So it was my birthday this week and I decided to buy myself some new clothes. After a frustrating experience in one shop and then walking around a few more shops only to be disappointed (and bored) I wandered into EB Games to cheer myself up.
I walked out feeling better.
(technically the PS3 console was not my birthday present but it happened to arrive in time – I say good timing!)
This is another game I reviewed for GamingAngels.com. Again, it was a game I wouldn’t ordinarily pick up of my own accord but I have to admit it was a lot more fun than I expected. It was easy to learn and simple to adapt to your own speed like Farmville and like Bejeweled, its simplicity was addictive. It’s a very polished game.
Royal Envoy is a town planning or time management simulator, comparable to Farmville and the Settlers series. Upon arriving in the colonial era setting of Islandshire, the player is introduced to the game’s story through an animated sequence detailing the plight of the kingdom; with residents’ houses destroyed from recent rains – rains that are only set to worsen. A town planner is appointed to ensure the residents’ houses are constructed in preparation for the stormy season ahead.
Each level requires tasks to be completed, such as the construction of housing, industry, commerce as well as building on the population’s happiness. Managing resources (both physical and labour-force) becomes more difficult moving up the levels, and leveling-up brings new objectives that require a strategic approach. Sawmills must be built, smithys (or metal forgeries) must be fired up and pirates must be bargained with. There’s a lot of rebuilding to be done on the islands, and managing the finances is no easy task – so banks must be built too! Sometimes things don’t go as planned and alternate solutions must be found.
A meter counts down players’ time to achieve a gold star on each the level but time to complete the level is unlimited. By completing every level on an island with a gold star, a trophy is unlocked – completed levels can be re-played to unlock the gold star.
A pop-up tutorial featuring the King’s right-hand man Cedric guides players through new situations and tips appear at the end of each level. The journey throughout the game is narrated through animated cut scenes popping up throughout the levels and across the islands.
The Collector’s Edition includes a bonus walk-through of all 30 levels.
It’s a “just one more level” game and I found myself playing “just one more level” late into the night. Approximately four hours worth of playing time, do yourself a favour and break your game time into a few sessions to prolong the fun.
The development team at Playrix admit to being inspired by The Settlers series for their latest project and have produced a polished, easy to play game borrowing from many genres including strategy, town simulation and the basic point-and-click puzzle game.
If you liked any of the town planning games – Sim City, Farmville, The Settlers or have found strategy games interesting but a bit too intimidating to begin with, I recommend Royal Envoy. You will get used to basic management skills and have a bit of fun too!
I reviewed this game for my regular gig on GamingAngels.com. I’ve never played an MMO in my life but thought I’d give it a go to expand my repertoire. Here’s my analysis below.
Control Screen
Lords of Evil is a free browser-based MMO from Rayflame Enteratinment who also distribute Heroes of Gaia, Heroes of Kung Fu and The Legacy of Holy Castle through the online gaming portal webmmo.com.
The story is set in a fantasy world, where a war between the humans and the orcs has raged for many years. There remains a legend of a forbidden romance between a female human and a male orc that ended in tragedy when discovered, only to introduce a new enemy – the demon race. The three races now fight against each other for ownership over this world, Zeniken.
Players choose their race: Human, Orc or Demon and go about building their empire through the allocation of resources through a timed series of tasks. These tasks can be sped up by the use of magic; the ability to do so gained by either ‘bonuses’ by carrying out side missions, or by purchasing gems with real-world money. Tasks can take a while to complete and the time can be passed through the in-game chat, mini games or of course by letting the game run whilst doing other things (which is perhaps the original intention of this type of game).
A fairy starts newcomers off with an in-game tutorial (albeit peppered with many typographical errors) but the best place to start is actually the forums for step-by-step guides on how to start the game and how to build on that start.
The forums are definitely the strongest asset in the game, with guides from how to train units, scout an enemy’s castle, fend off an attack (would you believe chatting with the enemy using the in-game communication system might be your best option? What a civilised bunch!), to even getting through the game without paying a cent.
