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Action! Kung Fu! Stickmen? If you want to play a game that makes you feel like a badass, I found the game for you. One Finger Death Punch.
One Finger Death Punch is an action brawler where you only use 2 buttons, the left and the right mouse button, to defeat hordes of enemies coming at you. Easy you think? Not really. The game is surprisingly challenging especially if you don’t get into the rhythm of it. And don’t think you can just button mash. The game strongly discourages it. Button mashing usually leads to you missing attacks and leaves you open to attacks from your enemies. But when you get into the feel of the game you can’t help but feel awesome; especially when you take out a Brawler, an enemy that requires you to hit him with a series of clicks in a certain order to kill him.
While you are mainly unarmed in the game, you are able to pick up weapons dropped by enemies you defeat. These include bows and daggers, which can be thrown at enemies far away as well as kill tougher enemies in one shot. You can also pick up a variety of melee weapons like swords, staves, and even a broom at one point, that allow you to have a further reach to take out more enemies faster.
The main game mode of the game is a Mob mode where you have to just straight up defeat all the enemies that come at you. To break it up a bit, they have other “game modes” scattered between,
including a Timed mode (kill everything before time runs out), a Defender mode (deflect knives being thrown at you), a Smash mode (toss enemies into buildings and items), a Light ‘Blade’ mode (fight with a light saber), and many more modes. There is even a Boss mode which puts you against a single tough enemy.
The aesthetic of the game is quite interesting. The general graphics make the game look like it is older than it is; kind of like an old arcade game or old console game. The general overall feel of the game feels inspired by old martial art films. They even have a game mode that is sort of homage to this where everything is grey with a film grain. Even the music and sound effects contribute to this. One of the things I enjoyed most about the aesthetic of the game is that even though your character is just a stickman, you can tell that he is actually doing various martial art moves. The game switches between a few different forms of martial arts: Flying Crane, Eagle Claw, and Shaolin Tiger. They even have a Drunken Master form which seems to only be used in the Boss mode.
All in all, One Finger Death Punch is an addicting, fun beat them up that makes you feel awesome for just pressing two buttons. And I can’t wait to try to get a perfect score on all levels. I definitely recommend it. It’s a fun game for an awesome price.
I consider myself a collector of video games. Whether I got my games in a really good sale or from a game bundle; I’m currently sitting on over 300 games, many I have yet to try out. Guess it is time to delve into the pile and see if I can find some awesome games for you to play.
This week I chose to try out the game named Finding Teddy.
Finding Teddy is a Puzzle Point and Click game where you play as a little girl who is trying to find her teddy bear that was stolen by a monster from the cupboard in her room. She follows the monster though the cupboard and then finds herself in a magical world full of bizarre creatures and enchanting sounds. Now she must explore this strange land and help its inhabitants in order to rescue her Teddy.
The gameplay of this game is pretty simple. You mainly move around the world by clicking the sides of the screen to move on to the next area. You will quickly find that some areas you won’t be able to get to until you solve a puzzle or help one of the inhabitants. For example, one of the first “puzzles” you come across is trying to get bye a large blob creature blocking your path. If you don’t come to it with the right item it will eat you and digest you.
While these ‘bring object to creature’ puzzles are common in the game, one of the more unique types of puzzle that is common in the game as well is the musical puzzles. On the top of the screen you can reveal some lines of musical “notes” that you can press, each playing a different tone. As you go through the game you reveal more and more of these notes as you solve puzzles using them.
In this world the little girl is traveling though, the only way to communicate is by uses of these musical notes. This game contains no dialogue, only music. Even the sound effects in the game are just a series of musical tones. This is probably one of the things I enjoyed most about this game. It’s very calming and really adds to the atmosphere of the game.
One of the main problems I did find with the game was that at the beginning of the game you are just thrown into this world without really any idea how to move or how to even play. But after a bit of randomly clicking around the screen I quickly figured things out and was able to get the feel of it.
