XBLA/PSN Review: Puddle

Oh, it's easy now... but wait until you get to the saws!

By: Jess Castro

Martial arts legend and philosopher Bruce Lee once suggested that we should “become water.” I really don’t think he meant that literally, but for the sake of this review, let’s take his advice and become water. While we’re at it, let’s become paint and toxic rat guts too. Become all kinds of liquids in Konami’s latest downloadable title, Puddle, available on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Starting out as a Student Showcase prize winner in the Indie gaming scene, this puzzler from Neko Entertainment is “dripping” with originality.

CONTROLS (3.75/5)

Perhaps I’ve been a bit misleading; you don’t take controls of a liquid mass directly. Actually, you control the entire screen by tilting it using the left and right triggers and letting the puddle’s physics do the rest. Essentially, the goal of every stage is to lead the puddle to an end point as fast and safely as possible. As the game advances, the puddle’s physical properties change along with the environmental hazards that threaten to break up the wet works.

Tilting controls are smooth and responsive with the ability to ease or “quick snap” the screen. Balance and timing are essential in keeping the puddle intact creating a sense of delicacy that puts your nerves to work. Imagine you’re 5 years old, you’re carrying an overflowing glass of Kool-Aid and your mom swears she’ll throw your Nintendo in the closet for a month if you spill any. Yeah, it’s that kind of tense. But this is actually a good thing. There’s certainly fist-pumping satisfaction from when clearing the more difficult stages after sweating your palms off.

While having simplistic controls that only demand usage of the triggers is quite nice, I found myself wanting to control the view of the stage with pan or zoom functions. Many times, the puddle will split into multiple spills and the focus isn’t always on the mass that I wanted. If simple camera control was implemented, the experience would be even deeper and perhaps I might have saved myself from some frustrating fails.

GRAPHICS (3.75/5)

Being an indie game built from a small developer team, many wouldn’t expect much graphical prowess. However, Puddle excels in style with a creative mixture of its liquid physics, silhouettes, shadows, and lighting effects. Whether it’s dripping from an industrial factory environment or floating in a magnified view of a scientist’s blood stream, the game’s visuals and sounds are certainly fresh. And while not being impressively memorable, the ambient music cues blend well and its subtleties enhance the mood of each stage.

GAMEPLAY (4/5)

How does a spilled cup of coffee eventually find its way as a flowing ink blotch on a canvas of engineering specs? And how does acidic urine and a Tahitisnow globe factor into this? That’s the inventive journey of Puddle for you. Its unpredictable and original campaign of puzzling physics manipulation is an enjoyable treat for your noodle to digest.

Balancing a level to guide a liquid mass to a finish line may not be new to players of last year’s enjoyable Mercury Hg, but there’s an impressive amount of variety going on here that sets this title apart. Environmental hazards are constantly changed up as well as the properties of the puddle itself. One stage will have you arching the screen to leap over Venus fly traps. Next, you’re avoiding hot surfaces to prevent a blob of nitroglycerin from exploding. Some stages will have your liquid contained in a jar or a vial that requires a see-saw approach to slide into mixing compartments. As you progress, each stage becomes increasingly unique.

They also become increasingly difficult. Puddle‘s challenge is no joke and will certainly push gamers’ patience to the max after the first third mark with its trial-by-fire mentality. The game’s loading screens and some visual props may give a hint of what to do on each stage, but pulling off the most delicate moves is extremely demanding and will require practice. That being said, the challenge is fair and aside from the camera focusing on the undesired blob from time to time, there’s nothing to blame except the skill of the player. Achievement and trophy hounds, prepare for a gut punch! Completing all the stages only counts as one! The developers demand specific perfection if you want to hear that soothing chime or bleep.

They’re not totally merciless though as you’ll be handed two stage passes labeled as “Weep and Skip.” If you get stumped on a stage, using one of these will move you on to the next level. If you use them both and get stumped a third time, you’ll need to complete one of those stages before advancing on. To grade your progress, each stage has a preset time and remaining volume of liquid to obtain a gold, silver or copper ranking. For those that don’t mind an earnest challenge and like to be on top with the best rankings, there’s hours of gameplay to unfold here. However, if you’re a controller hurler, the price may be steep and not worth the frustration.