I played LoE for a good four hour session at one stage and it barely made a dent in my bandwidth allowance (unlike games such as WoW or even Modern Warfare 2 which can use up quite a bit of data whilst updating from the server).
Lords of Evil has not long finished beta testing and while it still leaves a lot to be desired, it has a strong community following that is eager to get the bugs ironed out and to promote the game.
For my full report and verdict, visit GamingAngels.com.
As a launch special, webmmo.com are offering a two-for-one sale whereby every gem purchased in game will receive another gem free. This offer runs from 00:00 on 2/28/2010 to 3/4/2010 24:00.
Standing in line for the Mana Bar launch party, we knew we were part of something special. There was a nervous excitement in the air. Cars were slowing down to look at 100-or-so people who were lined up on an inner-city Brisbane footpath on a Saturday afternoon being corralled by a man in a karate gi.
We stood in line for close to three hours before our chance to sample the heavenly delights, but we certainly weren’t bored. Ryu from Streetfighter was the friendly bouncer, regularly shouting motivating sentiments as he paced up and down the line, “Stay strong!” he said, “You will get through this! Many rewards await you!”
Master Chief and his lovely assistant Cortana distributed merchandise and a master magician did the rounds, entertaining cynical gamers and excitable fanboys and girls alike.
However the most valuable entertainment provided by the Mana Bar to their loyal fans was perhaps the regular appearances of its owners and celebrities in their own rights, Yahtzee, Yug, Pras and Shay as they paid visits to their guests-in-waiting throughout the afternoon.
The local community has rallied around the Bar, with pizza being distributed to those patiently waiting in line by Hell Pizza staff from across the road, and many of the surrounding fast food restaurants eager to hand out discount vouchers. After all, gaming and fast food go hand in hand (literally in most cases).
Once inside, you know you have come to the right place. LCD screens line the walls, set up for multiplayer action but with house rules to ensure controllers are not dominated. An impressive glass cabinet houses limited-edition gaming figurines, donated by fans. Competition was friendly and conversation is not hard to come by, “so what games do you play?”
Although the venue was filled to capacity (of 50 people) which was manageable, it would perhaps be more comfortable at 35-40 with enough room to swing a Wiimote and sip a cocktail without fear of it being knocked over.
The service was excellent – the bar staff attentive and drinks prices average of any city club. The Mana Bar prides itself on its cocktails, with fitting names: Princess Peach, Ocarina of Lime, Mana Potion and others – and only top-shelf spirits are used.
The Mana Bar’s launch celebrations have continued into the week, but themed events will be appearing regularly on the calendar, including Sunday Sessions, Guitar Hero competitions, Trivia nights, monthly Chiptunes music guests, and other themed gaming nights.
If the turn out for the opening weekend is anything to go by, the Brisbane gaming community will be keen to support our national exclusive and it certainly seems like the Mana Bar crew have many plans in place to ensure a long and prosperous life.
I wish the Mana Bar all the best and will certainly be visiting as often as possible.
The Mana Bar is located at 420 Brunswick St Fortitude Valley, next to the Judith Wright Centre.
I attended the Mana Bar launch with my colleague from GamingAngels.com. You can view our report of the night here.
Saturday 20th March will be a big night for Brisbane gamers as Australia’s first gaming bar The Mana Bar opens its doors to the public for the first time.
The Mana Bar has been established by four regulars on the Australian games circuit: Guy ‘Yug’ Blomberg, co-creator of AustralianGamer.com; Ben ‘Yahtzee’ Croshaw of Zero Punctuation fame; Sega Senior Designer Prasant Moorthy; and the brains behind the bar Shay Leighton.
Gamers have been providing more than their two cents in every step of the bar’s development, as the team have been providing updates on renovations, gaming system decisions, naming of drink concoctions and even a painting project that was assisted by volunteers from the fan base!
The bar will play host to Sunday sessions as well as multiplayer competitions, trivia nights, gaming launches, interaction with local developers and potential for group and corporate bookings.
