Top Ten of 2010 – 9. Just Cause 2

I recently played through Cult of the Lamb, a satirical take on the concept of running a demonic cult. It turns horrific things like sacrificial rituals, cannibalism and straight up gaslighting abuse into hilarious amusements by filtering everything through its cartoonish lens. You are a sheep, after all, and all your followers are sycophantic anthropomorphic […]

Hello, world! This post marks the moment in time and space when BangClickReload got a little redesign and was dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Every post before this point is rather old and might not look right, and unless I decide to go through them all to fix them, they’re going to […]

I’ve been pretty absent from PC gaming for some time, since moving to Canada in early 2017, because I haven’t had a proper computer to play games on. That has recently changed, since I got myself set up with a new gaming rig that can handle pretty much anything that’s out at the moment. I […]

“We regret to inform you that your son has been eaten by dinosaurs in the line of duty.” Dino D-Day is out, and I’ve just been playing it. Pitching the Allies vs Nazi dinosaurs in a WW2 setting is pretty fun, it seems. It would be unfair to judge the game on the mere 40 minutes I spent checking it out, so take a look at some amusing screenshots I gathered below.

Format: PC
Release date: 2010

VVVVVV is one of the only 2D platform games that I have completed from start to finish, which makes it special to me. I became obsessed with Veni Vidi Vici, an entirely optional sequence of deadly traps that teases you with a collectible orb right in the very first room, which is blocked off by a tiny box. You can’t jump in the traditional way as most other platformer’s, so the only way to overcome the box is by leaping up through the ridiculously cruel chambers above, navigating your way to the top…and then back down again.

Here’s a video of someone completing Veni Vidi Vici. Watch them fail a few times at first, but finally succeed about 1 minute in. You have no idea how good it feels to complete this bastard:

I think it took me over a week to beat it. And because the game worked on Mac, I sneakily played it at my old workplace, when I thought no-one was looking. After hours of repeating the same rooms over and over and over again until my fingers had memorised the precise movements down to a tee, I FINALLY beat that horrendous level and got my orb. I did one of those restrained cheers for joy, desperately trying to hold back an outburst so nobody in the office heard me and realised I wasn’t actually working. Pretty sure Paul knew exactly what had happened though. He was sitting next to me at the time, probably playing Minecraft.

I listen to the soundtrack to VVVVVV quite regularly because it is a fantastic example of chiptune music, mimicking that retro sound but with a contemporary flair. Every tune is just so bloody catchy, and it’s one of only a select few game OST’s that has made it into my mp3 collection of ‘normal’ music. It goes well with the Bastion soundtrack, and both albums helped me to train for my first (and so far, only) half marathon. ‘Pushing Onwards,’ the song from the video above, is a real motivator for going just a little bit further… I have since completed a few other 2D platformers, but I haven’t enjoyed any quite so much as Terry Cavanagh’s VVVVVV.

Team Fortress just went Free-to-Play. Forever. If you’ve never played the ultra-violent cartoon shooter before, now you have absolutely no reason not to. My Steam profile claims I’ve poured over 40 hours into this, but I know its at least double that in reality because I was there from the very first beta. I’ve seen it evolve from the beginning, with constant free updates which have added new maps, new weapons and yes, hats… it really is amazing how much Valve have added to the game over the years and now its available completely free. Also, Meet the Medic below.