OVERALL (4/5)

A prize-winning indie effort now becomes a full-fledged release. Konami drips Neko Entertainment’s Puddle onto Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network for 800 MS Points ($10). The inventiveness and creativity mixed with simple controls and challenging gameplay make for an enjoyable physics-based puzzler. Just be prepared for a gentle beating.

PSN Mini Review: Stick Man Rescue

Littering is bad, especially when you're throwing away that bomb.

By: Uma Smith

In January 2011, I had the privilege of becoming a part of this website, thereby allowing me to share my thoughts with the internet. My very first review was the XBLIG Sketchy Tower Defense, which incorporated a “sketchy” approach to its presentation (for some nostalgia, check out the review). Now I begin my second year with this site talking about Stick Man Rescue, which happens to have a similar style. Is it fate or just coincidence? Only the almighty RotoRob knows for sure.

It looks like Tik Games has decided to take a unique and artistic route on the classic arcade experience from Choplifter. Wait a second. Didn’t I just discuss my views on Choplifter HD? This review is just full of freaky coincidences. Anyways, Tik Games’ recently-developed PSN Minis title, Stick Man Rescue, is essentially a 2D arcade game.

As expected of a simple game like this, there isn’t any depth in terms of story or plotline. All you need to know is that you navigate an aircraft to save the stranded stick men. However, this is no simple task as your wits are put to the test due to the numerous hazards you must avoid.

Whether you are using the Dual-Shock 3 controller or the PSP, navigating ends up feeling very solid. The controls are easy to pick up and play, which also means they make it difficult for you to put the game down and rest. In other words, such straightforward controls can make Stick Man Rescue addictive.

You move with either the left stick or the d-pad, fire with a single face button, and turn left or right with the shoulders — as you can see, the button layout doesn’t require much explanation to get started in the game. In addition, you feel like you’re always in control, unlike a few other games within the same genre where the aircraft can have you spinning out of control.

In each level, your objective is to rescue a minimum number of stick men to progress to the next level. Ideally, however, you want to pick up as many as possible (especially if you have a kind heart). Once they hop onto your aircraft, you transport them back to the base. Rinse and repeat.

When you get further in the game, you’ll encounter more hazards and will be required to take more trips to rescue the minimum number of stick men. For instance, there are bulldozers and lightning from clouds that try to ruin your chances of success. There are also enemy stick men that throw bombs to make things interesting. Your aircraft does have a health bar, so it’ll take more than just a single hit to be brought down.

Rubbing salt into the wound is the fact that you can end up squishing these men, similar to what you get in Choplifter. So not only do you need to be quick but careful as well. This is possible to pull off thanks to the ease and precision in the controls.

How do you distinguish between the good and bad stick men? In this case, it’s by the color (please don’t start thinking of racial profiling). You will want to take care of those in green while avoiding or annihilating the ones in blue. So there should be no confusion whatsoever between friend and foe.

After completing each level, you are evaluated based on various factors including how many stick men you rescued, how many ended up dying, and the number of enemies killed. This feature is the source of Stick Man Rescue‘s replay value. However, with only 30 levels in total, you’ll find that the game is quite short even when aiming for perfection.

What really “sticks” out in this PSN Minis title is the simple artistic style. The overall look resembles that of a child’s drawing, thereby adding creativity and friendly imagination to the screen. In addition, the animation is smooth and impressive, especially with the blood splatters. I never knew stick men had blood in the first place!

The music is adequate with the orchestra tunes playing in the background. They do change after a few levels in order to keep the audio from being repetitive. Despite this game looking friendly, the clear sounds of the explosions and gunfire will remind you that you’re not in a friendly zone.

