Xbox and my computer, I don’t always have the time it takes to sit down and play the games I want to on them.  It’s easy to grab a quick game on my lunch break or something similar.  Yesterday was the release of Rodeo Games Warhammer Quest.  I’m going to say this right now; it is the best game I’ve played on my phone.  

Warhammer Quest is based on an out of print board game of the same name that was produced between 1995 and1998.  It’s a dungeon crawl game.  Adventures go into randomly generated areas, defeat monsters, and collect loot.  When they return to town they sell their treasure, level up their skills, and pick up the next quest.  The board game is beloved and there are petitions to get it back in print.  The video game translates all of this perfectly.

 The purchase of the game gives you a Wood Elf Waywatcher, a Dwarf Ironbreaker, a human Grey Wizard, and a human Marauder to start with.  That’s a great starting party but there are three additional characters that can be purchased an Elven Wizard, a Dwarf Slayer, and a human War Priest.  I think 3 bucks for each character might be a little steep, but I’ve already bought the Slayer and will probably end up buying the others.  There is also a second region of the game to purchase that unlocks new cities and Skaven as enemies. 

The actual gameplay is turn based, which I prefer when playing on the phone.  It’s a challenging game, especially at the lower levels.  The inventory screen is a thing of genius.  You play the game with the game horizontal but when you flip the screen to the vertical position it switches to your inventory.  I don’t know why I like it so much, but it’s a nice touch.  If you like dungeon crawls I really can’t recommend this game enough.  At this time I believe it is only available for iOS devices.

Organ Trail Director’s Cut

I’ll admit it, my love for Oregon Trail is a nostalgia thing.     In middle school one of science classes had it on the computers.  It was a special treat to get on the game during class time.  I’d load up on bullets, give my family dirty names, and try to shoot dear until I died of typhoid.  For an extra giggle I’d write more profanity on my tombstone when I died.  Things like “Fucker died on me,” showed just how tough and edgy I was as a child.

Organ Trail takes that classic Oregon Trail feel and shoves zombies into it.  I know, I know, everything has zombies now.  I’m pretty over them too, but this is fun.  Instead of an ox driven wagon you’re now traveling cross country in a station wagon.  You don’t ford rivers; you have to sneak our shoot your way through giant zombie hordes.  The shooting mechanic took me a while to get used to.  Drag and release works great for slingshots, it made my head hurt using it for rifles.  Once I finally got used to it, I was making head shots like a pro.

Organ Trail was originally a flash game.   It was then moved to Facebook.  After that the game’s creators The Men Who Wear Many Hats took it too Kickstarter.  That’s how the Director’s Cut was created.  You can get the game on iOS and Android devices.  It’s also available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.  There is an expansion pack for a few dollars more, but I haven’t thrown down on that one yet.  I might pick it up after my current play through.  

Knights of Pen and Paper

As my days get more and more hectic I appreciate those games my phone can run more and more.  My latest phone obsession is the Knights of Pen and Paper.  Knights does something I’ve never seen before, you’re playing a group of people sitting at a table and roleplaying.  The concept enough was enough for me to want to check it out. 

You start out with one Dungeon Master and two players.  You get to pick who your players are and what character they get to play.  Each player choice comes with a special ability, things like the Jock having more hit points then other players.  The class determines what gear and powers the character has.  When you tap the DM you get a number of options; things like start battles, camp, shop, or start a mission.  Doing the missions marked with a star will advance the story line in the game. 

As your group defeats creatures and complete missions they’ll earn money.  Money can be spent on things for the characters or on things for the character group.   So do you spend your money on a new sword for your warrior or do you buy that dragon statue for the DM’s table that will increase the attack bonus for the whole party?  You’ll also need to save some money to purchase more players for your table.

Knights of Pen and Paper will cost you two dollars on the IOS or Android systems.

Who You Gonna Call?

The Ghost Busters are now on your phone in a freemium game by Beeline games. The game just came out yesterday and since it is free to play it was pretty much an instant download for me. I’ve gotten through the tutorial and sent my ghost busting team out on a handful of missions; now it’s time to share that information with you.

The game consists of 4 different areas. The Firehouse is where you do all your item research, buying equipment, putting your team together, etc. The game’s store announces that furniture is coming soon, so it looks like you’ll be able to decorate your firehouse also. From there you have a city map. This is where you can see the available jobs, the firehouse, and the main dungeon of the game, a towering building with a vortex over it. That main building will have slime barriers at the end of each floor. Collecting enough slime on other calls will let you move to the next floor and advance the story.

