Survivor Squad (PC) (2013)

Overview: Survivor Squad is a survival horror game that is similar to Teleglitch (PC) (2013): top-down, line of sight gameplay.

It's all about the vision.

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20150531:
Having played Teleglitch less than two weeks ago, I decided to go ahead and play Survivor Squad, which shares similar themes and game mechanics.

In any case, I made the following notes during my gameplay:
1) Every day, the player goes to an infected area and after the player clears the infected and collects all the loot, the player must return to a cleared area.

Control each member separately or as a select.

2) If the player clears all of the infected in an area, the area becomes secured.
3) The player can turn a secured area into a cleared area. Certain cleared areas can be turned into bases.
4) After playing for an hour, among the possible materials to collect, I would - in future games - collect raw material over blueprints. One guide on Steam more generally suggested forgoing big items (2x2) until they are needed.

Complicated map system.

[20150531]

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Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Cheat codes! Reminds me of Doom and Duke Nukem 3D.

Neutral:
~ Imitates Left 4 Dead 2 (PC) (2009)

Cons:
- Steep learning curve.
- Unclear gameplay (only the basics are described, not the details)

Zone successfully cleansed!

- No wiki exists for help, only "In the Map screen there's a bunch of tips on the lower right corner that you can cycle through by clicking on it."

---

Overall:
While controlling four characters was fun, I would much rather play the game as a multiplayer co-op (like L4D/L4D2), especially when the game imitates some of the Left 4 Dead gameplay (such as turning off alarms and collecting an item from a building).

Mission failed.

Also, between Survival Squad and Teleglitch, I would rather play Teleglitch. Although the graphics for Survival Squad is crisper than the graphics for Teleglitch, Teleglitch serves up a cleaner experience.

Of course, the two games have different goals. Teleglitch is an essentially linear game where the player seeks to escape from the zombie infestation. In contrast, Survival Squad is concerned with clearing the zombie infestation and setting up bases to survive within/among it.

[20151025]

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Survivor Squad (PC) (2013)

Relevant Links:
Survival Squad Website
Survival Squad (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Survivor Squad (Desura Store Page)
Survivor Squad (Steam Store Page)

Super Comboman (PC) (2014)

Super Comboman (PC) (2014)

A 96-hit Combo!?! I guess that's why the game is called Super Comboman.

Relevant Links:
Super Comboman Website
Super Comboman: Don't Mash Edition (Steam Store Page)

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20150530:
Today I played the game for two hours. In detail, I played the first level, replayed it, moved on , occasionally practiced newly purchased moves in the ring, defeated the first boss (end of the 6th level) at the 1.7 hour mark, and finally replayed various levels.

Setup: Used a controller:

X - Normal; Y - Smash (short cooldown); B - Special; A - Jump

*Has a short cooldown.

Buy moves in the store.

Tips/Remarks:
: I wasn't hitting the Special key for the "dive kick". The Special key is different from the Normal attack key and the Smash key.
: The "dash through" is executed by shielding and double tapping forward (I thought shielding and then pressing dash would have made more sense, but maybe the developers wanted it to feel like a combo). You have to be facing the enemy to execute it. Otherwise it'll fail.
: Trying to press shield as the character is standing up won't work.
: Some enemies attack so often that it's really easy to parry, especially in an area with a lot of enemies; simply press forward to counter their attacks. Slower enemies, however, are much harder to parry, so much so that parrying their attack is inefficient.

Taking out the boss, like a boss.

: An exclamation mark appears behind Struggles signaling a parry opportunity.
: Parrying is a better option than blocking when the character has been knocked down and standing back up.
: Use boxes and other breakable objects to chain a combo from one area to the next.

[20151030 Edit]

---

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Somewhat humorous
+ Good artistic display of story (reminds me of Viewtiful Joe in terms of story concept, though Super Comboman isn't nearly half as good as Viewtiful Joe).

Collect stickers which are spread throughout the game.

+ Combos can feel good when they are well executed.

Neutral:
~ Medium learning curve. Less button mashing is ideal. Anybody familiar with a fighting game that requires timing will have an easier time.

Cons:
- A wall jump is difficult to execute: press A and away from the wall. Sometimes I move Struggles away from the wall before even reaching it (and thus failing to wall jump).
- Lack of recovery from knock down (neither rolling out nor pressing shield is an option)
- Can be a bit buggy.

Try your best to get large combos!

---

Recommendations:
I had fun playing Super Comboman, but some of the fighting mechanics could have been improved.* While I enjoyed it more than Aces Wild: Manic Brawling Action! (PC) (2014), the game isn't worth much when compared to a top tier brawler like Viewtiful Joe (GCN) (2003). Overall, Super Comboman had the story and the style, but lacked the implementation and consequently I would not recommend it.

