Game: Closure
Released here

" Amazing platform puzzler that is unique and not much like anything you've ever played."
This is just one-of-a kind amazing platform puzzler that is unique and not much like anything you've ever played. The game at first look seems like another commercial game, Limbo, with the graphic styles resembling a film negative (ya whatever), like you are in a state of coma and the world around you is so dark and fleeting it makes you feel like you're in a dream state populated by memories. (Reminds you of Inception eh?).


Gameplay:

Your world is dark, yeah nothingness! The character can only interact and move on surfaces and objects that are illuminated with orbs of light which you carry. As soon as the light fades away from the surface or objects the place turns dark, effectively meaning that as you walk through them now you are gonna die. Something like psychological loops in dream state. Here you have to create your path with light and make incremental movements to the door to escape. Now what this means is your mental world in the state of coma/dream or whatever, exists as long as you're able to cast your attention on it. So as long as you're not looking at it, it doesn't exist. I haven't personally finished all levels but I guess as you finish you're gonna feel like you have woken up from a dream.

The game has won awards for audio effects, yeah the gripping and oppressive atmosphere is just amazing and also for design and technical excellence. Worth a treat!

source

 

Game: Bontago
Released here

" Bontago is a very fun game to play with friends, so why not give it a shot?"
The goal of Bontago is to stack up various blocks in order to expand your territory in an effort to capture one or more flags placed in the middle of the playing field. It sounds strange, but let me go into detail.

When the game starts you are given a single block and a small amount of territory near the edge of a giant circular playing field. Upon placing your block, your territory expands according to how high the block is. You are given a new block shape every set number of seconds. As you continue to stack your blocks, your territory will expand to the point where you no longer have to work on a single tower. As you and your friends progress towards the middle flags, "gifts" will begin to drop from the sky. If your territory expands over the ground that these gifts are resting on then they are added to your block queue. When you finally get your hands on a gift you can then throw them at your friends to knock down their towers. There are various gifts such as the bomb, the volcano, the anvil, the earthquake, and a few others. After your friends pick up the rules of the game, it's fun filled race to the center of the field!

Vesuvius' thoughts:

Bontago is a very fun game. Seriously, it's Jenga with bombs and volcanoes, you'd have to try to not enjoy it. There's nothing quite like bombing your friend's tower just before he wins the game and then watching it slowly crumble in reduced gravity. Although that may sound like a rare peak of the game's excitement, it can happen three or four times in a close round. The rest of the game is pretty fun for precisely the same reason Mario Kart is fun. You get to jack your opponents up with a continuous onslaught of items. This forces you to make strategic decisions about where and how high you make your towers once the items start flying. This adds a dimension to the gameplay beyond simple item tossing. Despite its many strengths, Bontago has a number of shortcomings that are quite obvious and devastating after a few games: There aren't any diminishing returns for additional tower height, only an increased vulnerability to the items thrown by your enemies. It isn't optimized to deal with the number of blocks on the screen in long games. If this happens, I recommend starting over to avoid lag. There's no server list for easy game connection and there's no point in playing against the ai, it's too dumb. The multiple block types don't really add much to the game besides graphical variety and unrealistic, funny towers. No matter what shape block I get next, I pretty much always need to stack it vertically and can place it on just about any other block in the game.

SoupHat's thoughts:

Getting the game to run was considerably easier than many others, considering the hoops I have to jump through as an unhappy vista user. All I had to do was set compatibility mode and off we went! The game was quite fun and felt just like I was playing with the blocks I had as a small boy once again. Except for the bombs and volcanoes. Oh, ho ho ho, life would have been much scarier for everyone else if I could have thrown bombs and volcanoes at my enemies. Vesuvius and ESTcaribou seemed to have trouble stacking their blocks while Striker and I were adept at it but were often slammed with bombs by Vesuvius.

ESTcaribou's thoughts:

Firstly I would like to explain why in the screen shots I am doing so badly. At first the game worked fine no problems at all, however during one of the games I got a pop up from my anti virus telling me it's done updating, thinking nothing of it I clicked back on to the game and the textures from the blocks were gone. With no textures I couldn't see where one block ended and another began or what angle they were at. This made it very difficult to make a tower. Then again I may just be really bad at this game. This was the only main downside I had for this game. It seemed like a quite fun game until this glitch happened and made it unplayable to an extent. I'm definitely not saying that this will happen to everyone!

There you have it, folks! Bontago is a very fun game to play with friends, so why not give it a shot?

source

Program: Soldner Secret Wars Community Edition
Released here

" Offers more freedom and cool features than any of the current online multiplayer shooters."
Review 1

Pros: This game is really fun to play and the maps are very large and epic!! The selection of weapons is incredible as well as the ability to customise your character...You can also pilot a fantastic selection of jets and helicopters as well as tanks and other vehicles...

