Yesterday, Daniel Benmergui released Today I Die. Today, I spent a few minutes (okay, maybe a few hours) swimming around in his simple yet beautiful little world, trying to find all of the hidden secrets.

At first glance, it’s a rather depressing scene, marked by an equally depressing poem. But much like the real world, Benmergui’s little ocean in Today I Die is changeable, and capable of finding beauty.

The game’s biggest strength is its simplistic design and curiosity-provoking interface. There isn’t too much going on at any given moment, but that’s a good thing, because you can play around with what’s in front of you, and learn how the funny little world works.

Today I Die also wins points for being beautiful, in that artsy, abstract sort of way. The game art is so simple that it’s undistracting (and, let’s be honest, I have a weak spot for pixelated art), and the piano soundtrack is just plain lovely.

It’s worth multiple playthroughs just to see how the ending changes, and once you’ve got the hang of things, the game only takes a few minutes to complete. Without spoiling too much, I’ll say that both endings (that I’ve found, at least…is there a third?) are very satisfying, albeit in completely different ways. The story is very dreamlike and fanciful, and watching how it evolves is a treat — especially because it’s up to the player to determine the progression of the poem.

Seems pretty fabulous, right? It is, but there’s one major feature that poses a gigantic roadblock for players with limited patience: there aren’t any directions. If you’re curious by nature, that’s not a problem, but a design like this has the potential to be incredibly frustrating. Frankly, if I weren’t so stubborn, I might have closed the window without getting past the first iteration of the poem, and that would have been sad.

There are also some definite timesinks, perhaps intentionally placed, that do not contribute at all to the story’s progression. I spent quite a lot of time feeding jellyfish to the piranhas before I realized that they would just keep spawning, and that I was focused on the wrong thing.

I haven’t decided whether this is truly a negative point, but it’s something that sticks out to me: I have not yet figured out how to “lose” the game. Despite the title, it appears that the girl does not ever actually die, and that lovely piano soundtrack will just keep looping until one figures out how to complete the game or gives up in frustration.

Moral of the story: art is sometimes confusing, and the world doesn’t always come with directions, but despite all of this, it’s an interesting ride.

Play Today I Die here. At the moment, it’s hosted ad-free, thanks to a generous donor (unusual individual, as the site claims).

After a long hiatus, I thought a review was due. Thanks to a friend, I’ve started playing some PC games once again. The last time I played PC games was back in the Quake days, which seem like forever ago. Once I got a xbox, I was quick to dismiss any PC game… until now.

Though there are two other games that I play more (and prefer more) on the PC, a lengthy review on those will come in the near future.

The World of Goo seems like a cute game, it’s basically why I tried the demo. I thought it would be easy to completely and it looked equivalent to arcade games on xbox. I was far from wrong. After 4 hours of playing with the demo, I gave in a bought the game.

This game relies heavily on physics. The point is to use the provided blobs (Goo) to build a structure, through obstacles, and get a certain amount of them safely into their bottle. After each level, the Goo Balls you save, going into an additional level, where you aim to build a solid structure that is high enough to get an online ranking for.

There’s a lot of replay value when (IF!) you ever finish the five provided chapters available. One option is to play OCD mode. You basically use the minimum possible amount of Goo’s to create a structure to lead them home. I’ve only managed to get OCD twice even after lengthy periods of trying. If you enjoyed portal, you’d most definitely enjoy this game.

It’s only available on the PC and Wii. I’m unsure about the Wii version, but it would have been a good idea to have a face-off multiplayer mode. Compared to a lot of games we have available in the xbox marketplace, this game would have been a good seller if they chose to release it on there.

“Halo! Its divine wind will rush through the stars, propelling all who are worthy along the path to salvation!”

Ten years ago a relatively unknown game developer announced its next project, Halo, a real-time strategy game for the Apple Macintosh platform. Soon after this, the company was acquired by Microsoft and became part of the Microsoft Game Division under the name, Bungie Studios. 2001 saw the release of the Xbox and along with it the flagship game, Halo: Combat Evolved, one of history’s finest first-person action games which went on to be a critically acclaimed hit, earning its place in the FPS hall of fame and creating a truly fantastic franchise; one which we all know and love.

Now this is all well and good, but surely this wasn’t the RTS that Bungie had in mind when Halo was announced was it? That’s rights kids you’ve guessed it; Halo: Combat Evolved was not released as a RTS; instead it went through several iterations before finally arriving at the console first person shooter for which it is today recognised. Bungie felt that a RTS would be a waste of Halo’s intricate storyline and a FPS would be far more interactive for the player.

Okay, enough of the history lesson, fast forward to the present, the year is 2009, and expectations are high as we are about to embark on yet another euphoric journey into the Halo universe. This time in the originally intended format of an RTS, courtesy of the late Ensemble Studios, ladies and gentlemen I come tonight to bring you, Halo Wars.