*The game has many negative reviews on Steam. Reviewers mention inconsistency, repetitiveness, and lag issues. It is also mentioned that players versed in fighting games would dislike Super Comboman's fighting system (poor hit detection, bad controls, frame animation, etc.).

A coding error with the level select screen after completing the 6th level.

The level select screen is supposed to look like this.

Frozen Synapse (PC) (2011)

20120720:
Despite having gone through the tutorial, I found the game's controls and interface slightly confusing. Fortunately, I eventually got the hang of the game and started liking it.

A soldier in the lower right (green) blasts an enemy with his shotgun.

---

20150529 Snapshot:
Steam says I've played this game for 2.8 hours.

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20150529:
It's been a while since I've played Frozen Synapse and today I decided to revisit the game. Unfortunately, although I tried looking for existing save files, I didn't manage to find any.

Victory!

While I remember playing several levels a long time ago, today I only played the tutorial, "Nashar: Incursion", "Nashar: Massacre", and "Nashar: Extraction" (I tried twice to complete this last level, but I did not complete it).

Losing interest with the game, I only logged about 1.3 hours, less than half of the amount of time I initially invested with the game.

Add caption

[20151026 Edit]

---

Thoughts:
Pros:
+Solid soundtrack.
+Game mechanics allow for elaborate, complicated, and fine-tuned strategies.

A technician protests "You murderers! We're unarmed!"

+Cool looking aesthetics
+Randomly generated levels adds to the replay value.

Neutral:
~None

I send a sniper to the window, though I vaguely recall failing.

Cons:
-High learning curve.

---

Recommendation:
While I might have had the patience to learn and enjoy the game several years ago, I did not have the patience tonight and found the tactical aspect too complex to be enjoyable.

Mission Failed.

I should note that a cooperative campaign exists as part of an expansion pack called Frozen Synapse Red (released on 20120529) but I have yet to play it.

---

Released 20110526
Purchased 20111223
Frozen Synapse (2011) (PC)

Graham Nix, the Director of Petrov's Shard, briefs you on your mission.

Relevant Links:
Frozen Synapse Website
Frozen Synapse (Wikipedia.org)

Contraption Maker (PC) (2014)

Overview: Contraption Maker is a physics-based puzzle game where the player must complete unfinished Rube Goldberg machines. In addition to solving built-in puzzles, the player may build his/her own puzzles and play puzzles made by other players.

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Contraption Maker (PC) (2014)

Relevant Links:
Contraption Maker Website
Contraption Maker (Steam Store Page)
The Incredible Machine (series) (Wikipedia.org)

---

20150525 AM Hours:
54 minutes:
54/54 Tutorial Levels
09/51 Easy Levels

---

20150525 Noon:
55 minutes:
54/54 Tutorial Levels
36/51 Easy Levels

Tip: Place scissors roughly perpendicular to rope.

---

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Most contraptions are pretty easy to use. In particular, there are usually indicators to show whether or not the object will behave as you desire (e.g., a vertical line in the path of a ball falling or the parabolic arc of a cannon ball; in both these examples, the path ends when the ball hits another object).
+ Clarity. The background is plain, unlike the background of Crazy Machines 2 (PC) (2008).
+ Easy objectives. Unlike the objectives in Crazy Machines 2.

Neutral:
~ This game is similar to The Incredible Machine (same developers), a game that I played as a kid. It even uses similar contraptions and so the game can have some nostalgic value to it.

Minor Cons:
~- Recording a solution takes a long time. I suppose it should only be done if you really like your particular solution.
~- Sometimes the rotate icons are out of view and must temporarily be done with the object placed somewhere else before being moving to the proper spot.

---

Comparison:
I played The Incredible Machine 3 (PC) (1995) as a kid so this type of game is familiar to me. As such, I was severely when I recently played Crazy Machines 2. Today, however, I got to experience Contraption Maker, a spiritual successor to The Incredible Machine series featuring the original developers. It did not leave me disappointed.

---

Recommendation:
If you're like me and are nostalgic for The Incredible Machine series, then I would highly recommend Contraption Maker.

Lunnye Devitsy (PC) (2009)

Lunnye Devitsy (PC) (2009)

Relevant Links:
Lunnye Devitsy (Steam Store Page)
Lunnye Devitsy (Desura Store Page)
Lunnye Devitsy (PC) (MetaCritic.com)

20150524:
Today I tried playing Lunnye Devitsy for the first time and ended up putting in over three hours of gameplay (which was an hour longer than when I was planning to stop playing).

