Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet Trial is Insanely Fun
By Paul Blackburn
August 12, 2011
Do you like 2D games? Do you like flying UFO’s? Do you like the ability to use a wide array of crazy sci-fi tools to achieve results in bizarre situations involving black and red tentacles that want to eat you, and then upgrade everything so you can do it even better the next time? Then after having a good blast of the trial of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, I can honestly say you will have a great time.
Released on the 3rd of August, I only heard about this game yesterday when I opened my Xbox dashboard and there it was. The silhouette, shadow art style is very pleasing and totally inspired, resonating back to classic 2D adventure games such as Another World and Heart of Darkness, where enemies were somehow all evolved to be entirely black and, well, shadowy. From what I’ve played and seen in this trailer, I.T.S.P is really one of the most imaginative and inspiring games I’ve ever laid my eyes on, and I’m enormously impressed.
I’m still contemplating buying this, but I have so many gaming related things to pay for this year that I can’t quite afford that I might not bother yet. Besides, it’ll probably come down in price in a few months. Probably…
Dome Keeper is an excellent little spin on the tower defense game, in which you play the role of a jetpacking miner defending his base from swarms of aliens, whilst searching for a hidden relic buried somewhere beneath him. And now, with this huge free update, you can play it with friends.
I want to talk about Cloudpunk, a game where you get to be a flying-car delivery driver in a futuristic cyberpunk city. Its world is an incredible achievement of environmental design, and while the gameplay itself may be basic, the city of Nivalis is a thing of beauty to behold. Nivalis is built out of hundreds of hand-modelled cuboid buildings; there’s nothing procedural about it. Apparently it took 3 years for the devs to design the city, and it really shows.
I do love me some quality pixel art, and it doesn’t get much better than this. Cast n Chill is a cozy side-scrolling fishing game by small indie dev team Wombat Brawler, with absolutely gorgeous visuals. It’s simple to play, and you you can dip in and out of it at your leisure, making it a fine addition to our collection of coffee break games.
I was not a fan of Uncharted 3, but this new ad for Nathan Drake’s supposed final adventure is only 30 seconds long and somehow managed to tug my heartstrings… I wish I had a PS4.
Don’t kill people. That’s the ARC’s job. Make no mistake, I ain’t no softie. Just coz I won’t attack you first, don’t mean I won’t defend meself from a rat bastard who likes the look of my backpack! The rustbelt is a volatile place. I’ve seen what it’s done to us. What it does to the mind. But we gotta stick together, fight for humanity, and focus our efforts where it truly matters – FOR SPERANZA!
Beyond: Two Souls is a paranormal action thriller starring Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe. You’d be forgiven for assuming it’s a Hollywood film based on that description, but it is in fact the latest game from Quantic Dream, the studio behind the equally cinematic Heavy Rain. It’s tempting to compare the two, but Beyond is a different experience, opting to tell a linear story with fewer choices and consequences. As a big fan of Heavy Rain’s dynamic storytelling approach, I expected to be disappointed but as soon as I started playing I realised what writer and director David Cage was trying to achieve and felt satisfied to go along for the ride. Because what a ride it is…