Cons: Servers that have people on them right now is a little limited but I say just a little...you can still find players night and day playing this game!!! The only con I can come up with is that at this moment there hasn't been a huge number of people who have downloaded this game yet but that will change i'm sure as the word gets out....

Other Thoughts: This game doesn't hog system resources and is easy to download and run... - source

Review 2

Söldner Secret Wars is an entirely free semi realistic 3D online multiplayer shooter.

When it was oringinally released the game featured a destruction system that was unmatched by any other multiplayer game. Everything can be destroyed, buildings, trees and the landscape itself.

Also the number of weapons and vehicles is very impressive. There are more than 120 vehicles, tanks, ships, helicopters, jets and VTOLs and over 100 infantry weapons all usable by the player!

The game features more than 70 maps. All of them are located on one giant world map that's larger than europe! This means you can walk or fly forever without reaching the border of the world map. There are several map types including green forests, snow/winter, desert, tropic...

Every player can configure their own player model. There are more than 60.000 possible combinations of helmets, heads, jackets, pants, glasses etc. In addition to that there are lots of camouflage settings you can use for your player.

To make communication with your team easier the game features the AGS function that allows you to communicate, taunt or have fun with over 200 gestures. Many of them are voiced in several languages with several accents that depend on the head you selected for your player model.

In the multiplayer mode the administrator can select the time of day (to the minute) and one of 10 different weather settings. This means you can play any map with any daytime and any weather.

At it's release Soldner also was one of the first games to feature a commander modus. As commander you help your team from a birds eye view. You can assign targets, influence the tatic and order a powerful airstrike. You also control the money of the teamaccount that can be used by your teammembers to buy vehicles and weapons.

More information on the games features can be found on the official website.

Even though it is fairly old there are still lots of players in the servers. Soldner Secret Wars still offers more freedom and cool features than any of the current online multiplayer shooters. The community team working on the game continues support and development.- source

Game: Physion v1.01
Released here

" The program may also come in handy in teaching the movements of heavenly bodies and satellites. "
Review 1

hysion is a 2D Physics simulation software. Using its tools you can create various physical objects on a scene. You can for example create circles, rectangles, polygons, gears, chains, ropes, balloons and lots of other physics items. You can also connect those items using springs, pulleys, nails etc. This way you can create various scenes/scenarios which range from simple educational experiments to complex structures and mechanisms. - source

Review 2

Physion is a 2d simulation physics tool. It may be used for educational purposes in comprehensive and even high school at physics lessons.

A teacher can make a physics lesson an unforgettable experience for students and both teach and entertain at the same time by making them interested in the subject. The program has a plenty of good video tutorials on its website that give lots of ideas about what you can do with this tool.

The matter is that the program shows some physical properties of the objects in their process. There are a plenty of different scenes included into the program: you can observe such processes as zero friction, the person falling down the stairs, the objects explode etc. The teacher can demonstrate a catapult, a gear, segway, tank and other mechanisms in action.

The program may also come in handy in teaching the movements of heavenly bodies and satellites.

You can add various geometrical objects to the scenes you choose and edit their properties. There are lots of them: squares, circles, wheels, chains, ropes, gears and others. If you wish you have a possibility, for example, to make a car crash test by adding any objects on the way in front of the automobile with a driver and watch the path of motion both the driver and the car.

After all, the software can surely serve a purely entertaining purpose and provide you lots of fun.- source

Program: Stellarium v0.11.2
Released here

" I would highly recommend this program for downloading and using. "
There are a lot of planetarium software packages on the market and these have a whole host of functions to enable the astronomer to learn his way around the sky, get to know constellations, where to find planets etc., at any given date and time of the year at any location on the earth’s surface. With the onset of GoTo systems, they even link up to the telescope so that with the click of a mouse, the telescope will slew to the selected object. However, I have found that, even though the data that is displayed is incredibly accurate, when you look at the computer screen and then look up at the sky, the difference between the graphical representation of the stars and the real twinkling in the sky is immediately apparent. Well, not any more.

Stellarium is a program I found on the internet that is very easy and basic, yet very real and as such puts some planetarium software into the shade. To download the program go here. Firstly a word of warning : the program is large and so could take sometime to download. However, the wait is more than worth it!!! The downloaded file is an executable one (not zipped) and can be used over and over again for installing the software. When the program is loading, it will automatically detect what your video settings are on your computer and set the display accordingly.

Once the program is installed you are ready to go. First and foremost is the input of your location. You can do this either by pointing to a location on a small atlas that is displayed or alternatively entering your latitude and longitude manually. Once you have input the parameters, you can set what level of detail you want the program to display. And this is where the software wins.

