Preplay : Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD

The year is 2000. Blink 182, the Bomfunk MC's and the Bloodhound Gang fill the radiowaves while Johnny Knoxville and his friends set the youth up to no good with their hit show Jackass. I just turned thirteen and I'm sitting in the passenger seat of my dad's car taking in every word of advertisement that's written on the big cardboard box that contains my newest game. After months and months of playing only one level of that game, the day has finally come that I have saved up enough money to buy the full version. I still remember where I bought it. I still remember where we parked. I still remember it being a nice and sunny day and I still remember how I felt while sitting there in that car. This was the day that I bought Tony Hawk's...

Read more »

Postplay : Bad Rats: the Rats' Revenge

As we all know some animals don't get along. Mice and elephants, cats and dogs and Rihanna and Chris Brown are just some examples. Another one is rats and cats. While humans might have a tendancy to favor the latter, making them the heroes of the internet and giving them all the cheeseburgers, it's understandable that rats' aren't so keen on our four legged overlords, given their tendency to kill and eat them. In Bad Rats: the Rat's Revenge (BRTRR) by invent4 we get a peak at the rats' side of the fight and learn that it mostly consists of sloppy attempts to kill their enemies one cat at a time. But let's not jump the gun here. Allow me to explain what BRTRR is. Bad rats is a physics game in which your goal is to hit a murdering device...

Read more »

Preplay : Bad rats: the Rats' Revenge

When I started Full Steam Ahead I let my friends know on Facebook. One of them, Styn, commented the following You are crazy and you're getting Bad Rats when it's on sale on Steam! He didn't wait that long though, a few days later I've got an email from Steam saying one of my friends had gifted me this invent4 game and I knew the only reason was to mess with me. Thanks Styn! While looking at screenshots for this game it's obvious that Bad rats: the Rats' Revenge (BRTRR) is a budget title. It was released in 2009 but the graphical quality looks at least 5 years older. When searching Youtube for some gameplay footage the first link I found was to a video called 'Why do I own... Bad Rats'. Things aren't looking good for BRTRR. What I can...

Read more »

Full Steam Ahead : We are many

It has been over a month since I started Full Steam Ahead. I had become fed up with my ever increasing Steam backlog and felt the need to do something about it. By now I've played four games and am ready to finish up a fifth one. I couldn't be more pleased with that result and I'm really enjoying analyzing the games I'm playing. I would like to thank everyone who has been reading my posts so far and I appreciate the feedback I've been getting over Skype and on the Steamgifts forums. This kind of response inspires me to continue my project. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said : "There is nothing worth thinking but it has been thought before; we must only try to think it again." This couldn't be more the case for the basic premise of this...

Read more »

Postplay : Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45

22 June 1941. The Germans wrecked our wire network to undermine our communications. Ninety-nine German divisions, including fourteen panzer divisions, have deployed against us from the Baltic to the Black Sea. From now on we refer to those regions as the Western and Southwestern Fronts. In addition to the ground troops the Luftwaffe has attacked several airfields, destroying much of our air fleet. I have received my orders a few minutes ago. I'm to go to the Western Front in an attempt to stop the Germans before they can reach our capital. Many say our attempt will be futile, but I simply can't stand idle by while our country is under attack. Despite the fact that I have put five hours into Tripwire Interactive's Red Orchestra:...

Read more »

Preplay : Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45

Steam user WhiteGuy gave me a guest pass for Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 (ROO4145). This meant I had 10 days to enjoy this WW2 FPS by Tripwire Interactive. I was however still finishing up another post for Full Steam Ahead, leaving me only 7 days to hit my five hour mark. I expect ROO4145 to resemble games as Call of Duty 1 and 2 or the early Medal of Honor games in that I think the action will be slower paced and more methodical than modern shooters. I suspect it will take some time getting used to this slower kind of gameplay again but I have fond memories of those older shooters so I'm looking forward to my time with ROO4145 and I hope it will invoke some of the same enjoyment. I would call myself a mediocre FPS player,...

Read more »

Postplay : Blocks that matter

On June 6 1984 Alexey Pajitnov changed the world of video games forever by releasing Tetris. From that moment on blocks would always matter in my favorite form of entertainment, something that developer Swing swing submarine wants to celebrate with their 2011 release Blocks that matter (BTM). It was up to me to find out if this celebration has turned out to be a party. BTM is charming right from the get-go. The art is simple but effective and the story is delivered with a good sense of humor. Video game fans will pick up on a lot of references both in graphics (a lot of Minecraft influences) and in dialog. It is clear that Swing swing submarine is genuinely passionate about games and that this one is their attempt to put them...

Read more »