Downloadable Round Up
February’s a great time to catch up on some smaller games. After the bloated AAA schedule of the last three months of 2011, why not sample a few of these bite-size appetisers…
Trine 2: PC/Mac, PS3, 360
Holy crap this game is pretty. With some of the nicest lighting effects we’ve seen, this platform/puzzle game is a real audio/visual treat. Playing as three interchangeable characters (the D&D trinity of Mage, Thief and Warrior) joined as one by the titular “Trine”, it’s your job to vanquish some evil/recover some magical McGuffin. I don’t remember – it was pretty generic, whatever it was.
Tweaked and rebalanced form the first game, it’s now possible to complete every level as each character, although you’ll want to experiment with combining their abilities on your first playthrough. There’s also a multiplayer mode, but this usually ends up translating as “mage creates box and levitates it while the other player stands on top”.
Iron Brigade: 360
Delayed by six months and forced to change its name from “Trenched” due to a European copyright dispute, Double Fine’s tower defence/mech shooter is a highlight of the last few months.
At its best when played co-op with up to three friends, Iron Brigade encourages you to customise your mech (or “trench” in the game’s lingo) to overcome waves of “tubes” – television inspired nasties. There’s also a compulsive loot aspect to the game with colour coded weaponry and equipment straight out of Diablo.
With a horde mode, a new DLC pack (“Rise of the Martian Bear”) and endless options as to how you approach each level, this will last you a long time.
Pullblox: 3DS
Not only a great downloadable title, this fantastic little puzzler is one of the best games on the 3DS.
Playing as some weird egg/elf thing, you have to push and pull blocks in order to climb to the top of various structures and rescue other weird egg people trapped at the top. Think QBert meets last year’s Catherine.
The 3D effect actually adds to the gameplay, and the game also features a level editor, which allows you to share your levels via QR codes. This has that indefinable “one more go” appeal and will be looked back on as a puzzle classic. Nice work, Nintendo!
Renegade Ops: PC, 360, PS3
This retro shooter is a callback to classics like Jackal and EA’s “Strike” series. Powered by the same engine that made 2010’s open world Just Cause 2 such a visual treat, Renegade Ops puts explosions and chaos at the top of its priorities, as you tear around the jungle blasting the shit out of anything that moves.
There’s a light RPG system as you upgrade your chosen character, and online multiplayer lets you double your destructive potential. There’s not much more to say. If you hanker after the glory days of 16 bit shooters, this will thrill you to the core.
Pro tip: Choose the character with the airstrike special attack. It is glorious.
Orcs Must Die: PC, 360
Another tower-defence hybrid, Orcs Must Die tasks you with fending off hordes of orcs using a huge range of hilariously brutal traps.
Your “Ash from Evil Dead”-inspired character has a witty range of one liners, and the whole thing has a great Saturday morning cartoon/Dreamworks CGI feel to it.
Strictly a single player affair, Orcs Must Die is a sadist’s delight, and you’ll spend hours coming up with the perfect genocidal death maze to force the hapless orcs through. You might even feel a tiny bit sorry for the green losers as they’re chopped up, crushed, immolated, speared and launched into acid pits.
Coming this year:
Look out for…
Fez: Fantastic looking 2.5D platformer looks like one of 2012’s highlights
Journey: Arty follow up to Flower sees you traversing an endless desert
Shank 2: Cel-shaded violence from the Desperado school of action
The Witness: Jonathon Blow’s follow up
Article by : Gareth Brown 08/02/2012