I said that the program is a photo-realistic one. Well, if you are using the program in the day, what you see is a photographed countryside horizon. Above it you will see the blue sky and the sun in the correct direction for that time. So if you look at the south horizon on the program at midday, the sun will be directly in the south. By using the right and left arrows on the keyboard will move your view through the other compass points. As the time moves on (there is a small clock in the top left of the screen getting it’s time from the computer clock) the sun slowly tracks over the sky as it does in real life. As it gets nearer the western horizon, the sky colour changes very gradually through to twilight and then full darkness. As the sky goes through the darkening of twilight, the first of the really bright stars start to show and as darkness draws on, more stars become visible until the night sky is shown on the screen, very much as it appears in real life. If you are using the program at night then it shows the sky as it is at that point in time, and likewise at twilight.


Along the bottom left of the screen is a toolbar to allow you to change views and details on the display. Going from left to right they are:-

Drawing of Constellations – this draws the constellation lines between the stars. Pressing ‘C’ will toggle between displaying them and not.
Names of Constellations – this displays the constellation names. Pressing ‘V’ will toggle.
Constellations Art - I like this. It shows artistic pictures of the constellations and the mythical figures and shows how each star in the constellation fits into the figure. Pressing ‘R’ will toggle.
Azimuthal Grid – This displays the Declination lines on the sky. Pressing ‘Z’ will toggle the display.
Equatorial Grid – This display the equatorial grid on the sky. Pressing ‘E’ will toggle the display.
Ground – This removes the photo of the horizon. Pressing ‘G’ will toggle.
Cardinal Points – This shows the N, S, E, W, points on the horizon so you know which way your display is looking. Press ‘Q’ to toggle.
Atmosphere – This simulates an atmosphere. If you have set a time during the day the sky will be bright, but will fade to darkness with the stars coming out if the time is changed to night. Just like the real sky! This control toggles the feature on and off.

On the bottom right of the screen are three buttons that can increase the speed of the view and also reverse the movement of the display.

One of the little things that makes this photo-realism software just that little bit more real is that in the configuration window, you can even change the amount of twinkling of the stars – a nice touch!

To find out about various objects displayed on the screen you can move a set of cross hairs over an object and click on it. In the top left corner is then displayed the basic information about the object – the name, the Hipparchus catalogue number, the RA and Dec and the magnitude. If you click on a Messier object it shows the M number (the NGC number) the RA, the Dec and the magnitude. Unfortunately it doesn’t say what it is (cluster, nebula, galaxy etc).

This software is a must for the learner astronomer. It provides a very real display of the sky and allows you to practice star hopping during the day for that nights observing. Are there any downsides? It would be nice to have a bit more information about the Messier objects when you click on them.

There is no interface between the program and the collection of GoTo systems on the market. I don’t think this is a drawback as it allows the astronomer to use the best visual aids he or she has, namely their eyes. It allows them to put names to what they are looking at while, at the same time, giving them the pleasure of just enjoying what they are looking at. I would highly recommend this program for downloading and using.

source

Program: HeliSimRC v2.0
Released here

" I'd recommend HeliSimRC to anyone wanting to learn or polish their RC helicopter flying skills."
Just thought I'd share how I feel HeliSimRC stacks up to my real T-Rex 450 SA with 6EX, 430L, 11 tooth, 35G, RCE-500X gyro, E-Flight tail servo, JR servos cyclic, CF blades, TP-2100 and Real Flight G3.5.

I just downloaded and installed the HeliSimRC simulator to my PC (3400 AMD 64, 1GB, GeForce 7800 GSOC). Install went without a hitch. Smooth and by the numbers. I guess it had to be at only 1.06MB in length. It's just amazing what the author did in such a small space.

First impression was the HeliSimRC default helicopter is setup hot. It wants to do some 3D at first go. This of course after I set it up to fly with my G3.5 interlink controller, which was very easy to do. After taming it down to fly pretty much like my real Trex, I think the flight model is pretty good. I think the flight model needs a little massaging in the area of wind buffering. It may just be that I haven't added enough error in the gyro settings for my helicopter. When the gusts hit the tail of my real trex it can sometimes cause a 10 degree swing not commanded. The sim didn't seem to model that so well. Or the gyro is really exceptional at holding the heli. When I tighten up the gyro on my trex, it causes the tail to wag in lateral wind from left to right. We'll just blame it on the 500X and cheap servo combo for such looseness. The HeliSimRC helicopter also seamed a bit too light (not enough mass) to me for default settings.


The wind settings in HeliSimRC are the best I've seen in a simulator. It can randomly change the direction of wind and gusts and speed as you fly. Which in my opinion is a must for a good simulator. Because it seems to always happen in real life. I did notice it doesn't simulate downward rotor wash and vortexes but then, neither does RF 3.5.

Obviously, the graphics are better and smoother in RealFlight 3.5 and the rotors look like they are actually turning whereas HeliSimRC just has a static model for the helicopter. Crashes in RF 3.5 shatters the heli in many pieces vs the simulation just stops in HeliSimRC. But this review is mainly on flight model and accuracy instead of features. Besides, if you compare features per dollar, HeliSimRC would win hands down, because it's free vs $200 for RF. So, I guess you get your monies worth.