Woah, woah hold on a second! ’A Halo game not developed by Bungie, I have a bad feeling about this.’ Indeed the concept is hard to grasp and although the boys at Bungie have helped Ensemble with getting a ‘general feel’ for the Halo Universe they have had very little significant involvement in the making of Halo Wars. During the long wait for the demo to download I began to grow sceptical, asking myself, ”Surely a lack of Bungie colouring will denote failure for a Halo game?” However after but a few minutes on Halo Wars all my doubts were quickly cast aside as I revelled in the greatness of the first true console RTS. Obviously Halo Wars is not the first RTS to be played on a console, as on the Xbox 36o alone we have had LOTR BFME II, C&C3 and Supreme Commander to name but a few. The only difference between these and Halo Wars is that the latter is as yet the only RTS to be developed solely for console gaming; all the others are formatted PC versions. Ensemble, best and only known for bringing us Age of Empires can be seen in my opinion as bit of a ‘One Trick Pony,’ however despite Ensemble’s over-experience on the PC, Halo Wars has shown me that this pony had a few more tricks up its sleeve.

I won’t bore you with the Halo storyline, but as far as game play goes this RTS is hard to fault and the graphics ain’t too bad either. Both the Covenant and the UNSC field full and diverse armies featuring all the familiar units from the trilogy and many more. From the Honour Guards of High Charity to the Marines of New Mombasa, the attention to detail and their overall resemblance to their original trilogy brothers is uncanny. The game features a UNSC Campaign and online multiplayer mode  fit for no less than 6 players at once, not to mention co-op capability in the campaign. Although there are only two playable factions, the choice of specific commander enables the player to utilize special abilities respective to their choice, so two Covenant armies could play off very different strengths. At first, I thought this abit lazy on Ensemble’s part, (especially the inability to play as the Flood) however the commander choice adds internal diversity never before seen by mine eyes.

To conclude, Halo Wars feels and plays right and is fairly balanced; obviously if you are neither a fan of Halo nor RTS then this game is clearly not for you. For everyone else this could be seen as a ‘must buy,’ but don’t take my word for it, instead download the demo and have a dabble. Halo Wars is actually released to the Britons on the 27th February, a furious four days before the American get it, HUZZAH! So from now untill then, enjoy the demo.

I’m a civilization/strategy game junkie. The kind that picked up the Settlers of Catan card game just to see if it was even close to the genius of the original board game. It’s quite possible that I have unlimited patience, because I will unblinkingly devote hours and hours to resource gathering and construction, even if I know I’ll never see the fruits of battle. So while I was waiting for the beta of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War to download, I decided to give A Kingdom For Keflings a shot. I might have spent the next 6 hours on the game and forgotten about my download, but that’s not the point.

NinjaBee didn’t exactly make the game to end all games here, but it is good for a wee bit of fun (pun totally intended).

It’s an 800-point download on the XBOX Live Arcade. That means it’ll set you back 10 bucks — not too shabby.

Bonus throwback moment: it occurred to me that A Kingdom For Keflings is like a shiny new version of a game I played until the disc didn’t work anymore called Serf City: Life is Feudal. There’s just something very satisfying about lording over a village of wee, medieval-ish people who like to build stuff.

Remember that XBOX Live avatar you made when NXE debuted? You get to use it in this game, in Gulliver form. I’m a fan, because while I enjoy lording over my strategy-game minions as an unseen omnipotent force, it’s even cooler when it’s me lording over my minions. In a sundress and yellow heels.

Standard sim/civ protocol follows — collect resources, use resources to make buildings, get upgrades, lather, rinse, repeat. Oh yeah, and you can punt the Keflings.

Cutesy medieval strategy games have evolved since the days of Serf City, and the little Keflings are fairly advanced. Well, for minions, at least. Not only do they happily harvest wood, rocks, crystals, and wool, but they can be trained to transport it to the location of your choosing. In addition to gathering and transporting, the Keflings can be educated and trained to do a variety of jobs. One lucky dude gets to be the Mayor/Lord/King (appropriately enough, he gets the job before the school is built, so the Keflings’ representative leader is the least educated of the entire population).

Keflings themselves are the scarcest resource. Once you start to slot them into artisan jobs, you’ll notice that your supply of human capital is dwindling fast. In order to breed more peons, you need to find the elusive Love. How a propos.

Obviously, there are buildings. The game follows a pretty standard system of requiring certain basic structures before upgrades appear (I mean, really, would you invest that much time in a game where you could build the Big Important Castle at the beginning?). Resources are used to make these buildings, sometimes in simple raw form (logs, rocks, crystals, wool), and later in advanced (wood planks, cut stone, magic gems, cloth) and civilized (carved wood, brick, magic dust, silk) forms.

There’s a blueprint to unlock for every building in the game. Each building is comprised of several components, which may or may not be made in the same workshop (hint: keep your workshops easily accessible), and isn’t finished until all of the pieces are laid out according to the blueprint. Fair enough.