OVERALL (3.25/5)

Stick Man Rescue consists of classic gaming mixed with an intriguing presentation that stands out like a (disturbed) kid’s drawing of a man bleeding to death. The experience may be short lived, but for casual gaming, the $3.99 price point is appropriate.

iOS Review: The Price is Right Decades

“Professor Price” was retired because of his awkward hand gestures.

By: Jess Castro

COME ONNNNNN DOWNNNN! iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch owners, you are the next contestants on The Price is Right Decades! You know, the home version of one ofAmerica’s most popular TV game shows brought to you by Ludia Inc.? You’ll be taking part as a member of a virtual live studio audience throughout four decades of price-guessing games filled with fabulous (and also virtual) cash and prizes.

Never seen the show before in your life?  That’s okay, you must be a student or perhaps you have a real job and have never taken a sick day off in your career! Here’s the rundown for this mobile version. Players start off by choosing from a small selection of avatars then putting them into Contestant’s Row. This is where you and three AI contestants will be making bids on a featured prize. When you are the contestant that bids closest to the actual retail price of the prize, without going over, you’ll advance to a unique pricing game. These pricing games consist of an elaborate stage game that combines some physical activity with price guessing. People familiar with the show will recognize the signature setups such as Plinko, Cliff Hangers, Dice Game and Hole in One. There are even games that have long been retired like Hurdles and Professor Price. (Some die-hard Price is Right fan in the world is fist pumping their heart out right now.)

Win or lose, contestants will then move on to the Showcase Showdown, spinning the famous Big Wheel to determine who will play the showcase. Manage to get the highest spin and you’ll get to make the final bid against an AI competitor on a collection of huge prizes. Once again, making a bid closet to the retail amount without going over takes the big prize and wins it all! Then you turn off the game and start watching The Young and The Restless. Or Falcon’s Crest. It’s some soap opera, I don’t remember which one.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that this is a pretty faithful rendition of the TV show. We’re talking 39 pricing games to play, each tied to a year between 1972 and 2011. The years are fairly represented not only by the look of the studio and games but also the featured prizes and their prices. Part of the fun, and perhaps depression, is seeing how much cheaper stuff was 10 to 30 years ago. (I won a ’89 Dodge Shadow, y’all! $8,000! Real pimpin’!) Touch controls are simple and demand nothing more than a swipe or tap to punch holes, spin wheels, throw balls, drop chips and other kinds of nostalgic activities.

This is a mighty fine game for the casual gamer audience, perfect for a good gaming quick fix. Replay value is added by giving gamers the chance to play any of the years in an archive. If you win the showcase, you’ll be able to play its pricing game whenever you please. The presentation isn’t ground breaking, but the replicas of the Price is Right studio and its games are spot on in each era. And of course, it has those great tunes, including the greatest losing horn of all time! The only thing missing is Bob Barker or Drew Carrey, but Decades’ announcer does a good job of holding down the fort. There’s a hiccup that drops out the music, VO and/or sound effects once in a while, but it’s not often and nothing a restart can’t fix.

OVERALL (3.75/5)

Ludia adds another home version of a popular TV show game into their library with The Price is Right Decades. If you dig the show even a tiny bit, this is an enjoyable title. Normally, the price tag is $4.99, which is fair, but I’d highly suggest taking advantage of the winter discount price of $1 for iPhone and iPad Touch and $2 for iPad while it lasts.

Throwback Thursday: Worms! Worms! Worms!

I’m sure you’re familiar with the saying, “The early bird gets the worm.” Well, in this case, the lucky entrant gets Team 17′s Worms! And thanks to good and admirable people at Team 17 we’ve got a diverse selection as both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network users are covered.

On PSN we’ve got Worms Crazy Golf; and over on XBLA we have Worms Ultimate Mayhem – and that comes with both the Single-Player and Multi-Player DLC Packs, which means you stand to win 2,000 points worth of worm-y goodness!!!

HOW TO ENTER

Step 1) Post a comment below telling me what’d you name your pet worm.

Step 2) Pick your poison: XBLA or PSN. If you have both systems put your preference on top.

Step 3) Include your @Twitter name. If you don’t have one just make sure your email address is correct when posting.

