Posts with ‘DarkCastleSoftware’ Tag

Gravitron 2 on Steam

By: Derek Yu

On: October 14th, 2008

Gravitron 2

I forgot to mention – Gravitron 2, the vectorized thrust ’em up from Dark Castle Software, is now on Steam. The developer, X-Out, told me that this version has a lot of enhancements, and addresses the issues that I had had with the game previously. Very nice work!

Gravitron 2

By: Derek Yu

On: September 18th, 2008

Gravitron 2

X-Out’s Gravitron 2 is this close to being one heck of a classy game. But unfortunately, a slew of little (and not-so-little) annoyances are keeping it from quite “lifting off” (heh) into the rarified air of the classy gaming cosmos.

Okay, what am I even saying anymore?

But seriously, the offspring of Thrust have always aggravated me as much as they’ve intrigued me. There’s no worse feeling than being the bitch of the two harsh masters of this genre of games – namely, gravity and inertia. At the same time, I love exploring alien worlds in a tiny spaceship! The very best of these games (my favorites, at least) – Solar Jetman, Sub-Terrania, Oids, etc. – are all incredibly fun and also incredibly punishing.

The biggest problem with Gravitron 2, in my opinion, is that its various gameplay imbalances exacerbate an already inherently challenging movement scheme. For one thing, it’s hard to hit your enemies, which often appear in tight corridors, often with fragile (and much-needed) fuel dispensers nearby. Especially since you can’t fire or use your shield while you’re landed. This, I feel, greatly reduces the importance of one of the coolest mechanics in the game – the ability to land and stick to any flat surface. It also makes it face-punchingly tough to take out the reactors in each level, which have a large amount of health and regenerate quickly.

There are also some fairly serious technical “anomalies” in the game, as well. It’s hard to tell, but there were at least a few instances where I feel like the wall got some kind of critical strike on me when I least expected it. Also, the checkpoints have got to be bugged – restarting at one seems to keep track of which reactors I destroyed (even the ones I destroyed after I hit the checkpoint), but will, for whatever reason, reset the mission counter, forcing me to abort.

Last, but not least (while we’re whining!), I’d really like to see keyboard controls for the menus so I don’t have to switch to a mouse when I’m not playing. A readme or help screen would also be very useful, as well as some kind of version identification, either in the readme or on the title screen (preferably both).

So yeah… good game, with lots of potential (and definitely very pretty), but my opinion is that it needs some more work. Still, for $5 it’s hard to pass up. And you should also keep in mind that Bill Swaney and Oddbob both gave Gravitron 2 strong recommendations. I could be wrong!

(Note: I should mention that I haven’t yet played the original game, and can’t compare the two.)

TIGdb: Entry for Gravitron 2

Cubes

By: Guest Reviewer

On: June 30th, 2008

Cubes

[Guest Review by FishyBoy]

Cubes is an excellent online game. It can be summed up as a 3D version of the Tron lightcycles game. [Note: it’s essentially a multiplayer version of nenad’s Counterclockwise. -Derek]

You fly around, leaving a trail behind you. Hitting a trail kills you. You can move along any axis. You can also shoot at enemies, although it’s not too effective. Several power-ups are available, and you also have a boost. The world wraps around, so if you just keep going in a straight line, you’ll eventually crash. The default level is empty, although there are a few other levels with some trails already added. That’s about all of the game.

The game is simple, but it’s good fun zooming along colorful corridors, twisting about in a convoluted path and desperately hoping you don’t smash into a wall. When you first start playing it’s rather disorienting, but you get used to it pretty fast. The learning curve was only about 5 minutes for me, and in about 20 minutes I was doing pretty well. Rounds are done survival-style, and the field is pretty small, so games are fast-paced and short.

The game doesn’t have very complicated graphics, but the twisted multicolored architecture when you’re well into a round looks pretty cool. It doesn’t take a very fancy computer, either. My awful computer ran it nicely, with occasional frame rate drops.

The community is very friendly, helping out all the new and confused players. The menu mirrors the main game in simplicity, so it takes less than a minute to set your name and join a server. When there’re about 6-8 people in a room, it’s great fun, although it’s still pretty enjoyable with 2 people.

In short, it’s a fun and unique game, enjoyable on all accounts. I highly recommend it.

It would also probably be great for Game Night.

Prototype 2

By: Derek Yu

On: October 1st, 2007

ProtoType 2

Prototype 2 is a gorgeous shoot ‘em up that takes its inspiration from Irem’s famous R-Type series of games. The game was created for the SHMUPDEV 2007 competition, where the theme was “Options.” And yes, the pre-game options in P2 certainly are various, with the player being able to change the flavor of his or her ship, pods, and power-ups.

And like R-Type, Prototype 2’s most interesting mechanic is the Force Pod, which is a detachable “option” that can be used to clear out hard-to-reach spots. In P2, the Force Pod can also be detonated at any time to clear out the screen. Skill with this thing is crucial if you want to survive in this game, which is punishing even at the easiest difficulty (it is for me, anyway).

Conclusion: the great presentation, numerous options, and overall polish make this a pretty awesome package. GET IT.

(Source: the one, the only, the Tim)