The Black Friday Review: Limbo (XBLA, PSN, PC)

Limbo

review by CJ

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Welcome to the special "Black" edition of the Friday Review. Limbo wins the privilege of this review for excessive use of the color black. I just recently bought Limbo (during the half-off sale) and beat it. In 2 hours. First try. Don't get me wrong, I truly enjoyed those 2 hours. The puzzles were fun, and the black mood was uniquely enjoyable. Over all I thought the pacing was good, and the difficulty set to enjoy it but not get too annoyed at overly difficult trials. Still, I was very disappointed because of how quickly it ended. If you've played it I'd love to hear what you think about it.

PROS:

-Artistic. This can be either a positive thing or a negative thing depending on if it's well presented and still has some actual play value. In Limbo's case I think it is very well done, and has an amazing atmosphere to it. In fact I believe that the dark creepy tone contained around 80% of

- Great puzzles. They started out simple and rose in difficulty over the course of the game at a good pace. Also, I never felt like I was repeating similar puzzles. Of course, 2 hours worth of unique puzzles is much easier than, say, 5-10 hours worth, so it only gets minor points for this. the game's overall value.

-Got it half off! I think that $7.50 (600 MS points) is a decent price for this game, but I wouldn't want to pay more than that.

CONS:

-Lack of Re-play. This isn’t always a Con, I don’t think games need to have re-play value, but if your game is only 2 hours long I better be able to enjoy it over and over with separate modes, or collectible hidden items, extra difficulty levels, etc. Limbo's puzzles aren't going to change the second time through; there is practically 0 replay value to it.

-Poor puzzles. Ah, I know I put good puzzles in the Pros, but unfortunately there were some bad ones as well. Some of the later puzzles were more the “trial and error” type rather than the “figure this out” type. They involved dying over and over again until you were able to time an action just right, or find the nearly impossible to see switch as you fell quickly through a busy scene. This isn’t puzzle solving, it is annoying. Of course, if these puzzles were replaced with the regular kind the game may not have taken a whole two hours…

-You guessed it! Length. I can’t imagine someone paying $15 for this and not being angry 2 hours later. It hurts me because I feel like this game was very high quality in every other aspect. There are also a lot of other high quality games out there which charge $10-$15 and offer several hours of game play and high re-play value.

SUMMARY: I enjoyed almost every minute of the 2 hours. The last minute, when the credits started and I realized that it was really over, was painful. I felt swindled. It’s important to note, though, that I felt swindled because I was enjoying it so much, and thought I was just getting started. If you have 2 hours with nothing else to do and the extra $15 with nothing else to buy, then maybe this is the game for you.

Side note: It's only $9.99 on Steam, and currently (at time of post) 50% off. I think $5 is a perfect price for this game.

Akimi Village on Sale on PSN!

Akimi Village is on sale this weekend! So put down Skyrim and Batman and try the free trial.

PSN Fall Sale

Nov. 22 - Nov. 28

Akimi Village on sale for $6.99 ($4.89 for PlayStation Plus members)

The game has a demo available, so head on over the the Playstation Store and try it out! If you liked Keflings you'll love Akimi Village - it's like Keflings, but with 4x the zen!

The Friday Review: Dungeon Defenders (XBLA, PSN, PC)

Dungeon Defenders

review by CJ

For my first review I have chosen a game with which I have been thoroughly entranced. Dungeon Defenders is one of those rare gems, not only in concept, but in execution. At first glance the game seems to be trying to combine too many genres, but it does so very well. Mixing the excitement of random equipment drops found in games such as Diablo, or Borderlands, the strategy of the best tower defense games, the RPG level grind, and some seriously fun up-to-4-player co-op, plus more, this game has something to offer anyone.

PROS:

- Great cooperative play. This is a game that can be enjoyed by yourself, or with friends, and the more the merrier. Not enough games offer 4 player co-op these days, and even less that are this much fun.

- Upgrades! Not only does your character level up and receive skill points with each level, you can also upgrade your equipment and pets, and customize their attributes as they upgrade.

- Many modes. Replay value is an important aspect, these days. With so many games on the market we want our money to spread as far as it can, and the more time you can spend on a game the better. Dungeon Defenders incorporates many different modes and challenges for each of its many levels, which changes things up and allows you to replay the same area multiple times with a new experience each time.

CONS:

- Poor story. This isn’t necessarily a con, per se, but if you’re looking for an inspiring story look elsewhere. This game is all about the fun.

SUMMARY: This game is well worth the $15 (XBLA, PSN, or Steam). The four classes are very unique, and the many levels are all well designed, and varied. The story may not be anything to mention, but the game play is solid and fun.

Introducing "The Friday Review"

Hi everyone! This is Matt Bockholt (aka Captain Jax), and I’m happy to announce “The Friday Review” on the NinjaBee blog. Every Friday I, or one of my fellow flying insects of death, will be reviewing a game here on the NinjaBee Dance. Our purpose? To force our superior and correct opinions upon the masses…Actually, it’s just because not only do we love to make video games, we also love to play them, and in the playing of them we often discuss their pros and cons, spreading the happy news of rare finds (like a red rupee popping from a patch of freshly cut grass), or warning against the snarly hidden teeth beneath cute and fuzzy exteriors (like Jason, from QA).

First of all let me assure you that these reviews will in no way reflect the opinions Wahoo Studios or NinjaBee itself (such opinions—if they exist—could not be expressed using any tongue spoken by man), but are only the mad ramblings of those who write them. Second, let me also assure you that our purpose is not to demean other publishers and/or developers. We love our fellow game creators, and want them to continue doing the awesome job they are. But we’re not afraid to point out the parts we don’t like.

We hope that you will express your opinions in response to our reviews, and we can discuss in friendly manner the creations that fuel our gaming hobby.

Fusion: Sentient out today for Windows Phone!

As mentioned in our last post, from time to time we do contract work for publishers who need a development team to work on a game for them. When we do contract work like this we release the game under Wahoo Studios - our second name.

Fusion:Sentient is a futuristic RTS that lets you control a group of really powerful robots called Sentients. The game released today for Windows Phone 7. It's a companion game to an XBLA game called Fusion: Genesis, which was developed by Starfire Studios and also was released today. You can level up your Sentients on your phone and then send them to your Xbox and play with them there, and vice versa.

If you want to check it out, more details are on Microsoft's site - http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/3d55dbb2-2bb3-4b91-bb6c-8c8a1ab21201

Family Game Night 4 is in stores today

We do contract work under the Wahoo name. One of our big projects for EA, Family Game Night 4, hits the shelves today! We made a version for all three consoles. The game features Mr. Potato Head as the game show host. For our celebration party the other day we had a potato bar. 

Come on, you have to admit we are pretty hilarious.

That will be the last time Paul says anything bad about Justin's mother.