Setup: Controller; I've been using windowed more than fullscreen lately for low resolution games.

Tips:
: Saving is automatic.
: There is a map located in common\Lunneye Devitsy\Bonus\Lunnye 2013 map.jpg
: After collecting all the moons, cannons are placed throughout the world; press up to enter a cannon. It took me a while to unlock the Flying achievement (well, I didn't know it was the Flying achievement until I achieved it). Use the last cannon to fire yourself towards the moon.

First Impression:
At first the world felt too big, but after enough exploration, it seemed small.

In particular, I eventually opened the map file (common\Lunneye Devitsy\Bonus\Lunnye 2013 map.jpg) and used it throughout the playthrough. While the map does have some spoilers, I didn't want to bother memorizing the world or manually creating one by pasting screenshots together. I also felt it made up for a lack of an in-game map.

There was a point in the game where I went from being bored to being interested. Perhaps this was when I realized the game was actually a puzzle platformer.

Used the Map:
Dark green moon (top left corner) - I had two little icons left to find, the dark green and the one which was one right and one up from it

Gameplay Log:
// 20150523 23:26 : Started game
Launching - 20150524 00:28
Flying - 20150524 00:46
Looping - 20150524 01:13
Posting - 20150524 01:15 : After figuring out Looping, I suddenly had a hunch about occupying the room (?) when the pilot (?) needed it. And I was right!

The spring.

Jumping - 20150524 01:22 : I was ready to stop playing for the night, but then I realized I should look at the achievement names and I immediately understood what Jumping meant. It did, however, take me a while to navigate the spring. In particular, I didn't realize it needed to be activated (I had on several occasions activated it without trying).
// 20150524 01:50 : I noticed that the wires can be seen in the background traveling downwards. I previously suspected a connection between the two switches, but now I was certain. Unfortunately, it takes about 15 seconds for the switch to time out, yet it currently takes me about twice as long to make the trek.

Follow the wires.

// 20150524 02:36 : I finally decided to give up trying to make the trek.

Steam Game Time: 3.2 hours on record

[20150524 Assumed Post Date][20181218 Edit]

---

Thoughts:
Pro:
+ Good music.

Neutral:
~ Game aesthetics are sometimes too foggy. I'm fine with it, but it would have been nice to have the option to adjust it.

Cons:
- Game's initial lack of direction (other than teaching the user how to jump and take screenshots); can be frustrating.
- No in-game map of area where you've explored. This feature is core in exploration games like Castlevania.
- No quick reset or portals.
- Puzzles can be complex and/or frustrating.

A moon piece.

---

Recommendation:
I can see why some people like Lunnye Devitsy and why some people don't.

If you enjoy puzzle platformers and are looking for a new and short puzzle platformer to play, then I would recommend you get this game when it goes on sale (it is sold on Steam bundled with a game called Wake for $5, which would drop to $1.25 during a Steam sale).

However, if you have yet to play Limbo (PC) (2011), then you might want to check that out instead.

Out There Somewhere (PC) (2012)

Out There Somewhere (Steam) (2014)*
*Out There Somewhere (PC) (2012)

Shots do not pass the red beams.

Relevant Links:
Out There Somewhere (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Out There Somewhere (Desura Store Page)
Out There Somewhere (Steam Store Page)

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20150524:
Today I tried playing Out There Somewhere, but had to stop about an hour into the game (5:44AM) for two reasons:
1) I got stuck trying to get a bonus.

The Teleporter Gun preserves momentum. I have already started jumping.

So when the shot hits the wall, I exit the shot completing my jump.

2) When I died I had to start at the last save point and I started dozing off while trying to get back to where I was. I couldn't.
Consequently, it was time for bed (keep in mind that it was almost six in the morning).

Setup: windowed; gamepad controller.

The game adds a blue beam to add to the complexity of the puzzles.

First Impressions:
So far most puzzles range from easy to medium in difficulty and I'm absolutely enjoying the gameplay.

[20151030 Edit]

---

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Clever, unique puzzles from the Teleporter Gun mechanic.

The game does a good job of teach players the necessary puzzle mechanics.

Neutral:
~ Retro graphics, appropriate.

[20151030 Edit]

---

Recommendation:
Although I only played for an hour, I found Out There Somewhere was a great game and its Teleporter Gun mechanic was a refreshing experience. In fact, the experience was almost as fresh as the experience I got when I played Portal (PC) (2007) for the first time.

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20230123 Snapshot:
Steam Game Time: 64 (cumulative game time)
Last Played: 20150530

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20230123:
Today I booted this game up but I barely got to play it (no more than 3 minutes).

