Don’t panic, it’s just the Digital Buffet.
Aces of the Luftwaffe
HandyGames
Action / Shooter
Steam / Google Play Store (Also on Switch, PS4, Xbox One)
This is a decent shooter somewhat in the spirit of the old 194x games from Capcom. Features medals that you get and then can use to unlock things and upgrade your plane. As such, when you run into a difficult spot you can go back and grind out some medals to power up your plane. Not too complicated as you don’t even use a fire button, it automatically fires, most of the game is about maneuvering your plane. I played it on PC with a controller but it may be more hectic with touch controls. Overall, it’s pretty average but there’s not much to complain about either.
Two stars.
Cally’s Caves 3
VDO Games
Action / Adventure
Steam / Google Play Store
About a little girl whose parents were kidnapped armed with high power weaponry. This is a neat little action / adventure that has some Metroid-like qualities to it. Mainly in how you gain abilities and can go back to earlier locations to use them in. You also level up yourself and your weapons, which are of the shotgun, assault rifle, etc. fare to begin with and become more advanced as you level them up. Music is a trifle bit annoying in the regular areas but is nice for the boss fights. Also played this on PC with a controller so I can’t speak to the mobile controls but it’s not terribly fast paced or death dealing, especially early on.
Three stars.
Door Kickers: Action Squad
PixelShard / KillHouse Games
Action / Puzzle
Steam / GOG / Google Play Store (Also on Switch, PS4, Xbox One)
I went back and forth on what genres other than action to place this in. I’ve settled on Puzzle because there is an aspect to this where each room plays some larger role in the building / map and how it plays out. But it’s not extraordinarily complex and there’s no planning mode to start a level, plus you will never wonder where to go for example. You are a SWAT member (with more to unlock) and your job is to kick in doors and kick out some bad guys. Rescue hostages, defuse bombs, serve warrants, etc. Plenty of stuff to unlock, things to upgrade, perks to use and more play into a larger metagame to build up your agent. Great graphics and music. Features co-op and Workshop support. I found this to be surprisingly addicting in terms of wanting “one more run” as each lasts only a few minutes.
Three stars.
GemBreak
Ballista Studios IVS
Puzzle
Steam
It’s Peggle. Literally, but in space. This is one of those that’s hard to review beyond that as it’s such a clear rip-off. But yet, Peggle is really fun, so this is fun too. Ultimately this isn’t too polished however and while there are some aspects that are engaging like gravity you would probably be better off seeking out the Peggle games first. Then if you wanted even more Peggle you could come back around to this.
Two stars.
Go Home Dinosaurs!
Fire Hose Games
Strategy / Tower Defense / Puzzle
Steam
This tower defense game has some puzzle like elements to it that you don’t find in every tower defense title. The various “towers” take up different shapes and different amounts of blocks. You can’t place every tower on every map and you only get a select number of towers to place. As a result you can go into stages without being to place any towers at all if you screw up the selection at the start. The bosses have a huge difficulty spike and there’s not much to prepare you for them or the elements in their stages, I thought this was a bit of an oversight. A lot of the sound design is pretty annoying after a while. It also features Arnold Schwarzenegger’s quips from Batman and Robin.
Two stars.
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault War Chest
2015, Inc.
Action / FPS
GOG / Origin
This is the root from which Call of Duty sprung. After the release of this members of 2015, Inc. split off to form Infinity Ward and the rest was history. This game was innovative for its time in terms of mission design and raw spectacle, the Omaha Beach level remains a sight to behold, and introduced many of the things we take for granted in FPS design today. Surprisingly, it stands up pretty well after nearly a decade, it’s surely not a masterpiece mind you but it remains fun to play for the most part other than some waves of enemies that seem endless. The War Chest includes the two expansions which have shorter campaigns attached to them and have their own attempts at raw spectacle moments, though it must be said that neither approaches Omaha Beach in the base game. Multiplayer was fun at the time, back before Modern Warfare and even Battlefield, but now is harder to get into. Especially since it was based on GameSpy and that no longer exists, OpenMoHAA is an open source implementation of it.
Three stars.
Teddy Floppy Ear – The Race
Forever Entertainment S. A.
Racing
Steam
I think this is from Poland although I did not look too deeply into it. Does that make it Eurojank? There’s parts of this where you might say it’s not so bad and maybe kids might enjoy it, at the same time kids aren’t dumb and you could give them a better racing game. It looks decent enough in still photos and there are some nice reflections and speed effects but the frame rate seems, well, off. It’s not really choppy or anything but it doesn’t seem fluid. The music is weird but entertaining and maybe the best part of the game. The problem is the game is just dull, the racing isn’t exciting, I couldn’t figure out the purpose of many of the weapons and items, the courses are fairly yawn inducing, etc. That said, there is a decent amount of content here, different cups, leagues, stuff to unlock and so on. I just don’t know if you actually want to play through it.
One star.
Turmoil
Gamious
Simulation / Strategy
Steam / GOG
This is a really cleverly designed game. You’re a prospector who buys land and then digs for oil, then sells it. That’s the whole thing. But it works so well and every aspect of it is done exceptionally well. There is plenty to unlock and purchase with your massive profits that helps you to gain even more. There are also aspects of strategy involved by when you want to take oil to market, and which market you want to take it to, all simply controlled by your mouse wheel. Then you go back out, buy more land and dig for more oil. Great stuff.
Three stars.
benji v. The Video Games 