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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Dungeon Keeper 2 Retro Game Review

an art cover for the title of Dungeon keeper 2, featuring the mistress and Horny, the horned reaperDungeon Keeper 2 Review (PC)

   Check out more reviews, merchandise, and more today!

   Dungeon Keeper 2, a game from 1999, lives up even by today's standards as a classic Dungeon building game. Dungeon Keeper 2 has several upgrades and improvements over the predecessor, such as redone spells, additional rooms, and overall controls. In this game's story, you are tasked with collectible all of the portal gems, in order to open a portal and launch an invasion on the surface world. Along the way, you will collect pieces in the campaign at set intervals to summon the horned reaper aptly named, "Horny". He is no longer an inhabitable creature, but rather, a summoned creature, who will wreak havoc on your enemies.

   The game play from the original Dungeon Keeper is mostly the same, but more streamlined and less on the micro-management scale, allow for more control and focus on the game play. The new creatures in this game are more humanoid, rather than animal creatures, having people such as rogues, black knights, and others who can be summoned with the right rooms and conditions. 

Two mistresses having fun in Dungeon Keeper 2  Spells in this game can also be upgraded to include stronger, more powerful variants. The summon imp spell, for example, can be upgraded to summon level 4 imps, which are quicker and stronger then level 1 counter parts. You can also store a limited amount of gold in your dungeon heart as well, a problem that was fixed in the original.

  The single player campaign in this game has well done maps and script events, with the narrator (in his evil voice), giving you a voice over on what you must do in the level. His voice is also good for periodically making funny remarks about you, or your dungeon, and livens up the gameplay. Other aspect I really appreciate, is the use of cultural references, and the voice interacting with you directly, telling you to go to bed if it is late at night, for example.

a face shot of Horny, the Horned Reaper Another aspect I enjoy is the multi player, which allows you to fight up to 4 other dungeon keepers in different maps, or you can make your own map with the level editor, and share with your friends, allowing for near limitless game play.



  Overall, this is one of those classic games that everyone should try at least once, with it's humor, excellent interface, campaign, and even multiplayer. This game will definitely have you attention if you are a fan of building dungeons, managing creatures, and being evil!

Game play footage screen shot of Dungeon Keeper 2




Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Yu-Gi-Oh! BAM Facebook Game Review

Yu-Gi-Oh! BAM Logo screen

Yu-Gi-Oh! arrives on Face book, does it hold up in transition?

Check out more reviews, merchandise showcases, and much more! Also check out the official site for Yu-gi-oh! BAM! Play Yu-Gi-Oh! Bam on Facebook by clicking the link provided!

This is a yu-gi-oh BAM story chapter screen shot   Yu-Gi-Oh BAM is a variation on the popular collectible card game series, featuring quicker card games, dueling with friends, custom decks, card collecting, challenges and much more! Also featured as some of your favorite characters from the show, such as Yugi, Joey, Marik, Seto-Kaiba, and much more, including it's own story in text format and various extra challenges along the way.

This is the Yu-gi-Oh! BAM card battle screen   Starting off in the game, you will begin with a starter deck to begin with, following the story and unlock more chapters, cards, and earning coins, which can be spent on purchasing more cards to customize future decks. Game play is a bit different than playing an actual game of Yu-Gi-Oh!, such as only attack settings, rather than being able to switch a card from attack to defense and so forth, but most of the core game is intact. Spell cards are also featured, and can be deployed in the same manner as the original game, however, instead of 5 channels to lay down your monsters and spells, the game board is set to only 3, to speed up the games. Also of note is that the standard decks have been lowered to 15, making game play quicker as well, having to make more strategic use of your deck layouts. BAM suggests 10 monsters to 5 spell ratios, which makes sense, because of the lower amount of cards that can be played. 

  You can earn cards by playing the story chapters, completing objectives (which are needed in order to increase your level), dueling friends, or doing arena duels, which allows you to play against random people.  Dueling with others give you "card pieces", which is another currency needed to purchase booster packs and certain cards. The final currency given is the "Duel Points", only received from either purchasing them with real money, and completing certain objectives. All of these currencies can be used to purchase cards or booster packs, and some cards are added and removed in the rosters at certain intervals in updates.