The attention to detail is fantastic. When you capture a new type of ghost you’ll see it randomly floating through the containment unit. You’re calling the shots for a group of new recruits. The original Ghost Busters are recruitable, but get ready to drop some real money if you want one. That is of course how they make money on these games, you will have an energy bar and you can only do so much before having to let it recharge.

Your Ghost Busters are divided into three groups. You pretty much have a Medic, a Tank, and a Striker. Each of these carry different equipment and gain power up abilities that help them do their job. Sadly for me the combat is where the game starts to fall apart for me. Tap and drag to move your character. Tap and drag to the ghost for that character to shoot the ghost. Most of the time I do this the character walks up to the ghost and shoots it instead of staying at a distance. Most the ghosts rush into hand to hand combat anyway. This may be different on a bigger screen, but I’m on an iPhone and not an iPad.

Is the game for you? The game is free, download it for yourself and give it a try. I’ll probably keep it installed to see what kind of updates are coming but I doubt I’ll spend too much time with it.

Girls Like Robots

The title of Adult Swim’s newest mobile game isn’t really surprising. Everyone who’s ever seen Megas XLR should remember that “Chicks dig giant robots.” All cartoon nostalgia aside, Girls Like Robots can be an extremely fun game if you like logic puzzles.

It all builds off of the old logic puzzles we did back in school; so and so wants to sit next to this person, but not that person. In this case girls like to sit next to robots but not nerds. It’s a simple concept that builds from there. If you couldn’t stand those puzzles you’re probably going to want to save your dollar.

If you’ve got a stack of Professor Layton games on your shelf this might be something you want on your phone. The characters are all done in cute block style that remains all through the game, even the cut scenes. The plot is as strange as you’d expect from Adult Swim. Just passing a puzzle usually isn’t overly difficult, but getting a perfect score on them can have you replaying the same puzzle over and over.

If you’re looking for a new time waster on your phone I highly recommend it.

Shark Week: The Jaws Edition

Shark Week is in full swing over at the Discovery channel. Tonight they are premiering the special, “How Jaws Changed the World.” I’ve already got my DVR set, but I’m sure I’ll be watching this one as it airs. Jaws is without a doubt one of my favorite movies and it’s probably the reason I love the lesser shark movies too. I’ve never thought about real life sharks as monsters though, way before I saw Jaws I had already fallen in love with the hammer head.

In an amazing coincidence Jaws was just released on BluRay. Shark Week is thick with commercials for it. As soon as I saw the first commercial the voice in my head screamed at me, “We need that!” That impulse is why at one point I somehow found myself owning 3 different versions of Jaws on DVD. I’m down to two now, and I need to compare the two editions I currently have and find a home for the other.

To further cement the Jaws/Shark Week connection there are currently two mobile phone games based on Jaws that are free to download during Shark Week! I’m on an iPhone so I can only vouch for their App Store, if you use something else you’ll have to check for yourself. The games are Jaws and Jaws Revenge. The Jaws game has you playing sheriff. The first stage has a beach full of swimmers and you have to flick them towards the shore. Jaws will swim across the beach and try to eat your vacationers, so you’ll have to maneuver the swimmers out of the shark’s path.

Other stages have you out in the open water. There isn’t a beach to flick your swimmers to; instead you also have to control rescue boats. The boats hold different amounts of people, so you’ll have to juggle all of these things to keep everyone from becoming shark food. It’s a fun diversion, but honestly if it wasn’t a free app I wouldn’t have downloaded it.

Jaws Revenge on the other hand is something I can see myself wasting a huge amount of time on. If you’ve ever played the Flash game Miami Shark you’ll be very familiar with this. You’re Jaws in this version, a very hungry version of Jaws. Pressing on the screen allows the shark to dive down, releasing sends it launching through the air. The game is full of things to eat; fish, birds, divers, skiers, etc. It is non-stop carnage.

The game does give you objectives. Things like eat 7 skiers before you reach the third buoy. When you meet these objectives you’re rewarded with shark tooth coins. Those coins allow you to upgrade your shark. Bigger health bars, more damaging bites, and others will help you hit your objectives faster and allow you to cause even more destruction. I downloaded both of these games while watching Sharkzilla last night and I think my shark in Jaws Revenge is already level 4.