Steam Game Time: 66 minutes (cumulative game time)

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20230126:
I ended up starting from the beginning of the game which explained some important mechanics. Essential mechanics:
- momentum is preserved
- the player character can cling to blue beams, but not the red beams
- green beams go up

Steam Game Time: 2.0 hours (cumulative game time)

---

20230127 (AM Hours):
Steam Game Time: 2.2 hours (cumulative game time)

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20230127:
Gameplay Log:
- I defeated Grigor but didn't collect all the hidden items.
- I started a new save.
- I found two life containers thus far.
- I am tempted to map the game out.

Steam Game Time: 3.6 hours (cumulative game time)

---

20230128:
Steam Game Time: 4.3 hours (cumulative game time)

---

20230129:
I was trying to finish some achievements. The main ones are "Finish the game in less than 20 minutes", "Find the Gauss Gun upgrade", and "Make it to the Alien City without touching any checkpoints". I have five achievements left uncompleted.

Steam Game Time: 8.1 (cumulative game time)

---

20230130:
I finished the five achievements that were previously uncompleted:
- The "107%" achievement was "easy" since I think there are actually more than 87 unique screens.
- The "Defeat Grigori without teleport gun" is easy with the Gauss Gun upgrade.
- "Kill every monster..." is "easy" though I was very careful to not miss any, and made sure not to take the shortcut.
- "Never give up" is annoying to wait 5 minutes but otherwise trivial

Steam Game Time: 9.5 (cumulative game time)

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Racer 8 (PC) (2014)

Overview:
A casual game where the player must rotate the gameboard tiles in order to guide a rally car though checkpoints and to the finish line.

---

Racer 8 (PC) (2014)

Gameboard.

Relevant Links:
Racer 8 (Steam Store Page)
Racer 8 (PC) (MetaCritic.com)

20150523:
Today I played this game for 81 minutes before deciding I should not play it anymore.

Garage

Tips/Information:
1) The game doesn't really explain the two power-ups.
1a) Co-driver means you'll see dots showing where the car will go. The dots do not extend indefinitely, but long enough to plan ahead.
1b) Auto driver means a path leading to a crash will automatically be fixed by the AI. It is, however, an imperfect AI.
2) Click on the camera to allow rotation of the map without the car moving. The habit of clicking the camera can prevent a crash.

Gameboard. Foggy weather. Using "Co-driver"

3) Power-ups stay on your car until you crash.
4) Whenever you see a triangle, the menu can be scrolled. Click with the mouse and drag up. This is probably geared towards tablet users.
5) At the home menu, there is an icon in the upper left that indicates the "Garage." Use it to buy other cars and/or colors.

---

Thoughts:
Neutral:
~ Casual game
~ Childish graphics

The game has 50 levels.

Cons:
- Probably designed as a tablet game (touch controls) and ported to PC as an afterthought.
- Simple and slow paced (especially for a car game)
- Repetitive.
- Can't go back to a level. Though to be fair the game is so repetitive that perhaps there is no reason to.

---

Recommendation:
After playing this game for an hour, I would recommend you stay away from it.

Teleglitch: Die More Edition (PC) (2013)

Overview: Teleglitch: Die More Edition is a top-down shooter where you the player are on a planet waiting to be rescued. After help fails to arrive, you decide to set out and save yourself. Of course the only way out is to get to warp machines that can teleport you from one facility to the next facility.

Item crafting.

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20150520:
Today I played Teleglitch for the first time. Initially I tried to play the tutorial a couple of times,* but after dying** and encountering a weird glitch that didn't go away until I completely restarted the game, I decided to just dive straight into the first level.

Setup: Keyboard and mouse.

Gameplay Log:
In my current run I upgraded the 9mm semi-automatic pistol to the 9mm automatic pistol and while the rate of fire increased, my inventory of 9mm clips decreased... to zero.

I get into the story.

Tips/Discoveries:
1) Secret Rooms can be spotted by the ability to see a sliver through the crack. Apparently you won't always see a crack, but the map will show a wall which is thinner than other walls.
2) I thought you had to break a wall with explosives, but any weapon will work (I would recommend using your 9mm)

Game Over

3) A couple of the number keys correspond to the first few slots of your inventory, starting from the top.
4) I thought the only way to rearrange items was by dropping them and picking them up, but apparently you can hold down the 'E' key and then rearrange them.
5) Reading the Teleglitch Wiki, I learned that audio cues can help in this game; I'll remember to wear headphones the next time I play.

The map is my friend.

*I got furthest in the tutorial when I played it the first time.
**I was suppose to knife the crowd of enemies that ran up to me, but instead I accidentally dropped a bomb and killed myself.