With a capacity of only 50 people I dare say there will be a few geeks camped out for the 12noon opening, ready to game the night away.
The Mana Bar is located at 420 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley in the old Mango Bar next to the Judith Wright Centre.
Dark Void is a third person shooter set in the beautiful yet dangerous Void, a parallel world in the Earth’s atmosphere, filled with mysterious beings fighting for life. The Survivors are a group of humans trying to get home, fighting for their freedom from the Watchers – an alien race with superior technology, seeking to enslave humans.
In Airtight Games’ first release, you play Will Grey who arrives in the Void through mysterious circumstances (crashing in the Bermuda Triangle may have that effect). Befriending the survivors you will establish relationships with various characters including the eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla who reverse engineers the alien technology into weapons and transport including a very handy jetpack for your own personal use.
The in-air combat using the jetpack is the feature of the otherwise standard action/shooter game – it will be interesting to see how this is implemented across different situations and whether the developers can keep the game mechanic fresh and interesting.
This article was published on Gaming Angels. You can read the rest of it here.
Would you apply for this job?
I sure know I’m qualified for it.
Unfortunately the ad is no longer listed so we don’t really know if Australia’s number one online job portal filter their content or the position has genuinely been filled (or inundated with gamers trying to save the world). But we do know this:
-It linked through to the Mass Effect 2 splash page
-You could actually apply for the job (and some did). By the way guys, I’m sure you’ll just get added to the mailing list. Damn marketers!
-I can’t really find more information about the role on the EA site so I guess I’ll have to wait for the game to come out and telecommute
Release dates for the game on Xbox 360 and PC are 26 Jan for North America, 28 Jan for Australia/PAL and 29 Jan for Europe.
Thanks to Kotaku for filling us in.
The view from my office
I’m keeping an eye on the progress of the new Star Wars: The Old Republic game currently in development with Bioware.
I’ve never been one for MMOs, mostly because I’m not interested in the fantasty genre (although I was intending to play Eve Online but haven’t yet and Tabula Rasa piqued my interest – but too late).
I bought Knights of the Old Republic on Steam to get a feeling for the setting and the RPG element. Hopefully that will satiate my Star Wars desire for a little while. Who knows, maybe I’ll give EVE Online a shot too.
Unfortunately the SW:TOR community is a bit disorganised at the moment – but that’s to be expected. There is a wide variety of potential players, from experienced WOW, EVE and LOTR players to RTS and FPS players who have never set foot in an RPG let alone an MMORPG (ie. me!).
Also the release is still some time away; I would expect the development/marketing team to start organising for the information distribution to improve over the coming months – though they have been releasing class information periodically.
I’m excited but I’m feeling a bit lost given my inexperience in the genre. I think this game will attract a lot of players who had never considered MMORPGs before (mind you the media is saying the same thing about the new Star Trek game, and it was said about EVE Online as well). But with Star Wars having been a part of most geeks’ lives this game is guaranteed to generate interest.
Bounty Hunter
Image courtesy of Star Wars: The Old Republic
I have really been enjoying Counter Strike lately. Although I’ve played it before, I downloaded it from Steam last week in their post-Christmas sale and have been having a blast playing it (ahem!).
Despite its simplified graphics compared to more current games and the inability to use a scope, it is still a really fun game to play. I have been playing against the bots on my own, and also co-op with Azreal however I intend to get online soon and get my ass owned by some 12 year olds.
Azreal and I spent our first New Year’s Eve in our new house playing Guitar Hero and Counter Strike, and watched a documentary about arcade games. We were planning to play a round of Space Hulk but instead I decided to cook up a beef fajitas extravaganza instead of the lazy pizza option we’d been planning – olè!
What am I playing right now? Same as everyone else. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
I love it. In fact, I want to get back to it. So if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go play some more and get back to you later.
Gracias.
Now where are my smokes?
(Image courtesy of Infinity Ward)