Whew! So there’s a lot going on for a simple, cartoony XLA game. Let’s break it down:

Obviously, I’m a fan of the integration of the XBOX Live avatar. The devs figured out how to make use of that thing without it being too cheesy. Plus, it’s kinda cute that the avatar is a giant.

The blueprint building system adds a second process beyond just gathering the right number of resources and clicking “go.” I like this, it keeps me interested and makes me pay attention instead of just mindlessly clicking. This is probably 75% of the reason I got sucked into the game.

Bonus for the architecturally-challenged: once you’ve laid down the first building tile, a little blue box shows up to tell you where the next piece goes.

Plus, there’s a little something for the world-creation geeks: the game actually encourages you to be creative with construction. Once you’ve played it once-through to unlock all of the blueprints (or given up before that, whatever), have a little fun with your kingdom layout. I’m a little bit in love with the game devs for suggesting things like making a maze for the Keflings or a football field.

The Keflings aren’t rocket scientists, they’re just minions, so if you don’t choose a location for resource drop-off or allocate the Keflings to new jobs, they’ll pull a Sorcerer’s Apprentice on you and just. keep. going. Check back later, and you’ll notice a pile of 300+ crystals in the middle of a field…great.

I haven’t run into any situations where I depleted any of the resources yet, but that’s just wasteful. I totally get that part of the strategy is to effectively manage the human (Kefling) capital, but I would love the ability to set limits on how much each Kefling mines.

Multiplayer gameplay is…kind of blah. There aren’t many built-in features to make this mode easier, and there just aren’t many multiplayer-specific features in general. One thing I was totally wishing for was a set of already-unlocked blueprints –  is it really necessary to rebuild an entire kingdom from scratch during a casual game? It’s also super easy for malicious players to enter games, vandalize a bunch of buildings, and disappear.

Not-so-bonus for the spatially-challenged: if you put important buildings (like workshops) in awkward places (like right near a sheep farm), you will have a world of trouble getting things done. In some games, city planning is not such a big deal, but in this one, it really is. Fortunately, you can demolish and relocate badly-placed structures, but it’s a terrible habit to get into.

Moral of the (admittedly, way long) story: It’s a light, cutesy game that still satisfies as a civilization/sim game. Absolutely worth the 10 bucks, and without a doubt my favorite of the XBOX Live Arcade offerings. And did I mention that you get an achievement for punting the Keflings?

A week ago a mate of mine told me I needed to check out that weeks XLA release called, The Maw. Even though I only saw a short clip about it in the the Dashboard (which I don’t think did the game any justice), I brought it without bothering with the demo (which I almost always do bother with. I tend to wait for the demo to tell me I could have unlocked an achievement, before I cave in).

In The Maw, you play as an alien character named Frank. Frank has a pet named The Maw which can attach to a plasma leash when Frank wants to control him. The Maw basically eats anything and everything in it’s way. As this little gluttonous blob continues eating, it grows in size. He does have numerous options to pertain some abilities from the animals or items he consumes.


The gameplay and cut-scenes are all in 3D. It was nice to be able to explore each stage in an innovative new way after the Maw evolves with some new trait.  The colour scheme was vibrant. Your tasks are straight forward and simple. You never die in the game, similar to the Lego games. The transformation reminded me a lot of Kameo.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, I strongly suggest you at least try the demo. It’s probably one of the best XLA games I’ve played in a long time. Make sure you let The Maw burn his mouth in the first stage and leave your controller idle for a few moments so he can give you evils.

The huge, and I mean HUGE downfall of this game is that the game is extremely short. I managed to finish it after playing for about 4 hours. When it was all over, I wanted MORE!!! I wasn’t bothered that it was a single player game, due to the length. On the plus side, we’ll soon have some new DLC that will cost 100 MS points per level.

Kloonigames released the PC version of their creative (and cute!) Crayon Physics Deluxe yesterday.

There’s definitely a reason this game won the 2008 IGF Grand Prize. It’s innovative, easy to play, and fun. I mean, come on…it’s crayons!

I’ve been playing non-stop since I downloaded the demo. Usually, I’m well enough satisfied with the demo levels, but this game absolutely warranted a full download.

It’s cute. There’s just something about paper and crayons that’s positively smile-inducing. I like sniping enemies and sacking quarterbacks just as much as anyone, but I found the childlike simplicity of this game to be charming.

Crayon Physics Deluxe is damn clever, too. Don’t be fooled by the crayons — the whimsical little levels actually make you think. Every line and shape scribbled into the game follows the laws of physics. Draw a ramp, and the ball will roll down it. If your ramp is too short, it will fall into an abyss. Draw a pendulum and it will swing. If it’s not balanced well, it’ll swing in a funky way. Draw a box, and it will drop. If you drop it onto a lever, it’ll catapult something into the air (if it’s big enough, that is).

The folks at Kloonigames also included my favorite feature ever: a custom level editor. You can bet your face that I’ll be making all of the Rube Goldberg machines I’ve ever dreamed up…in crayon.

Go to their website (http://www.crayonphysics.com/) to download a demo…or the full game!