**BONUS** Keep an eye on our Twitter feed during the contest for Worms trivia to win codes on the spot!

Sample Comment
Squrimy McWiggles
PSN
XBLA
@ILuvWurms

THE FINE PRINT

Winners will be selected at random on Tuesday, January 31st. All entries must be submitted by 7 PM EST/4 PM PST on Tuesday. Please note that although anyone can enter you must either be following me on Twitter or submit a working email address to win.

Good luck!

XBLIG Review: FireFly Vegas

If you're going to keep on dying, you might as well sit back and enjoy the fireworks.

By: Uma Smith

I have never seen fireflies in person nor have I been to Las Vegas. It’s not that I have no interest. On the contrary, I think they would look magnificent. I love the night out with fireworks. So seeing both fireflies and Vegas would be a gift from the heavens. But to this day, I was simply unable to. Thankfully, Rockmint is here to temporarily fill that void with its XBLIG title, FireFly Vegas. Will it turn out to be as good as fireflies and Las Vegas combined?

You assume control of a ship placed in an arena filled with vibrantly-lit enemies coming at you from all direction. Within this space battleground, it’s a “dog-eat-dog” world where you must shoot down your foes before they do the same to you. One touch from these enemies and you lose one of the three lives you’re originally equipped with.

Controls are quite simple with the left stick used to move and the right to fire in different directions. Adding convenience and accessibility in terms of the layout are the shoulder buttons and triggers, which allow your ship to thrust, jump, or release bombs.

As enemies are brought down, they leave behind valuable goodies that ideally you want to collect. Making their occasional appearances are score multipliers, various power-ups, and weapons (including spread, flame and mixed shots), all of which make your goal to reaching a high score relatively easier.

Additionally, your ship has bombs that can be used to eliminate all enemies on the screen, thus giving you temporary relief as well as a boost in score. Although these secondary weapons are limited in quantity at start, you can replenish the supply. Other power-ups that show up include shields and satellites; both of which serve as protection for your ship.

The challenges increase gradually and are well-balanced: you begin at a slow pace with the difficulty increasing as you progress, thereby giving a warm welcome to novice players while keeping more experienced veterans from being bored. There is an unfair disadvantage the moment you lose your life, though. When that occurs, you respawn with the default weapon but must continue to face the growing number of enemies.

Your enjoyment may also be tarnished by the distraction and obstruction of the particle effects. In addition, there are particular enemies that stay invisible and invincible until they appear. Many times when you spot them it’s already too late, and you end up with a cheap death, thereby leading to frustration and frequent screaming (although in space, no one can hear you). If survival is hindered due to “impaired vision,” then it takes away from the entertainment value.

Despite the aforementioned drawbacks, FireFly Vegas still packs some replay value thanks to its available game types. There is retro mode where you take on the classic gameplay as well as dynamic where players are able to rotate the arena — the latter is meant to be treated as an expert mode. You also have the choice of choosing between clock mode (getting the highest score within a limited time span) and survival (trying to progress as far as you can without dying).

If you love watching nice, pretty colors against a dark backdrop, then you’ll get the same pleasure from FireFly Vegas. Enemies are depicted by vibrant, neon colors that light up the screen. While the particle effects are mighty impressive, they can distract and distort your view, as mentioned earlier. Nonetheless, for a simple-looking game, it definitely stands out.

With the music by Phatso Records, you get a calm and soothing feeling to the atmosphere, bringing a surreal experience to your auditory senses. At the same time, they can also get upbeat and exciting. A noteworthy feature of the sound design is the use of its custom soundtracks to give different ambience–including dynamic, epic, up-tempo and video game theme.

All in all, FireFly Vegas can be very addictive due to its simplistic and straightforward gameplay. It may lack depth even when considering the number of game modes available, but Rockmint is off to good start with its first developed title.

OVERALL (3/5)

FireFly Vegas is available 240 MS points ($3) — a price that is not only affordable but also a steal if you take into account its surreal presentation and simple, yet enjoyable gameplay.