Even though HeliSimRC is directly modeled for the Trex 450 class helicopters. It should be said that it will model just about any electric helicopter in the 400 to 500 range and probably bigger if you can figure out the mass and other settings that would apply. I fly it on a 32 inch LG flatscreen TV through DVI inputs. So to me, it made the helicopter larger in perspective to real life. So I put my visual setting in the simulator to "450 scale" to make it smaller. It seems to be a bit closer to what the real thing looks like as far as size is concerned. I didn't see a zoom feature, but you don't have zoom in real life so you shouldn't be using one on a sim either (my opinion).

In my opinion, HeliSimRC needs sound next. Sound is used during the flight of your aircraft. You need to know if the rotors are bogging and sound is the only indicator you have for this. Which is also something I didn't notice in the simulator... Tail kick out from excess torque. I have never flown a real RC helicopter that didn't have to fight torque.

My review is only after 30 minutes of playing around with it. If you notice something that I have wrong or missed, just say so here. You won't hurt my feelings.

One thing is for sure. I'd recommend HeliSimRC to anyone wanting to learn or polish their RC helicopter flying skills. It's cheap and it gets the job done.

Keep flying !!

source

Program: Gemcraft
Released here

" If you’re a tower defence addict with hours upon hours of spare time, you’ll love it."
OK, everyone knows Gemcraft. It’s like the definitive tower defence game, massively popular and highly rated by most who play it. If you’re into tower defence games then you should go play it now. Any game in the series, it doesn’t matter which one you try.

I’ll go into that last sentence in greater depth later on, but it’s just one of the reasons why I don’t like it.

To me, Gemcraft is like the sitcom Friends. Whenever I actually sit down and watch/play it I kinda enjoy it, but I dislike the concept as a whole and there’s just far too much of it for me to want to sit through all of it.

There are three games in the series and all of them follow the same plot: you’re a wizard who can create gems that shoot laser balls, go kill monsters.

That’s all you get – no plot development throughout the rest of the game. I have no idea what the endings are and I never will.

Onto the first game: Gemcraft (subtitled chapter one – game maker obviously knew he was going to make a series out of this when he made it).


The first thing you will see is a scrollable map, from where you select the many levels on offer. Clicking on the first stage opens up a battle map – beat the several waves of monsters that issue forth and you’ll unlock more stages.

To do this, you’ll need to create gems to place in the towers dotted around the map. Once gems are snuggled in nice and warm in their tower, they’ll start shooting at the monsters that are coming out of their house and are headed towards your house. Your house is obviously much nicer than theirs.

There are several different gem types at your disposal, all of which have special properties. These include increased damage and status effects.

You can combine gems to make them more powerful but each stage of power costs more mana. Combining gems of different colours will give both powers to your new gem, although these abilities will not be as powerful as with a “one colour” gem.

Luckily you have the ability to spend mana within battle to increase your mana limit – this also increases the speed at which you gain it. You can also create new towers to place your gems in and dig trenches to slow your foes down.

The game allows a lot of scope for strategy in your plan of attack – another thing to consider is the fact the mana you use to fight is also your HP. If a monster reaches your hut, you will lose mana – if your mana goes below zero, you lose the battle.

There are also a number of skills that you can unlock to aid you in further battles, such as reduced cost for building things, making your gems more powerful and choosing to start each battle with a selection of pre-made gems.


You unlock these skills by levelling up, which you do by getting points for beating stages. To increase your points, you can speed up the rate the waves come at you.

You can also gain points by gaining achievements.

Each level has a target score to beat, at which point you can say you have truly mastered it.


So far, so good. So what’s my problem with this game?

Basically, it proves the point that you can have too much of a good thing. THERE IS SO MUCH OF IT.

If you’ve been playing a flash game for an hour and have barely made a dent in terms of completing it, it’s probably far too big. If there’s some difference in the way each level plays then that’s fair enough – but every level is practically the same. The only difference is in the type of gems you get and the amount of enemies you face, and that’s not enough.

The game is fun at first but I don’t have the patience to get beyond the huge level of repetition, especially when the game length is enough to make most full-priced console games jealous.

Another major problem is the lack of choice when creating gems – your gem types are chosen at random. That can be irritating when you’re trying to build a powerful pure gem, especially on levels where there are several gem types available.

On to the sequel – which is actually a prequel – Gemcraft chapter zero. I don’t know why it’s a prequel. The opening plot seems like it could easily have carried on from first game. Oh well.


The first thing you’ll notice is how much smaller the game map is. It seems that an important lesson has been learned: less is more.

Then you look at the skills screen: wow, there are a lot more abilities you can learn. Hmm…

Then you look at the achievements screen and it blows your mind. 211 achievements?! For just 14 levels? I’m obviously missing something here.