I would rate this game a 7/10. The games aesthetic and general atmosphere is very enjoyable. And while the puzzles weren’t overly hard, it feels good to figure them out and move on to the next area. So, if you are a fan of Point and Click games or just want a simple, calming game to spend a couple hours playing I would recommend this game to you. If you are not a fan of these sorts of games, it may not be for you.
You can buy it for PC, Mac, and Linux here. (Finding Teddy is currently on sale 50% off on Steam until 3/10/14)
It is also available for iOS and Android.
Four years ago, a new service called OnLive debuted, offering a whole new way to play and get games using online streaming. Rather than downloading games or buying them from stores, you streamed them from online servers and paid for the access rights – meaning low-cost, no-storage-required gaming that just required a solid internet connection and which promise to revolutionise the way we played games. The reality, however, was far less rosy. By marketing itself as its own platform – alienating both publishers who worried about game sales cannibalising those on established platforms, and players who were forced to decide whether to buy their games traditionally, via OnLive, or both; selling some games itself – cutting it off from retailers; and giving developers an extra step in the development process to support the platform, OnLive made an enemy of practically everyone; and in 2012, the company folded, its assets sold off and all the staff laid off.
Now though, OnLive is back and learning from its mistakes, thanks to a relaunch in the hands of the buyer, a new (legally-speaking) company also called OnLive. After 18 months out of the limelight, OnLive has returned under new management and carrying two new business models.
The key to the new OnLive is a brand new offering called Cloudlift. Thanks to a partnership with Valve, OnLive now has access to the full library of Steam games, bringing thousands of games of all different kinds to the platform. OnLive will now let you buy Steam games and add them to your Steam account through the service, solving the platform separation by potentially allowing the same game to run on multiple devices through both OnLive and Steam itself. The magic comes with OnLive’s streaming abilities. Once again, when playing a Steam game through OnLive, you won’t actually be downloading and playing the game locally – instead, the game is streamed to you over an internet connection from super-fast, super-capable servers hosted by OnLive, meaning no storage is required. In a genius touch however, slam in your Steam account details and as long as you’re using Steam’s Cloud Save feature, Cloudlift will grab your online save for each game as you load them up, so you’ll be able to continue the same game you have on your traditional Steam-enabled device. If you have a solid internet connection (2mb/sec minimum, 5mb recommended download speed), you may never notice the difference.
As Cloudlift is available as a smartphone app and as software for PC and Mac, the service potentially will allow Ouya and other Android-based consoles to get the full range of Steam apps and play them with high performance, instantly increasing their usefulness and the size of the game libraries; and also potentially means a game you start on your PC can be later played on the Mac at work, with little change in performance even if the power of all the devices is completely in different leagues – all you need is a compatible controller. Cloudlift comes with a heavy price tag, however, at $14.99 and £9.99 per month; and with only Steam games on offer at the moment, the choice is limited to your already-purchased and future-purchased Steam Games; you don’t get a whole range of games included in the price like with movies on Netflix. Along with this is the problem that not all Steam games come with cloud sync, meaning they can still be streamed but won’t allow players to pick up where they left off.
Luckily, OnLive are not resting on their laurels, as they have two additional plans in the works to increase the game library as they come along. First, the original OnLive game library will soon be relaunched, meaning the company will once again start sellings its own games too. While this will remain a separate service to Cloudlift for now, any games bought from OnLive will also come with seven days’ access to the same game on Cloudlift – whether this feature will remain or be enhanced in future however is yet to be seen, as the company are not committing heavily to the OnLive market to prevent it repeating its past mistakes. OnLive is also allowing games publishers to partner directly with them and deliver demos of their games to stream through the services, which will be a white-label service – so the publishers are free to credit the games however they like (expect names like “Sega Go” or “EA Live” to crop up, for example). Gaijin Games are one of the partners named to be on board.
Will the new strategy allow OnLive to succeed where it once failed? And will full online streaming become the future of, or a strong alternative to, both digitally stored and physical media gaming? Time will soon tell.
