Grey Goo – I Got Gooed

I was playing Grey Goo, thinking that this game is pretty good—not great but very entertaining. Casually planning out my review, perhaps as a forgotten RTS gem… but then it happened. I reached part three of the campaign, when the game jumps from one group to another—to the actual Grey Goo faction. And oh boy. The game is separated by three factions, with two of the factions being fairly grounded in some kind of abstract sci-fi terms—the Grey Goo group, however. It’s like a meme coming alive, as you literally play as an undefined, boring gelatinous mass of sludge with horrible gameplay mechanics.

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The Guild – Europa 1410 [Trailer]

Eating and guarding the wall is my thing

I’m a bit late for this one, but I felt I had to make a post about it. You see, The Guild II is one of my favorite management games from the past. It’s janky, a tad buggy, but incredibly charming. Especially in multiplayer where I spent many hours with my sis—to become the top-dog businessman of whatever city we ran at the time. It’s a sandbox combined with an economy simulation, creating the ultimate medieval dynasty game. It has a lot of subtle trolling included in the gameplay to make it a hilarious experience—that might as well backfire on the instigator, to throw the victim into prison.

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MENACE [Full cinematic trailer]

I'm here from the future to terminate you!

When Overhype Studios released the demo for Menace, they also dropped a small teaser that showed off the brutality of their created world—in part. Well, fret no more, the full length trailer is here, and it’s awesome (as expected). Sadly, it isn’t that much longer than the teaser, but it adds context to what we saw earlier.

Two noticeable things here. The sludge that grabs a dead (or wounded) marine around the one-minute mark looks really nasty and terrifying. I foresee grotesque body-horror in the future! Also, note to self, avoid everything slimy and bubbling. Then the second thing comes at about one and a half minute in—and it’s a damn Terminator machine, directly manifested from my “future wars” nightmares. Wow! Talk about the unexpected, and it looks like what the title of the game indicates: Menacing! Check out the cool trailer after the jump.

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Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown – Demo Impressions

My first impression of the Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown demo wasn’t too great, as it felt more like a proof of concept, than an actual slice of the game. No voice-acting, and everything seemed to have a cheap “visual novel” kind of design, with very little input from you required to do anything. But after the tutorial let go of my hand, I started to see the potential of this title. Now, for the decision-making, and story it never really leaves the visual novel phase, but as a complete package, I’m captivated regardless. And that is largely thanks to the ship management, exploration mechanics and how crew skills play into your judgments, and success.

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Menace – Demo Impressions

Start the Cannon Fodder theme song, please

Finally, the Menace demo has arrived for us to download and play like the tactics starved maniacs that we are! So, how is it? I would say it’s okay, showing potential for the future. However, the high boardgame feel of it really surprised me. It’s a game that is a lot more abstracted in combat simulation, LOS (line of sight), and damage than I was expecting—especially compared to their last title; Battle Brothers.

For example, “overwatch” has been dumped in favor of faster gameplay, forcing you to move forward instead of turtling behind defenses to ambush the enemy. Fair, I guess, but it also means that the defensive safe playstyle that I like is out the window. And it feels a tad ridiculous that my special forces unit when having action-points left after a move, say up to a building, can’t defend themselves.

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