Click on a level and you’ll discover the truth – each stage has nine different game modes. A quick bout of maths reveals this game has 126 levels – more than three times that of the original (discounting secret levels).


Oh crap. Game creator gameinabottle hasn’t learned any lessons at all.

Okay, okay. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. What are these new game modes?

Sudden death – okay, nice for the hardcore. Beat the monsters within a time limit – good for those who think the battles take too long. Endurance – hell, the entire game is a feat of endurance.

Wait a minute, that’s all the variety it has to offer – all of the other game modes just offer different monster types. You get the same gems and level layout, but just get different monsters? Where’s the need to change your strategy? Where’s the original content? What’s the difference?!

The difference, according to the game forums I’ve read, is a few new objects and this game is much more difficult than the first. Okay.

No thanks.

Obviously, it goes without saying that if you’re a fan of the first then try this. If you’re a tower defence addict with hours upon hours of spare time, you’ll love it.

source

Game: Bve Trainsim
Released here

" BVE Trainsim totally beats Microsoft Train Simulator..."
BVE Trainsim totally beats Microsoft Train Simulator with its price, graphics, and realism. BVE Traimsim, formerly known as Boso View Express, is a free downloadable train simulator created by a Japanese graduate student (also known by the username mackoy). There are hundreds of downloadable routes (found at various websites) that have been created by various users throughout the world. You can drive the London Underground, the New York Subway, the MTR Hong Kong subway, or the Taipei MRT. BVE is not constrained to only subway routes. Various long distance trains can be driven. Creating new routes is somewhat difficult with the coding, so the graphics vary depending on the route. The London Underground routes are fine examples of the potential realism the BVE train simulator can achieve. Sound files are recordings of the actual trains, so the screeching of the tracks, the door close chimes, and the horns are all very similar to the sounds from the corresponding train route. One downside of the game is that other objects cannot move, so trains coming in the opposite direction are always still. But when you’re traveling at a high speed, it’s barely noticeable. BVE works with Windows 98, 2000, ME, and XP and requires DirectX.

source

Game: The Museum of Broken Memories
Released here

" Mere words cannot describe the sheer complexity of this experience. Try it out. "
Review 1

The Museum of Broken Memories is a beautifully woven interactive narrative that may even be considered a work of art.

It is a point-and-click game, yes; and yet it is so much more than that. It is available as a free download for Windows only.

The game consists of five (5) starkly different levels, or vignettes, that explore feelings of inadequacy, hopelessness, anguish, loss, and the like. The images and words expressed may seem familiar to anyone that has found themselves slowly sinking into a world of depression or self-doubt. But in the end it is a soulful journey that must be experienced to appreciate the unique form of narrative that the author, Jonas Kyratzes, has constructed.

When told his creation was more art than game, Jonas responded:


"I'd just like to slightly disagree with your use of the terms game and art. The way I see it, they are not opposites at all. Games are interactive art. Art implies only a work's nature, not its quality or seriousness. Games are still a very new art form, but so once were movies. Within that great realm of possibility that is interactive art, there is space for all kinds of stories and experiences. This is a more sombre one, true—but I wouldn't say it's not a game."

Like any work of art, personal interpretation plays an important role here, as there are many images and words to browse through and interact with, and an array of emotions that will be evoked. The storyline is sometimes clear and sometimes vague, and there is much symbolism present and references to other works to support a wide range of perspectives. It's both short and fairly easy; the joy in this one is the feeling of awe upon the game's denouement.

My only complaints are that it requires a download and anyone without a PC is out of luck. For what it's worth, though, the modest wait for the game to download is far shorter than actual gameplay time, and at 100% free the price is definitely right.

Mere words cannot describe the sheer complexity of this experience. Try it out. - source

Review 2

(CAUTION: This comment contains spoilers for The Dark Tower by Stephen King. Do not read it unless you’ve read the books!)

From the moment I entered this world I was a bit skeptical about this game’s ability to make me feel any sort of emotional attachment, but then, I saw the Tower.

Yes, the tower next to the save and load menus, that tower with a single dark object on it. I could not help but thing of the museum as some sort of tower.
Then, I realized what was happening.
The story, the eternal broken wheel off fire, the man that is forced to live his own life time and again, the references to Blake, I’ll be dammed if I wasn’t playing some sort of dreamlike representation of “The Dark Tower” series. And i’ll be dammed if it didn’t make a connection with my emotions, perhaps as much as the book did.

Thank you for making this game, but a bit of a special thanks to good ol’ Stephen K. wouldn’t be out of place ya know?