[20150520 Assumed Post Date][20181218 Edit]

---

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ The automatic camera rotation.
+ The crafting.
+ Story. Told via computer terminals spread throughout the levels. I enjoyed reading them.

Neutral:
~ Low resolution. I liked the low resolution graphics in Lone Survivor and Organ Trail. I'm not sure how I felt about it in Teleglitch.

Keyboard/Mouse Configuration

Cons:
- The game only let me save after I completed a level. Seldom was there the luxury to guarantee that I could finish a level. In particular, the following happened to me:

I finished the first level, saved the game, decided to continue, and then quit (to start a game of League of Legends). I would have saved the game at that point, but there was no save option. Returning to the game, I had to start from the beginning.*

Level Complete!

*On a related note, if you get to level 5, you can start a new game at level 3; if you get to level 7, you can start a new game at level 5; and if you get to level 9, you can start a new game at level 7.

---

Conclusion:
Overall, I could see why some players would enjoy this game. In particular, I enjoyed the small portion which I experienced, but I would not want to experience the game any further.

Useful tips.

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Teleglitch: Die More Edition (PC) (2013)

I keep using the map.

Relevant Links:
Teleglitch Website
Teleglitch: Die More Edition (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Teleglitch: Die More Edition (Steam Store Page)
Teleglitch: Die More Edition (PC) (IGN.com)

Bloody Trapland (PC) (2013)

Overview: Bloody Trapland is a platformer game whose levels are short, yet deadly.

"Tap jump lightly." (20120515)

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20150515: (Single-Player Session)
Today I played Bloody Trapland and apparently it's one of those difficult platformer games (e.g., Cat Mario, Electronic Super Joy, Super Pig, Super Meat Boy).

This particular game has the following characteristics of the genre:
1) levels contain deadly obstacles such as spikes, boulders, and bullets
2) levels occasionally contain a crux which requires a mix of skill and luck to complete
3) multiple attempts of harder levels is inevitable

Everytime I took a (Steam) screenshot, all the blood disappeared. (20120515)

---

20181007: (Two-Player Session)
Today I played this game with my cousin. The game essentially plays like single player, except players can bounce off the head of other players. This allows players to screw each other over to competitively reach the goal first, as well as allow players to work together to reach areas not accessible to a single player or to complete a level in a unique multiplayer-only way. And, in fact, my cousin and I did a mixture of both! Sometimes we would cooperate, and sometimes we would screw each other over (actually, he's much younger than me, and it would typically be him trying to screw me over and me trying to get him to do something cooperative).

I, the green player, with a few tries made it past the two spikes whereas my cousin, the red player, required more practice. (20181007)

---

Thoughts: (Single-Player)
Pros:
+ Simple controls: left, right, crouch, and jump.
+ A healthy balance of skill and luck

Neutral:
~ Pressing F12 to take a screenshot erases all the blood splatter. The screenshot and screen will be free of gore. (A possible workaround would be to remap the Steam screenshot key)
~ The levels are not timed; perhaps that's why I did not feel addicted to the game.
~ There seems to be an attempt at a story, but I wasn't really paying attention.

Most levels are a good balance of skill and luck. (20120515)

~ One of the levels required tapping the jump button just long enough to clear the lower obstacle, but not too long as to hit the upper obstacle. Unfortunately, the window for success was small and the particular task was annoying (as opposed to challenging). [20181208: Moved from "Con" to "Neutral." One could argue that this is skill-based.]

Cons:
- Graphics are not as good as Electronic Super Joy or Super Meat Boy.
- Like Cat Mario, certain obstacles are hidden and must be discovered.

Play with your friends. (20120515)

[20150515 Assumed Post Date][20181208 Edit]

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Thoughts: (Two-Player)
Pros:
+ Chaotic and fun
+ With another player around, mistakes and frustrations become funny and hilarious
+ Endless tries makes for continuous fun, even for a player unfamiliar with platformers; preferably there's one player who is good enough to continue to make progress
+ Unlock hidden areas with cooperative play.

I, the green player, tried to take the top path and my cousin, the red player, tackled the bottom path. In the end, he was able to make it to the door first! (20181007)

[20181208]

---

Recommendation:
Overall, Bloody Trapland is a challenging platformer with retro graphics and simple mechanics. If you like retro-styled games and difficult platformers, then you'll probably enjoy this game.

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Bloody Trapland (PC) (2013)

Relevant Links:
Bloody Trapland Website
Bloody Trapland (Steam Store Page)
Bloody Trapland (PC) (MetaCritic.com)