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Bad Piggies (PC)
by carl_lazarevic
After playing through and thoroughly enjoying Rovio's Angry Birds Star Wars I was eager for something that would satisfy my cravings for a good old puzzle game. The problem was that I wasn't quite ready to play another Angry Birds game with the same old game engine. A compromise came in the form of Rovio's fantastic spin off Bad ... Piggies.
Bad Piggies is another physics based puzzle game, but this time told from the perspective of the evil pig armies that want to enjoy the angry birds eggs. The twist is that; rather than catapulting yourself into danger, you are now trying your best to avoid it.
Each level starts with a simple starting grid and a few basic supplies that you must use to build a vehicle that will; hopefully, roll itself straight to the finishing line. This will then reward your pig with a portion of a map that will; hopefully, lead them to the Angry Birds eggs! It is essential that your piggy fit in the vehicle; and later on you must accommodate his stolen eggs too, but otherwise your are free to use; or discard, any of the building supplies to hand. Deciding which items to use is the key to building a vehicle that will reach the finish line and accomplish your goal. Along the way you will be given two additional goals to accomplish on each level. These can range from finishing within a certain time limit; hitting key objects on a level; building a vehicle capable of getting the giant King Pig to the finish line, and many many other similar goals. The majority of these can not be attained on the same play through, so replays become essential in order to get the full three stars for each stage. This gives Bad Piggies a far more leisurely pace than Angry Birds and will make it more appealing to puzzle game enthusiast as a result.
The stages themselves are all themed to the type of vehicles required. Early stages require you to create a simple 2 wheeled vehicle; while later stages will add in balloons and aeroplane parts as you attempt to fly your way to victory. Other stages will feature fewer objects and you'll need to think way outside the box in order to reach your goal. Thankfully the physics engine within the game was far more consistent than Angry Birds and as a result figuring out a design was an intriguing process that never became frustratingly difficult.
In terms of overall presentation I find this game to be top notch. Like Angry Birds the story is told through a series of humerus static pictures. Inside the game this humour was retained through some fantastic sound effects and imaginative graphical touches. The piggies themselves have been created as very bold cartoon sprites that travel across a static 2D landscape with incredible fluidity. They have retained the same comical faces whenever they crash and burn, but this is now somehow funnier due to the fact that you weren't intending to harm them.
So overall I was very happy with the Bad Piggies experience. The slower more thoughtful game-play is unlikely to appeal to the casual Angry Birds fan, but; at the same time, it will appeal more to the straight up puzzle game fan that likes to figure things out. I myself have had a blast with it and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a puzzle game that's a little different. Once again available for £5 on the PC I'd say it is a bargain. Even more so than Angry Birds as the average PC gamer is likely to enjoy solving the fairly difficult puzzles far more than the Android crowd ever will.
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MineCraft (PC)
by punkrockpenguin
The first I'd heard of Minecraft was a few years ago, one of my Friends in college was playing it and it looked like good fun but at that point I was busy with coursework and I'd forgotten all about it when all my work for that year was done. It wasnt until a few years later tat my uni housemates started playing it that I threw caution ... to the wind and bought it! It costs just 17 Euros for the download of the game and then its yours!
Minecraft is a sandbox game, meaning that it is open for the player to play as they wish to. You're spawned in a world where everything is made out of square blocks. You are given a chest full of bits and pieces like a pickaxe and some wood and then what happens is all up to you. You can go mining, build a house, build a farm. I like to play with my housemates on a server which could be a bit tricky to set up if you'e not very good with computers but there are instructions online which are very clear and easy to follow.
It's really hard to describe just how great Minecraft is so if you need any encouragement, head over to youtube and search for 'Roosterteeth lets play minecraft'.
It's a very addictive game but you can get bored of it. I do and then a few weeks/days later, I'll be back on it!
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Half-Life 2 (PC)
by greaper
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Introduction
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I remember looking for a game to buy because at the time i was bored of the games i did have and i ended up buying the orange box which included HL2. This is the moment where i will not ever regret because it got me into the Half-life series, since that life changing ... moment i now own the valve complete pack which contains the original games, which i have not yet played although i have downloaded the Black Mesa: Source mod. I like the engine that valve introduced for this game because of the level of mod ability that was introduced which allowed the creation of games such as Garry's mod.
I also admire the modular nature of the source engine which allows valve to update the engine without creating errors in the game world. This means that the later versions of the engine such as the engine used in Episode 2 are used in the original game, the affect of this is that the graphics quality is increased by this effort. You can also have a level of fun in this game especially after you exit the train station because you can pile up boxes over areas where non player characters are going which blocks of their route and you can create a traffic jam which can be funny to watch if you can't be bothered to progress.
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Details
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This game in my opinion has a unique introduction which involves the G-Man from the previous game waking you from stasis. the G-Man is a unique character because of the way how he seems to speak which puts importance on letters and words that don't require it. The game also features easter eggs and other details which encourage you to look around the game world instead of with other games where they seem to channel you towards a more linear path, some of these details is seeing the G-Man watching you on televisions around the game world.
I like the take that this game takes on the idea of a invaded world with the idea of instead of a quick destruction of the planet and the life on the planet it is a much slower process taken through events which at first will not seem like they are linked. You see an example of this on the coast level because one of the objects is a ship which is marooned on a beach much further than would be possible through a tidal wave. The array of weapons available to you is also interesting because there is a mix of modern weapons along with some more futuristic weapons, and even what you would call hybrids which make use of both bullets and energy weapons.
This game has a diverse range of enemies which you can face such as a standard gestapo type "civil protection" along with more intelligent enemies such as elite combine which seem to have more AI options open to them, with this game you will also notice that in no 2 playthroughs will the enemy be likely to take the same route, this is because valve has given them much more freedom in the routes that are available for them to navigate. This game has a above average amount of game play time which sometimes can feel like you have reached the half-way point only to find out you aren't too far from the beginning, there are also a diverse range of environments for you to be able to enter along with a new take on the idea of zombies which seems to be executed perfectly.
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Conclusion
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This is a game that i would recommend anyone who likes a first person shooter to play just for the guns that are available to your character. I would also recommend this based on the AI system that is present which includes the characters when they are talking to you will track you which means that if you walk around the room while they are talking their head will follow you. Sometimes your allies will get in your way which can be a problem but the good thing is that if you bump into them a couple of times or standstill right in front of them they will move out of your way.
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