I will definitely tell my friends about this game, both fans of the dark tower, and people who have no idea what the dark tower is. - source

Game: Armored Brigade
Released here

" The AI here is certainly no worse than other games - and it seems decidedly better than more than a few."
Review 1

A T-80 tank bogged-down beside a river gets cluster-bombed by a passing A-10. The plane then strays too close to a Shilka and is shot from the sky, crashing next to a forest occupied by two Russian ATGM teams. These teams have just killed the lead vehicle in a column of Bradleys and, anticipating a retaliatory artillery strike, are pulling back. They’re retreating on foot because their taxis, two BMP-2 IFVs, were destroyed five minutes earlier by prowling M1A1s.

Sound interesting? If the answer’s yes then you may enjoy Armored Brigade. A free real-time wargame with Combat Mission and Close Combat echoes, it’s causing quite a stir in groggy circles at the moment. Shock Force might have the graphics and the granularity, but AB has the flexible skirmish generator and the wary TacAI. Hopefully, future versions will include better map shading (reading terrain can be tricky), a save function, and a few fripperies like unit photos. Not everyone knows just how cool MIM-72/M48s look. - source

Review 2

The interface really shines. I'm playing away, and if there's a manual or quickstart guide included, it's superfluous; in every case, things work exactly how you expect them to work. Click to select, right-click to give orders, click on map to specify where the order takes place. Units later move out. You can pause things, give orders, run the game slow or fast.

Lots of neat little touches, too. For example, when a squad or vehicle is given orders, a little arrow points from the center of the unit symbol to where it's first waypoint is. Or when you're scrolling around the map, little triangles at the edges of the screen point the way to nearby but out-of-the-viewing-window units of both sides.

Gameplay seems damn good. I (admittedly) haven't played it enough to form any concrete opinions, but I'm having loads of fun with ARMORED BRIGADE. Similarly, I can't say much about the AI, except that it seems competent and workmanlike. I hate to dole out faint praise, but the AI here is certainly no worse than other games - and it seems decidedly better than more than a few... - source

Game: Cloud
Released here

" Everything about Cloud is simply jaw-dropping."
Sometimes, an indie game comes along that's so magically different, so amazingly creative, you wonder why the developers don't already work for a major corporation churning out games. The fact that they don't is probably a good thing; few wide-release games are as stunningly free-spirited as Cloud. Trust me when I say that Cloud isn't really rather good; it's among the best games I've ever featured in this column.

In Cloud, you can fly. You can play with clouds. You can guide them to merge with other clouds and form bigger, puffy masses of water and dust particles. Various levels have different goals; in one, you battle pollution from a nasty factory, and in another, you simply try to form the clouds into the shape of a lollipop.


Everything about Cloud is simply jaw-dropping. The music. The artwork, both in-game and between levels. The vista, as you're flying free through the sky, high over islands that dot the sea. The controls are unique and startlingly intuitive (play the first few levels for tutorials, and hit F1 at any time for help).

Cloud shows that there are still game developers who are willing to let their imaginations soar. That's the true spirit of independent gaming: You'll find wonders that large publishers simply won't bother producing in between their RTS and FPS clones. Cloud, a free game to download and play, will set your mind free.


source

Game: Notrium v1.345
Released here

" Cool graphics, sounds, addictive gameplay and so many options and strategies to stick you to the screen for quite a long time."
Your peaceful survey-ship has been shot down and you crash-landed on a planet called Notrium. At the moment you step out of your escape pod you realize you have to get outta here ASAP. Ferocious weather, vicious aliens and more dangers awaits you as you struggle for survival and your chances to get off of this planet fades day-by-day. Can you leave Notrium in one piece?

If you ever played Robinson's Requiem or saw any survival documentaries or games, you already know, that surviving in hostile condidtions in a place you don't even know is the worst thing you can imagine. Robinsons Requiem was one of the mediocre conversions of this idea. Notrium is the best of this genre so far, but the most difficult too.

Races

You start the game by choosing your race. This is more important than choosing difficulty becouse the race you choose determines the way of the gameplay.

The Human race is weak and more vulnerable to bad weather and other injuries.Humans mostly rely on technical advancements and their weapon mastery is a valuable asset. However, they must fight against the cold, bad weather and they must eat too. Human is hardest race in the game becouse you have so many things to watch out for.

The Alien is a sturdy race. They can't use any weapons but their claws are exellent weapons when it comes to fighting. They consume food faster than Humans and they have little to none battery. The agility and speed is their most invaluable attribute.

The Android is the easiest race in the game. They don't fear cold, they don't eat and weather is more easy on them. They have the biggest battery but they use energy constantly. If their energy is depleted, they lose health. Energy is not that abundant, but you don't have to worry about getting food and a warm place. The worst thing is the Android can only heal himself with a reapir kit.

The Psionic race is a new addition in the 1.3 version. I don't know this race that good, but they are seem a bit hard to play. They can't carry anything and can't use any technology. They have the most fragile body among the races. Apart from all the negative things, this race can be the most powerful too. Psionics can get very powerful spells (tokens) that can help him survive.

