Sorry, this one's a few hours later than I meant to post it, but it's another big one. And, probably, next week's gonna be a big one too.
We've got one PC game, one PS3 game, and one tabletop game, so sit back and relax.
We've got one PC game, one PS3 game, and one tabletop game, so sit back and relax.
Ok, the PC game is Evochron Mercenary. I've always kinda flirted with the Evochron series, but never wanted to commit. I was terribly, terribly wrong. For $30, you get a space shooter and trading game that can keep you going for a long time. There's a central plot to follow if you want, or you can just roam the galaxy doing whatever you please. The graphics are decent for stellar bodies, but the plants and cities, and occasionally the clouds planetside are uninspiring, and space stations often look like the textures are poorly blended or overly simple. Standard ships may have the same issues, but I haven't seen them as much. Oh, did I mention you can fly in atmosphere? There's not any dogfighting opportunities that I know of, but it's a fun little diversion, and you can trade there and mine oxygen/water/other stuff from the planet (though you can mine asteroids and ice rings too). I haven't played it as much as I'd like, but it's nice for having a relaxing pace during trading and noncombat contracts, but frenetic speed during combat and racing. Oh yeah, there's racing too. But I'm devoting way too much time to Evochron Mercenary. Let's just say that you can get the demo, play 90 minutes of the full game, and decide if you want more, and you really, really should. Oh, and there's a tutorial too, so don't worry about burning those 90 minutes on figuring out what to do, since it doesn't eat your trial time.
The PS3 game is an old one, I'll admit. Army of Two (the original, yes) kept me busy for a good chunk this week. Ultimately, it's rather short (I beat it playing split-screen over the course of maybe 10 hours), but it's very amusing. I can't vouch for it on other consoles, but it looked fine on PS3, though there were a couple moments where it slowed down. It's nothing super duper exciting, but it's a good play, if you can deal with the copious foul language.
And, finally, our tabletop game, Triune! It's a wonderful science-fiction meets religion game not unlike another title I reviewed recently, only way more far along in technology. It's post Eclipse Phase era stuff, all the way to sort of a teleportation-enabled quantum-mechanics abusing society with lots and lots of fun stuff to go with it, as well as the forces of Heaven and Hell fighting and tangible prayers. It's not bad, and it's interesting both for its mechanics and as a game that addresses deep characterization. It's definitely worth a look, if you're into it.
The PS3 game is an old one, I'll admit. Army of Two (the original, yes) kept me busy for a good chunk this week. Ultimately, it's rather short (I beat it playing split-screen over the course of maybe 10 hours), but it's very amusing. I can't vouch for it on other consoles, but it looked fine on PS3, though there were a couple moments where it slowed down. It's nothing super duper exciting, but it's a good play, if you can deal with the copious foul language.
And, finally, our tabletop game, Triune! It's a wonderful science-fiction meets religion game not unlike another title I reviewed recently, only way more far along in technology. It's post Eclipse Phase era stuff, all the way to sort of a teleportation-enabled quantum-mechanics abusing society with lots and lots of fun stuff to go with it, as well as the forces of Heaven and Hell fighting and tangible prayers. It's not bad, and it's interesting both for its mechanics and as a game that addresses deep characterization. It's definitely worth a look, if you're into it.