Dungeon Village

I’ve had at least one game from developer Kairosoft on my phone since I bought my first iPhone years ago. The company makes simulation games that are simple enough to pick up easily but take a long time to master. The first game of theirs I ever played was Game Dev Pro, where you run your only game design studio. Dungeon Village came out last month, it took me a couple weeks to hear about it, but now I can’t stop playing it.

Despite being full of knights, dungeon dives, and monster slaying this is not a RPG. Instead you’re tasked with running a town that will attract adventurers. As your town becomes more popular new adventurers will start showing up. Just outside the town is where the adventures were face monsters. You can watch these battles, but the only way you can influence those battles is by supplying the adventurers with equipment and healing items.

Instead you’ll spend most your time picking what buildings to add, throwing events, and trying to meet the criteria to advance your town to the next level. Items you come across can be used to upgrade the visiting adventurers or your buildings. So you have to decide if you want your store to make more money or if you want your wizard to have more hit points. It’s a unique take on the fantasy setting and can be pretty addicting. It will cost you four dollars, but if you’re anything like me you’ll be spending hours on this one.

Dragon’s Dogma: Pawn’s Unleashed

I know many of you belong to Diablo 3 right now, I understand. For me, I’m still waiting for Dragon’s Dogma to be released next week. I can’t help it, I want to dangle from gryphon’s wing and stab it in the face. To try and increase the interest in the game, Capcom has released Pawns Unleashed for your mobile device.

It’s a viral marketing thing, so of course you have to log in with Facebook. Because of that, I was ready to delete the app as soon as I had installed it. Once you get past all of that you create up to three Pawns and send them on missions. Those missions earn you more Rift crystals. You also earn badges for completing different types of missions. The missions are sometimes riddles; other times it tells you exactly where to send your pawn. After that you wait.

And well, not much else. Seriously, I'd talk more about the App but there isn't much to it.  I wouldn't exactly call what was there fun either.  For me the draw of the App is that Capcom will be running contests and you may be able to win yourself some Dragon’s Dogma DLC. The game is mostly a time sink and not much else, but if you’ve got time to waste it and are planning on picking up the game it might be worth it.

Flash Friday: Angry Birds in Space

Happy Flash Friday everyone! This is going to be a pretty short one today. I don’t have a lot to say about today’s subject, but I wanted to make sure I brought it to everyone’s attention. Today’s Flash Friday comes from an unlikely source, the new Angry Birds Space game.

This is the new “space” look for the Blue Bird. As far as I can tell they are wearing red cowls with yellow wings on the side. That’s such a familiar look; I wonder where I’ve seen it before? I can’t believe that this isn’t intentional. If it would have just been the design, I wouldn’t have through much about it, but the color being a perfect Flash match is just too much of a coincidence.

Sadly the special ability of the Blue Bird hasn’t changed with this new Flash-y look. Instead of super speed the Blue Bird still splits into three versions of itself. It would have been pretty cool if they could vibrate through things or create whirlwinds. Anyway, the new Angry Birds Space game came out yesterday, go check it out if you like flinging birds at pigs.

Shining Force

There is very special announcement. If you haven’t heard, Shining Force is now available on the iPhone. It is possible you may already know about this, it isn’t the newest of news and for that I apologize. But it is important news. Shining Force came out for the Sega Genesis in 1992. It is a turned-based strategy role-playing game. I like to think of it as a predecessor to games like Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics.

The game has you take the role of generic young person who must travel the land collecting companions and battling the evil army. There are even more common RPG themes in the Japanese version, the main character is actually the main bad guys brother but has amnesia so he doesn’t remember. Okay, so the story isn’t the best. The game play is where the series shines.

The translation to iPhone does it correct too. There are semi-transparent buttons on the screen in one corner and a directional pad in the other. Sometimes they respond a little wonky, but is it turned based combat so it isn’t like taking a few extra seconds to move your character is going to matter. I’ve spent hours leveling my characters already. Seriously, I’ve already lost track of how many times I’ve run down my battery.

If you’re an older gamer with fond memories of the series you won’t be disappointed. If you’re a newer gamer with an appreciation for older RPGs check it out, you won’t be disappointed. Hopefully the sequels are already in the works.