Gameplay

As soon as you step out of the escape pod, you find yourself in a hostile planet. No matter witch race you chose, your first priority is to get supplies, be it food or energy. After that, you should find a place to use as a shelter to evade the weather and light a fire to avoid getting cold. Just then should you go exploring.

There are tons of items scattered around the planet, and you can combine most of them to make certain machines or weapons. Some combinations are given but most of them are for you to explore. You can make powerful weapons, clothing, shileds, and many useful things provided the right materials.

There are different kinds of enemies on the planet. Aliens, robots and mercenaries that will end your little adventure if you don't pay attention. Some of them can be killed easily, you can even hunt for food, but some of them are tougher and only can be killed with a certain weapon.

The game has many endings. Some ways are obvious, like repair your pod and take off or make a long range radio and call for help. Some of the endings are not this easy, these are for you to explore.

Graphics, Sound and Controls

The graphics are absolutely great. You control the game from a top-down view. The foliage and the land is very detailed and colorful. All the items and things on screen is greatly designed and easily recognisable. Thumbs up!

The sounds and the ambient music suits the game's feeling and creates a great athmosphere. The growling in the dark and the strange noise of the sneaking aliens will give you the creeps.

The controls are easy: WASD and mouse for aiming. Sometimes you character and
some enemies get stuck, but not too often.

Replayability and Impressions

The many races, the different endings, many item combinations and the randomly generated playfield guarantees you will replay the game thousands of times. Very addictive atmosphere and twirling gameplay will glue you in front of the game for a long time. Don't believe me? Try it!

A HUGE addition to Notrium, that the game can be modded. You can download a barebone template from the game's website and make a brand new game. You can also download user-created mods and try them out. Creativity, go go go!

Technical Issues and Compatibility

Notrium will most likely run fine on any system, however you'll need a better video-card for higher resolutions. I found that Notrioum runs smoothly without any bugs or crashes.

Final Words

All in all, Notrium outguns all it's predecessors. Cool graphics, sounds, addictive gameplay and so many options and strategies to stick you to the screen for quite a long time. Definetly a must for everybody who likes this kind of games! It can be hard sometimes, but don't be discouraged by the first few unsuccesful tries. Keep going, you survival is at stake!

Download and enjoy!

Tips for beginners (read it if you keep dying all the time):
At the very beginning of the game, try to assemble a forcefield generator. That will replenish your life and defend you from enemies and the weather, just keep in mind, that once you deploy it you cannot move it anymore. You can use the Hermite's house as a HQ, you can lock the door so no enemies can enter, and you can store your stuff there. Try to assemble or salvage a turret of some kind early in the game. You can take it with you and when things get hot you can deploy it to defend you without wasting precious ammo. You can get moe help in the forums. Good luck!

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Game: Volvo: The Game
Released here

" Volvo: The Game is a great game with loads of features and plenty of fun to be had."


A while back, we told you guys that Volvo was funding a racing sim and that it was soon to be released. Well, it released today featuring 2 tracks and 6 cars. To accompany this announcement, I decided to write a smallish mini-review. So, start the 588MB download and read the review after the break as you wait.


I absolutely loved the Ferrari racing sim released earlier last month, so I was excited to give Volvo’s game a shot. During my first race I found the game to feel a bit sluggish and detached. The movement and response of the car felt very stiff. I was a bit disappointed, but decided to try another car. I was very surprised. Each car has a very different and unique feel. Granted, this is nothing ground-breaking or new, but it’s nice to see a free racing with such attention to detail and it only gets deeper. There are default driving settings that do the job just fine, but if you’re a racing sim freak, there are loads of adjustments you can make to change how the cars will feel, perform and act.



So, while Ferrari Virtual Race may be for gamers that just like to grab their controller and start a race, Volvo’s game is for the other type of racer, the type that must be able to adjust their steering dead zone just a few degrees before they’ll even consider loading a track. Don’t let this discourage you if you prefer a simple racer. This game works perfectly for both types of gamers. So, if you want, you can just plug in your controller of choice and race. Volvo: The Game supports a massive list of controllers and this is to be expected with racing games, but is not always the case.



There where only a few things that I wished the game did better (besides the name, that is). One of which was the fact that there is no controller support in the menus. Sure, this isn’t a game-breaker, but it gets a bit annoying having to switch between the mouse and controller depending on what you’re trying to accomplish. Another thing that surprised me was that my controller didn’t vibrate. The game offers lots of customization in the way of force feedback, but I couldn’t find anything regarding controller vibration. And, as you would expect with a free game, the loading screens are filled with advertisements for various parts manufacturers.

All things considered, Volvo: The Game is a great game with loads of features and plenty of fun to be had. I think that given a larger choice of tracks and maybe a few more cars, they could have easily released it as a retail game. Speaking of which, is it done downloading yet?

