Over the last year or two I have collected quite a few Indie Games from Game Bundles or from sales; some of them good, some bad. While I would like to play all of them enough to write full reviews on them, I unfortunately don’t have the ability to do so. So I’m going to try out a new type of article, so I can bring to attention to some of these games you may, or may not have heard of from the last year or so. If there is anything I have learned from playing games over the years, if a game fails to capture the attention of a person early in the game, the less likely that person would continue playing. With this in mind I hope to cover 2 to 3 games per article, playing just enough of a game to get an idea of it and give my first impressions of them.

Don’t you worry I’m still going to do my normal full Indie Game Reviews. 😉

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This week I will cover 2 games: the platformer Freedom Fall and the horror game Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Freedom Fall

Summary

Freedom Fall is a down-scrolling platformer which came out earlier this year on Steam. You play as a boy who is sentenced to death for a crime he did or didn’t commit. They don’t really say right out at the beginning what his crime may have been but I believe you find out more as you go. He is placed in a cell at the top of a very large tower that reaches high above the clouds and he is given a choice, stay in the cell forever or find his way down out of the tower. If he reaches the end he will be freed.

The story of the game is mainly told by writing left on the walls by a Princess who apparently is the one who designed the tower’s many dangers. She talks about her Mum and Dad, gives you hints on what to do at time, and also points out where other unfortunate people died.

As you continue though the game you come across many different types of traps from spikes and flame throwers, to spiked chompers and death balloons. As more and more traps are introduced you are able to build items that can help you though through the levels including bombs, gliders and later a jet board; all of which you build by collecting scraps as you travel though the tower.

My Thoughts

So far what I played of this game I really enjoyed. It controls really well and looks great. The story that is given to you written on the walls is very amusing and makes you curious what is actually up with this girl who apparently created this all. I like the fact that it gives you choices on which way to go, usually pointing out an easier way or a harder way. I usually go the harder way because there are usually more things to pick up those directions and even if you die you would just respawn at the nearest checkpoint they have throughout the level.

The main issue I seem to come across from reading what others have to say about the game is while they enjoy the game, it is apparently pretty short. Some people say they beat it in about an hour. But from what I can tell that is if you go through the game without trying to complete the challenges of collecting everything and completing the achievements. So I guess if you are a completionist you can find plenty replayablility in this game; especially since they seem to have recently added a couple levels as well as a harder mode to the game.

All in all I can’t wait to finish this game and see where the story goes. I definitely feel that it will be a nice game to have in your collection if you enjoy platformers. This game has a beautiful art style and a unique down-scrolling/free falling play style you don’t see too often. Even saying this I think it would be a good idea to wait for a sale, especially if you are someone who would only like to play it once for the story only. You may not want to pay the full price for a game that is apparently under 2 hours long.

You can buy it for PC or Mac Here.

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Summary

Many of you most likely have heard of this game, you may have watched Youtubers scream their heads off in playthoughs or seen people on Tumblr make art and stories that make you feel sympathetic toward the animatronics. Either way this game has gotten popular so I decided to check it out to see if it was as good as people say.

For those who don’t know, Five Nights at Freddy’s is a suspense horror game where you play a security guard on night watch at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a pizza parlor with animatronics that entertain the people by day with music. On your first night on the job you are told by message left by the previous night watchman, that the animatronics like to roam at night and if they see you they may try to kill you because they think you are an animatronic without an outer suit and that is a big no, no. He is unnervingly calm about it all.

The controls of this game are relatively simple. You are unable to move, all you can do is check the various cameras, close the doors on either side of you, and turn on lights outside your office. You must utilize all of these to keep an eye on the roaming animatronics and to protect yourself. The suspenseful part of it is you are limited on power and if you use the lights, doors and cameras too much you can run out of power then there is nothing to protect you from Freddy.

My Thoughts

I’ve heard many people call this one of the scariest games they played, I can see where this can be the case for some people. When I first tried the game I was caught by some of the jump scares, but really quick it started not to faze me. I did find it a bit suspenseful at times when you lose track of an animatronic, you end up sometimes frantically trying to find them. As I played the game more it became more frustrating at times then scary. Every time you play it, it is random what would happen. While randomness can make it fun for replayability, it can also make the game frustrating. Like on one playthough of a day the animatronics were on the move quite quickly, leading me to use the door quite a bit though the whole night which led to me using up the power quite fast. Then a second playthough of the same day nothing really started happening until a lot later in the night, leaving me with plenty of power.

Well I may or may not finish this game; I don’t believe it is that long of a game. I also hear rumors that the creator of the game may be coming out with a sequel to the game. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious on how it will be. Will it be the same as the original or is he going to do something different with it. We will see.

Even though I may not be the biggest fan of this game, I believe if you are a fan of horror games it would be a nice one to pick up. It does something different than many horror games out there now; having you unable to move with limited power and only doors and cameras to protect you from the monsters in the building. It is also doesn’t cost much to buy and I have already seen it in a couple Gaming Bundles. So keep an eye out if you want it even cheaper.

