Goo, Mermaids, and Bunnies

Looks like Zuckerberg has been listening to criticism and is announcing new privacy setting changes. I can't help but feel that it was my biting journalistic debut from last week that pushed him over the edge. In any case, be prepared to be greeted by the new settings interfaces in the near future. Don't be surprised however if you get the feeling that it just won't matter in the end.

So I'm not feeling particularly angry about anything today. I think I'll just talk about the games I've been playing lately. I was one of the many humanitarians to donate during the Humble Indie Bundle event. I dropped $30.00 on them, making my cost about $5 a game. I spent the last week or so working my way through the titles. Many of these I saw previewed at PAX 9. Here are my thoughts on them.

World of Goo - This is a fun little puzzle game in the style of Lemmings, but with little adorable balls of goo instead. The goal of each level is to get as many goo balls to the vacuum tube as possible while using the various properties of the goo-balls to create bridges, ladders, and other gooey structures. The physics are unique, but intuitive and it takes very little time to pick up the controls and dive into it. So far the puzzles have been pretty self explanatory, but I'm sure I'll be challenged as I get deeper into it. The graphics are rendered in crisp 2D and the sounds are well done, but my biggest complaint is that there are no volume controls at all. I usually play games with the sound off while I watch a movie on Netflix on the other monitor, but I can't do that with this game. Overall, I think this game was well worth $5.

Aquaria - I just can't get into this game. It's basically a maze traversal game with a twist, you're a mermaid who can sing. I can't help but think of Ecco the dolphin and while playing this game. I gave it an honest try, but it bored me from the get go with an over long intro movie that there's no way to skip. After that you swim around in a maze of underwater caves and you sing to plants to make them explode and give you cooking ingredients. Yeah, you get to cook. Great. Like I haven't had enough of that mechanic already. You're not alone in your underwater realm however, there are little fish, jellies, turtles, and other marine beasties down there with you. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell which ones are friendly and which ones are dangerous until you run into them. Fantastic. The singing mechanic promises to be interesting because it lets you interact with the environment in unique ways, but the interesting bits are too few and far between for my taste. I have too much competing for my attention to waste time with something that doesn't give me instant gratification. Barely worth $5 for me.

Gish - This game is a platformer where you're a ball of goo, kind of similar to World of Goo, but more different. You goo around collecting coins, just like Sonic and Mario. This game plays with goo physics: viscosity, density, and sickitudiness. I enjoy the expression on Gish's face when you make him heavy, he looks like he's taking a dump. I'm not very good a platformers, but I can tell this is a good one, but my favorite platformer so far is still Braid. The art style reminds me of Earthworm Jim for some reason. I don't know why I draw these connections. Anyway, probably worth $5. It'll take me quite some time to get through it and then even longer to find all the secrets.

Lugaru - I never wanted to be an anthropomorphic kung fu bunny fighting evil bunnies and wolves until I played this game. I found the controls difficult until I learned the one trick: just hold down the left mouse button and repeatedly push CTRL. Then I blasted through the levels. Still, I had a great time sending bunny corpses flying through the air. The rag-doll physics make for some interesting combat. You can actually hurl to bodies of fallen foes into other enemies! Weapons are a waste of time. You're a much potent fighter with your hands free. This game reminds me of Tenchu: Stealth Assassins for the original playstation since you have to play it safe so you don't get overwhelmed by opponents and if you're really lucky you can get a one-shot kill on an unsuspecting target. Unfortunately, I blasted through all the available content in two evenings, so the $5 price tag is pushing it. I get the sense this game is basically a demo-teaser for their next big project, Overgrowth.

Penumbra - This is an atmospheric piece, a horror survival puzzle game similar to Call of Cthuhlu: Dark Corners of the Earth and others in that genre. It started off strong, but then got repetitive since you spend most of the game in a gloomy mine avoiding undead dogs. There are a few good moments in it however. Getting across the ice covered lake was a unique and satisfying challenge. The final scenes of the game are it's creepiest moments. I devoured this game in a single day. Due to it's repetitiveness and lack of content however I rate it barely worth the $5 I paid for it. Again, I get the sense this is just meant to show off their physics engine and pump up their next couple games in the series.

Samorost 2 - This is a unique and lovingly crafted game. It reminds me of Myst and other point and click puzzle games. There were some strange graphical anomalies when playing on my widescreen monitor though. The world is bizarre, but beautiful. The puzzles are sometimes non-intuitive, but click around enough and you'll get through it. Once again, I busted through it in just a couple nights, but due to its high quality art and originality I feel it was well worth the $5 for the full version.

That's it for now. Check out these games, if you haven't already and let me know what you think of them.