Scores

- Graphics: 8
The car models and lighting are really good. However, the tracks could have a bit more detail or polish.

- Storyline: N/A
Well…erm….it doesn’t have one. Literally.

- Gameplay: 9
As far as racing games go, the gameplay is pretty straight-forward. Volvo: The Game nailed it and then some.

- Controls: 9
Although I didn’t get to test it on all the supported controllers, Volvo: The Game has a huge library of pre-programmed controller support and the one I used had a more than acceptable control layout.

- Lasting Appeal: 5
I can see this game keeping someone interested for a couple hours a day over the span of a couple weeks, but not much longer than that. I will add a note here though: Volvo: The Game does have some sort of online abilities that requires an account. I signed up for one, but never got any of my activation emails, so I didn’t get the test the online portion (if any).

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Program: Music Wars 3 v1.0.4
Released here

" I just love the idea of me being the manager of a music label!"
Review 1

Music Wars 3 lets you assume the role of your all time favorite band (or create your very own) and call the shots. Over 20 charts are available to monitor the success of your band. Release records, record demos, and arrange world tours on your way to chart domination. Lightning speed loading times lets you get right into the game. Also included is a bands editor in case you're not satisfied with how a band is portrayed. Music Wars 3 is freeware and hasn't any connection to any trademarked name in the game.

Version 1.04 includes many bug fixes as well as new options and speed improvements. Also be sure to check out the new homepage of Music Wars for updates on the series. - source

Review 2

Game Experience: Chart Wars 3 is a game where you play the roll of a manager of a musical label. It was developed in 2004 by a company called Osiris Games. Although the idea is great the finished product isn't so good. It has some features like band and artist managing, singles, tours, gigs, ratings, albums and even picture packs that include pictures of all the artists! The only problem is that it lacks the randomness of the musical industry. For example you may encounter different bands with same singles on the first two positions on the charts because there aren't enough song names in the database. Also the interface is too slow, sometimes you'll have to wait a whole minute just to pass one day in the game. Despite all the bugs the gameplay is just astonishing! I could play for hours and hours and never get bored! The best thing about the game is that it's all FREE of charge! // 7

Extras: The only extra in the game is the database editor. If you ever get bored (which will be truly amazing) you can simply edit your bands, artists, records, tours, gigs, labels, or even countries and cities that are included! And even here there are some bugs. If you put your band's and your artist's abilities to maximum or just put nothing you'll get an runtime error and you will loose all the work that has not been saved. This is really annoying if you want to update the database fast. So far I haven't found mod's on the Internet (I don't think they even exist) so if you want to add some artists to the database you'll have to do it yourself. // 9

Impression: I just love the idea of me being the manager of a music label! There is much attention on details in the game and there are statistics on everything. The gameplay is almost perfect but it lacks some final touches and some painfully boring work on updating the database! - source

Program: AfterShocked!
Released here

" It beats most adventure games hands down in terms of scope..."
Review 1

AfterShocked is a full-featured post-nuclear comedy adventure game in the vein of Monkey Island and other classic adventure titles. Nearly every known city and town has been destroyed by nuclear missiles, leaving behind a strange world full of drug dealers, mutant talking fish, and disgusting, yet friendly, zombies, whose skin has been blown off. You play as a teenager trying to save what's left of the world from certain destruction at the hands of a madman, while simultaneously keeping under control the conflict between zombies and norms. Features hand-drawn 16-bit color graphics, an original musical score, dozens of hilarious characters to interact with, plenty of scenes to visit, and lots of puzzles to solve. The download size might seem a bit large, but keep in mind that this is a complete game (not a demo) packed with hours of gameplay.

This is a very large (46.5MB) file and may take several hours to download via dial-up modem. Version 1.20 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes. - source

Review 2

In this game your girlfriend has just left you and your friend fell through the floor and got stuck. But that's not the worst of your problems. Somebody has sent nuclear bombs around the world and killed everything, including your parents.

Except, you survived. And a few people just got mutated a little bit, but anyway you've got to figure out just why it happened and also, how to get your friend unstuck from your trailer floor.

To put it mildly, this game is weird. Very, very weird. Though don't get me wrong it's also brilliant. Take for example the graphics. Which are hard to overlook. At first they look tacky but then you realise its part of the world. It's just how things are in AfterShocked! and if you can accept that, you'll find a very enjoyable game. If not then you'll find it hard to like this game at all, possibly.

The story in this game is cool. It beats most adventure games hands down in terms of scope (ie. blowing up the world before the game starts) and then it just rolls from there. The people you meet and interact with are cleverly done because most of them are indifferent to the world's destruction or to you actually wanting to talk to them so it makes for some difficult times hunting for clues. Though it does take some time, its usually worth it.

It needs to be said, though, that this game contains some mature dialogue and situations so don't play it while your kids (or parents) are around. - source