Pop culture, and video games in particular seem to have a fascination with giant robots. Coming along to scratch that itch is Titanfall from EA and Respawn Studios. The multiplayer version of the game is currently in Beta for both XBOX One and PC, allowing you to run, jump, shoot and punch giant mechs to your hearts contents.
My time with the game has been interesting so far. But before I get to that, a brief layout of Titanfall’s Beta. There are currently three match types available: Attrition, Hardpoint Domination, and Last Titan Standing. Attrition is a standard Deathmatch with teams competing for the most score. Hardpoint Domination is a Titan-centric take on the traditional “capture objectives and hold them for points” mode, while Last Titan Standing sees every player spawn in a Titan. There are no respawns, and the last team standing wins.
One thing that will immediately stand out to FPS veterans is the freedom of movement you have as a pilot in Titanfall. Your Titan is not immediately available, instead being on a two minute countdown before you can call it in. You can decrease this timer by killing enemy players and AI controlled grunts. During this time, you are merely a pilot on foot with a primary weapon (like a rifle), some form of pistol and an Anti-Titan weapon. Pilots are outfitted with gear that allows them to sprint, double jump and even wall run. It is entirely possible in Titanfall to come into an alley and spy a nice rooftop vantage point that you can access simply by wall running up one side of the alley, leaping to the other wall to continue your run and gain height, then leap off and grab the edge of the rooftop and heave yourself up.
This mobility is a key part of playing a pilot particularly when a Titan enters the field. These hulking machines are surprisingly mobile and are almost instant death to an unwary pilot. Being blown away in one shot from a chaingun three times your size, stepped on or just punched out of existence are all standard ways a pilot will die if he takes a Titan head on. Fortunately for the squishy pilot, he has an arsenal of tools to help deal with these behemoths. Anti-Titan weapons such as sidewinder missiles will put a dent in the offending mech. Also available is the ability – if timed right – to leap onto the Titan, rip off a panel covering some of it’s vital electronics and blast them to bits. Satisfying in the extreme, its a neat twist on the gameplay that keeps Titans from feeling all powerful.
While on foot, the game plays smoothly. Controls are snappy and responsive, shooting feels good and each kill is satisfying. Then there are the Titans themselves….
Call down a Titan and you are rewarded with a massive ball of fire raining down from the sky. Pressing the embark key will see your Titan pick you up in it’s giant metal paw and shove you into the cockpit. From here, everything changes. The sense of power that comes with a Titan is immensely satisfying. Armed with formidable primary weapons, offhand rapid fire rockets and the Vortex shields, these mechs are walking weapons of mass destruction. Firing down on offending pilots and grunts is satisfying as you exact revenge on the same people who moments ago were sniping you from third story windows. The real challenge is taking down another Titan. Combat is fast and fluid, particularly when you employ the shield mechanic of the Titan. Engaging it allows you to throw up shield that will catch incoming projectiles. Upon release, they can be fired back at your target. This ability has a short cooldown, so don’t expect to spam it. Even when a Titan is doomed, as the game calls it, not all is lost. You can eject, catapulting up and out of your Titan as it explodes. Landing safely will allow you to jump right back into the fight.
If I sound like I’m enthusiastic about the game, I am. It plays wonderfully and has enough balance to keep titans from becoming unstoppable juggernauts. The only times I have felt completely overpowered was in a handful of matches where my team was playing poorly and the entire enemy team ended up in Titans. Among my only complaints with the game is that the on foot shooting does feel a lot like Call of Duty. This is to be expected, considering that the developer of titanfall, Respawn, is comprised of many former Infinity Ward employees – the studio responsible for many Call of Duty games.
In the end, the one thing that has me impressed with Titanfall is the fun factor. Despite feeling frustrated after a bad match, I was never directing that frustration at the game.Instead, I was berating myself for poor play or bad decisions. All in all, I can’t wait to jump back into the game, call down my Titan and go unleash some hell.
Here’s some gameplay footage to hold you over till the game releases on March 11.