  Overall, a person who enjoys Yu-Gi-Oh or collectible card trading games in general, will enjoy this game, and especially if they have friends who enjoy the same kind of games too! This game does a great job of keeping to the source material of the TV show and manga interpretations, and the cards and effects are very similar to their real life counterparts!
This is a small list of the Yu-gi-Oh Bam card selection

Monday, February 25, 2013

Factorio, Indie project needs your help!

Factorio Indie ProjectFactorio: Build a factory on an alien planet!

Visit the Project main page for contribution here to learn more!

 Said about Factorio

 ... I have been unable to stop playing. 30+ hours so far - bill, Factorio Forums
Dang it, now I'm hooked on this game.Sacheverell, Content Manager for the official Minecraft Forum
Great game, can't believe this is an alpha. Excited for the full release. - rymn, FacePunch Forums
This looks pretty cool. Factorio, indie game where you make factories on other worlds. Hope it succeeds :) - Nathan Adams, Minecraft Developer
I loved your game as I did not love any game ever. (As a gamer with 15 years of experience) - Mindreader, Factorio Forums

Motivation

We are geeks and we like to build stuff. We have spent a significant portion of our childhood and youth messing with lego, programming and playing games like Transport Tycoon, Civilization or Simcity. Games which didn't have impressive graphics, but still were a lot of fun to play. They were all about designing, building and creating things. About figuiring out how to solve little puzzles (Hmm how do I extend this train station?) and about managing what you created (Arrgh i need to upgrade all these roads into railroads!). We loved these games and we spent many nights staying up and playing them. 
Then there came the idea for a game where you build your factory. You wouldn't have slaves or drones to give orders to. You would have to setup everything yourself. Automate a lot and make sure that things will scale up well. What if you found yourselve on a deserted place or maybe an alien planet alone with no equipment. Would you be able to survive? Would you be able to start from the scratch and build your tools and machines from the ground up? 

Game

Factorio is a 2D game about building factories on an alien planet. You will be mining resources, researching technologies, building infrastructure and fighting alien enemies. Use your imagination to design your factory, apply management skills to keep it working and finally show your close combat skills in encounters with planet inhabitants who don't really like you.

Demo

A public demo is already available. No signup, no fee, just download it from http://www.factorio.com/demo and play it now:) The demo contains a short 3-level introductory campaign. There is a very limited set of concepts and game elements in the demo compared to what will be in the full game and what is currently in the alpha. Main purpose of the demo is to give general feeling for the game and allow players to test whether the game works well with their specific system.

Alpha

The game will be released in its current state as an alpha in mid March 2013. The alpha will be available to all backers. The alpha is already playable and contains following things (however not graphically finished or polished):
  • 2 extra campaign levels in three difficulty settings
  • singleplayer freeplay (couple of hours playing on a procedurally generated map)
  • researching technologies for unlocking recipes or improving existing structures
  • programmable signals to get fine grain control over your factory
  • logistic robots to ease transportation in big factories
  • more game content
    • assembling machines to automatically craft things
    • transport belts to ground to allow belts crossing
    • filtering inserters
    • laboratories to perform research
    • steel processing
    • entities variations (chests, inserters, etc.)
    • ...
  • more weapons (flamethrower, rocket launcher, landmines)
  • map editor
  • lua scenarios scripting
  • moderate modding support (all game element properties are defined as data)

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Skylanders starter kits and more!

This is a Skylanders Starter Kit, featuring heroes and the stand
Skylanders Starter Kit!

Skylanders figures, accessories, merchandise, starter kits and more!

   Check out today's merchandise showcase for Skylanders! Get some starter kits, accessories, and much more for the Skylanders fan! Some items offer free super saver shipping, which is free shipping on eligible products over 25$ (See site for details!). So get some great gifts for your children, as well as backpacks and shirts featuring their favorite Skylanders heroes!

check out more merchandise showcases for games today, and see what other great gift ideas are out there!


Thursday, February 21, 2013

Portal Shirts and Apparel!

This is a sexy girl with tatoos wearing an Aperture logo T-shirt

Portal Shirts, Costumes, and Apparel Showcase!

Check out some awesome shirts and apparel from the hit Valve series, Portal! Some items have Free Super Saver Shipping, which is free shipping on all eligible products over 25$!