You can buy it for PC Here

Nintendo and the team behind Pokemon have released a new trailer relating to Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby, and this time there’s a bunch of new Pokemon-related things to show off!

The trailer reveals the powers of the Primal forms for both Groudon and Kyogre; both gaining the form through a change called Primal Reversion and having an Ability that is just a powered-up version of their regular ones. Primal Groudon becomes a dual Ground/Fire type and has an Attack stat boost, and its Ability Desolate Land stops all weather changing moves and Abilities from working as well as rendering all Water-type moves useless until Primal Groudon is switched out. Primal Kyogre does not have a type change but gets an increased Special Attack stat; its Ability Primordial Sea stops all weather-changing abilities and moves from working and cancels all Fire-type moves.

The trailer also introduces three new Mega evolutions – Camerupt, Sharpedo and Gallade.

Camerupt is the ‘signature’ Pokemon for Team Magma and its Mega evolution merges its two volcano-humps into one larger grey peak, covers some of the Pokemon’s body in armour that resembles cooled magma, gives Camerupt longer fur that shields its legs and a little more cooled magma armour on its forehead and hooves. It also looks angrier than usually. It doesn’t change types and gains the Ability Sheer Force which removes added effects for a greater damage potential.

Sharpedo is the ‘signature’ Pokemon for Team Aqua and its Mega evolution stripes the majority of the Pokemon’s body, extends its nose to be almost as long as its body and moves the white underbelly a little further upwards around its fins. It also doesn’t change types and gains the Ability Strong Jaw which ups the damage of bite moves by 50%.

Gallade will most likely be the final form of your secondary rival Wally’s original partner Ralts in the game. Mega Gallade loses some of its green colouration around the top half of its torso and arms, and gains two skin-flaps from the back of its neck that resemble a cape. The blade-like parts of its arms are replaced with red plate-like additions, the red plates on its chest seem to have shrunk and its ‘ears’ seem longer. It also doesn’t change its typing but gains the Ability Inner Focus which prevents flinching.

The news about Microsoft’s possible purchase of Mojang, the studio famous for their popular hit game Minecraft took many by surprise because the news seemed to come out of nowhere. While opinions are still divided about whether it is a positive step or not, everyone’s waiting to see what will happen.

Now sources are saying the Microsoft are preparing a press release to announce that they have successfully bought out the Swedish studio in a deal supposedly worth about $2.5 billion. According to what we’ve heard the announcement will be made on Monday.

Previous updates on this story have told that Notch, the man behind Minecraft and Mojang was the person who started the talks with Microsoft months back. This was despite Notch having a reputation for loving the indie game scene and not really getting along well with larger companies and their interests, having once called Windows 8 a negative thing for indie gaming and famously pulled out of an Oculus-based version of Minecraft because the VR company was purchased by Facebook.

For now, all fans of Minecraft and Mojang’s other games can do is wait and see…

Over the last few years, Free to Play has not only become a staple of the MMO market, but big companies have moved their MMO from subscription, to Free to Play to entice new players in.

Blizzard, seem to think the opposite.

As announced on our forums on August 15, a change is coming to World of Warcraft subscription pricing for players who use pounds sterling.

We regularly look at our pricing around the world and from time to time we make changes in light of local and regional market conditions. As such, we want to give everyone a heads-up that we will shortly be adjusting the pound sterling subscription price of World of Warcraft.

The new price for recurring subscriptions will be £9.99 for one month, £28.17 for three months (£9.39 per month), and £52.14 for six months (£8.69 per month). The suggested retail price of the 60-day prepaid time card will be £20.99.

As a thank you for current World of Warcraft subscribers, we guarantee that players with recurring (auto-renewing) subscriptions at the time of the price change will retain their current price for two years, as long as they remain in the same recurring subscription without interruption. This applies to anyone who is already in, or signs up for, a recurring subscription prior to the price change, which is scheduled to take place at the Warlords of Draenor release. We will reach out to relevant players approximately two months prior to the price change with a reminder.

So what do you think?   With other high profile MMO’s going Free to Play over the last couple of years (yes Star Wars, we’re looking at you, you loser…), do you think Blizzard are going the wrong way, or cashing in on the market they know they have?

Last night there was a major upset in the Smite Pro league tournament. Cognitive Red, the top dogs and over all dominant team during the tournament were disqualified from their match against Team Dignitas. As the match was progressing COGR was pressuring DiG but a miscommunication between Dagarz and Divios on COGR resulted in a disqualification when their ADC player Snoopy disconnected, dying to the tower.

The combat pause is against SPL rules but has sparked a huge debate on Reddit where even Hi-Rez are admitting their current ruling is hazy:

“Pausing in the middle of any engagement such that it would give either of the teams any sort of benefit or advantage is strictly prohibited.” Many people are calling for a rule change, and to be honest it would be a much needed change. Some people are even calling for it to simply be a tournament points penalty not a match disqualification. As it stands the overall audience, myself included are saying merely changing the ruling to “Pausing while taking damage from objectives or other players is strictly prohibited and will be punished with a match disqualification.”

Tell us what you think about these penalties and rulings in the comments below.